An Introduction

I will start by introducing you to my family, so that when I mention them you aren’t completely flummoxed. I have one brother, Georgie (George), who is 4 years younger than me. I live with him, my mum Dana, my dad Ken, and my dog Willow. We live in North Vancouver, British Columbia. We also have a cabin on a small Gulf Island where we spend every summer and every other fall. If we weren’t traveling this fall, then we would be on Lasqueti (the Gulf Island I just mentioned). My mother is an archaeologist and my father is a forest ecologist. They both teach at Simon Fraser University.

We decided to go on an extended trip about a year and a half ago. We debated between Europe and Mexico, but Mexico won out. My mother wanted to go somewhere where she could speak Spanish. She is quite a capable speaker of that language. However, I wanted to go to a place where I could practice French, as I am learning it in school. My Mum also wanted to show us the American Southwest, where she had some research, before Georgie and I were born. None of us wanted to country-hop in a plane, because of it’s high carbon footprint. So our dilemma for the next several months was how to satisfy everyone’s desires.

What we came up with was a road trip, with a "small" deviation in the middle. We would drive as quickly as we could from Vancouver to LA, where we have family, fly to Tahiti for three weeks, fly back and continue driving south. The Grand Canyon, and the Four Corners Area are our next destination after LA. Then we drive until we hit Oaxaca (wh-ha-ca) City, on the Day of the Dead, November 1^st. We will be based in Oaxaca where we have rented an apartment, for a month. The plan is to be back in Vancouver by the end of the winter holidays.

Of course, not all of the four and a half months we will be gone will be fun. Both my parents will continue to grade and write papers, talk with students and be involved with the university. My brother and I will be doing our school work. This blog is for my English class. ‘Math’ is working my way through five chapters of the textbook, at two pages a day. ‘Planning’ is doing several projects. Science and socials are reading through their respective textbooks. And I will need to sit beside my brother for about nine hours every day. Have you seen Shrek Two? Remember Donkey? That’s my brother—my own, personal, annoying, talking animal. I love him, but he can be quite persistently annoying sometimes, okay, I’ll be truthful, he can be quite aggravating.

Now you might, or might not, be wondering what we are going to be doing with our dog. I’ll tell you. She will be staying with our Grandparents, who live just up the street. We have quite a sensitive, high-strung and emotional dog. While we are gone, she will mope and pine for us. I’m not joking. And, of course, she’ll get fat, because that’s what Grandparents are for.

Hopefully, now you have a sense of my background and some reference points for what I will post in the future. Just so you know, everything else will be about our trip.