Photo: My Dad, Mr. BBQ

Although I already took a few days off in June to visit Halifax, Nova Scotia, I’m planning to take another short vacation (just four days) in the middle of August to visit my parents in the countryside. I usually only see my parents twice a year, once at Christmas and once in the summer. While Christmas is my favourite time to be with my family, visiting them in the summer is nice, too. 

First of all, compared to my little apartment in downtown Toronto that’s surrounded by condo towers, their house, which is surrounded by trees and fields, seems like a resort! There is a nice deck with a pool and a hot tub to enjoy, and I’m fortunate enough to have my own bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living room at the other end of the house when I visit (this area used to be an in-law suite for my grandparents before they passed away). 

To visit them, I need to travel about three and a half hours by train to a city called Brockville, which is located on the St. Lawrence River. That’s where my parents meet me, and from there we need to drive about twenty minutes more to reach their house in a small rural area called North Augusta. 

Whenever I visit North Augusta, I always meet up with my best friend from high school who lives in a nearby city called Smiths Falls. These days, he usually brings his son along (his son loves to use my mother’s exercise equipment and calls it his “ninja training”). 

Although North Augusta is (kind of) in the middle of nowhere, we can drive to some interesting places, such as Merrickville or Westport, both of which are small, charming tourist towns on the water where you can visit a lot of specialty shops or sit with with some ice cream and watch the boats go by.  

There’s one more interesting thing about visiting my parents’ house; there are six cats living there! I often mention the black cat named Trouble, but there is also Una, Sylvester, Pitou, Nuit, and Lucy. Sylvester, Pitou, and Lucy are fairly antisocial and spend most of their time in the basement, but Trouble, Una, and Nuit like to spend time around people. Trouble even has his own chair at the table on the deck, where he sits with us (upright, like a human) and keeps us company while we’re drinking beer and reminiscing about old times (until the mosquitos chase us inside). It really feels like he’s part of the family. 

Even though this little summer vacation is pretty much the same every year, I look forward to it every time. It’s really nice to get out of the big city and spend some time catching up with my family!