Sunday, October 11, 2009

It was the best of times, it was… nah, it was just the best of times :)

On our way back from Alaska there was one Canadian stop that couldn’t be missed. It wasn’t the hot springs or the cities, it wasn’t even the biggest mall in North America. It was better than that, the icing on the cake of our Alaskan adventure: the St. Cyr cabin.

When you’ve been on the road as long as we have, it’s easy to think that you’ve seen it all, but we haven’t even come close yet and the cottage is a perfect case in point.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s okay. We didn’t even know the place existed until last year.

We found out about the St. Cyr cabin, and more importantly, the St. Cyr’s, in the way these things usually happen… in the way you least expect it:

“When are we going to play?” It was the question that was running through all of our minds last year in Calgary. It was a raining hard, freezing drops mixed with a sprinkling of hail. We were downtown, set to perform at a Stampede party that was quickly turning into an icy version of a Wet N’ Wild. The rain was relentless and our speakers were softly soaking up the moisture, but the idea of not playing was too much to bear so we unpacked our instruments under the safety of a tent.

It was cold and our fingers were frosty on the strings but we played away, dancing on the tables and weaving in among the crowd. That’s where we met the first St. Cyr: Annette. She saw us perform and invited us to come and visit her at her cottage on our way to Alaska. That’s how we learned about the St. Cyr cabin, nestled in among rolling fields of canola (who knew canola was a plant?) by beautiful Gull Lake.

The St. Cyr cabin is an artfully designed work of handcrafted wood that the St. Cyr family built by hand as a party and retreat for their friends and family. We’ve learned a lot of things there over the past 2 years, vacationing with Annette and her family. Things like how to wakeboard, play beersbee, make a garbage-can turkey and party like a Canadian. We even got a chance to sit in on a permaculture course that Annette’s daughter and son-in-law taught. But most importantly, we learned that we have a Canadian family we never knew existed.

You may never make it to the St. Cyr cabin, but here are some pictures from our trip that can take you there, if only for a little while:

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