Travel in Canada

Now that we've visited all 50 states, I thought it would be interesting to see how many Canadian provinces and territories our family has visited. In 2014, we took a family trip across eastern Canada, spending a few days in Toronto, Ontario and then continuing via train to Montreal and Quebec City, Quebec. We boarded a cruise ship in Quebec City and sailed to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and then Sydney and Halifax, Nova Scotia. That trip was incredible. During multiple cruises to Alaska, we have spent time in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, both fantastic cities. I've loved every minute I've spent in Canada. 

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Of the ten provinces in Canada, we have been to five. We have not been to any of the three territories, although we've been less than 50 miles from the border to the Yukon during visits to Skagway. I'd actually planned to visit during our July 2022 cruise, but the ship ended up skipping Skagway due to a rockslide. 

I don't know if we'll ever make it to all three Canadian territories (we haven't even been to most of the US territories), but I'm fairly confident we will visit the five remaining provinces eventually. St. John, NB and St. John's, NL are both accessible by cruise ship. Or, when we make it to Augusta, Maine, New Brunswick is only a three hour drive from there.  

I want to visit Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba by train. We had a wonderful experience riding the clean, safe, and convenient Via Rail a decade ago and immediately started talking about seeing more of Canada by train. 

I'd like to start our vacation in Winnipeg and head west from there. Unfortunately, we can't fly nonstop to Winnipeg. (I hate layovers, but I'll just have to deal with it.) In Winnipeg, my top priorities are the Manitoba Museum and the Royal Canadian Mint. After 3 or 4 days, we'd head west on the train on a 13-hour journey to Saskatoon. This itinerary is pretty close to how we'd spend our time. Then onward to Edmonton, a 10-hour train ride, where we'd spend a few days. From there, I could see us continuing on the train to Jasper and then Vancouver (nonstop flight home for the win!). Or, more likely, we'd rent a car and head south to Calgary and Banff. I'm imagining this trip to be sometime between May to October. I'm perfectly content spending my winters in California and letting Canada have their winters all to themselves.

The Youngest Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement

If someone asked you to name one of the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, chances are good you'd mention Martin Luther King, Jr. or Rosa Parks. Perhaps John Lewis or Medgar Evers or Fannie Lou Hamer would come to mind. All of these adults made important contributions in the fight for equality. 

Not all who struggled for equal rights were adults. Countless children joined their parents, teachers, and religious leaders to stand up against discrimination. Today I want to focus on some of those young heroes. Below, you'll find my recommendations for kid-friendly books you can use to help the children in your lives better understand the courage of these young freedom fighters. You can find many of these books at your local library; I've also included affiliate links throughout this post if you prefer to purchase the books.

I'm going to start with one of the most famous young heroes: Elizabeth Eckford. When she was 15, Eckford was part of the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School in 1957. Her story is told in her outstanding book, The Worst First Day: Bullied While Desegregating Central High. Not only is the story powerful, but the illustrations are as well. 

The book Why Did Grandpa Cry? is about Central High School student Ken Reinhardt. Reinhardt, who was white, stood up for Elizabeth Eckford and the Little Rock Nine. This book makes an excellent companion to Eckford's and reinforces the importance of being Upstanders. 

Ruby Bridges is another brave child who, at six, integrated her previously all-white elementary school in Louisiana. Her book I Am Ruby Bridges is a best-seller. I highly recommend it. 

Have you heard of Susie Clark? Her story of integrating Iowa schools in 1868 is told in verse in Susie Clark: The Bravest Girl You've Ever Seen. I was sent a promotional copy for Black History Month. I'm so glad for the introduction to this unsung hero, who fought for equal rights long before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 1960's. 

Of course, integrating schools was not the only way children made a difference in the Civil Rights Movement. Over a thousand Black children in Birmingham, Alabama volunteered to march for their rights in the Children's Crusade in 1963. You can read about their story in Let the Children March. 

Learn the fascinating story of Audrey Faye Hendricks in The Youngest Marcher. At age 9, Hendricks was the youngest known person to be arrested for a civil rights protest. 

The Greensboro Four were teenage college freshmen when they chose to engage in peaceful protest by sitting at the 'whites only' lunch counter at Woolworth's. I'm a fan of Andrea and Brian Pinkney and Sit-In is fantastic. 

Teenager Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in 1955 and was arrested... nine months before Rosa Park's famous arrest for the same reason. Read about her fascinating story in Because Claudette. 

I could go on and on, but I'm going to wrap up this post with another Upstander. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was a white teenager who was one of the Freedom Riders in 1961. Two years later, as an adult, she was the first white person to join in the Woolworth's lunch counter sit-ins in Jackson, Mississippi. Learn more in She Stood for Freedom. 

While these books are great to share with kids during Black History Month, they're just as important during the other 11 months of the year. Black lives matter. Black kids matter. Black history matters. All year long. 

Universal Yums: Snacks (and Learning!) from Around the World

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to visit grocery stores and markets. The farther away I am from home, the more I like it. I find it absolutely fascinating to see what is for sale, how things are arranged, and what interesting stuff I can find that I wish we had at home. (Like that amazing orange juice machine in the French grocery store!) I especially love trying regional dishes and local snack foods. Food is such a huge part of culture and a great entry point for learning more about other people's traditions and customs. 

Knowing this, my mom gave our family a Universal Yums subscription for Christmas (affiliate link). It is the best gift! Each month, we get a themed box, packed with tasty snacks. This was January's box, all about Poland: 

As you can see, there's more than just snacks in the box. There's a fun info card all about Poland; the back has a Yum Scoreboard (for ranking the treats), suggestions for more Polish Yums to try, a Polish language lesson, and a scavenger hunt activity. There's a cool sticker sheet. Best of all is a 12-page pamphlet chock full of tons more fun information about Poland, a trivia game, information and nutrition facts about all the foods in the box, a list of Polish sayings, and a recipe for Zapiekanka, Poland's favorite street food. There's a QR code that leads to even more fun stuff, including bonus recipes for Poland's best foods. 

I absolutely love how educational and kid-friendly this snack box is. There's a ton of potential for learning here - between the snacking and the games and the recipes and the trivia and the language - you could plan a lot of family fun around a single box. And yet it's still fun for teens and adults. I learned a lot about Poland!

So how were the snacks? Great! Here is a sampling of what we got: 

The Monster Munch Potato Snacks, the Lemon Cream Cookies, and the Cocoa Glazed Gingerbread Sticks were our favorites. But there wasn't a single item we didn't like. 

Poland was actually our second box. We got an "Around the World" box at Christmas to tell us our gift subscription was starting. 

Like the Poland box, the Around the World box had a selection of foods, an info card with Yum Scoreboard, a sticker sheet, and a 12-page pamphlet. Rather than focusing on one country, the pamphlet talked about winter holidays around the world. The snacks in the box were from Taiwan, France, the UK, Argentina, Spain, Ukraine, and Italy. There's a trivia about countries including Peru, Norway, and Turkey, a recipe for a Swedish casserole, instructions for playing Dreidel, a game based on holiday characters including Santa Claus, Mari Lwyd, La Befana, and Gryla. It's really kid-friendly and fun to do as a family. 

Here are the foods that were in the Around the World box:

We all tried everything, of course. We loved the French macaron truffles and the Mocktail Bonbons in particular. None of us were fans of the Salted Egg Yolk Popcorn. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever had by far, but now that I've tried it, I don't need to eat it again. 

I'm really excited to get our next Universal Yums box. Thanks, Mom!

Camping Fluxx - the Perfect Gift for Scouts and Camping Enthusiasts

I am a big fan of Fluxx, the ever-changing card game. In addition to the original, there are a lot of themed versions of Fluxx. My favorite so far is Across America Fluxx, but I'm really excited about the latest addition to the Fluxx family, Camping Fluxx. The folks at Looney Labs sent me an advance copy to review and I'm happy to say that I love it! This post contains affiliate links. 

Just like the many other versions of Fluxx, the winner of Camping Fluxx is the person who has the green Keeper cards that fulfill the pink Goal card. Of course, it's harder than it sounds, since the Goal can change many times during the game! In addition to Keeper and Goal cards, there are three other types of cards: yellow New Rule cards; blue Action cards; and black Creeper cards. 

The Keeper and Goal cards all have a fun camping theme... which makes this game absolutely perfect for Scouts! For example, the "Be Prepared" Goal requires you have the Bug Spray and Rain Gear Keepers. The "I Like 'Em Burned" Goal needs a Campfire and Marshmallows. 

Another reason you should immediately buy Camping Fluxx for all the Scouts in your life? These New Rule cards!

The Camping Bonus awards an extra draw and an extra play to all players who are on a camping trip. And the Scout Bonus give an extra draw to any Scout and two extra draws to an Eagle Scout! My Eagle loves that he and his fellow Eagles are recognized like this. Fun fact: Fluxx's creator, Andy Looney, became an Eagle Scout in 1981!

Creepers are the whammy cards of Fluxx. In Camping Fluxx, there are two: Rain and Mosquitos. Both can put a serious damper on a camping trip and both can prevent you from winning Fluxx.  

Camping Fluxx is great fun and a wonderful addition to the Fluxx family. It'll be coming along on all of our future camping trips!

Black History Museums on my Must-Visit List

As we begin Black History Month, I want to repeat something I've said over and over: It is incredibly important that all Americans learn about Black history, the Civil Rights Movement, and the many accomplishments of Black Americans who have made our country a better place. Teach yourselves and teach your children. Books and movies are valuable and can be great tools for learning, but if you can visit the museums and sites where history was made it will be so much more impactful. 

Last year, I wrote about 9 Places to Learn about Black History in the United States. I've been to each of them and highly recommend visiting. Since writing that post, I've visited Little Rock Central High School. You absolutely MUST go. It's such an important place in US history. We were lucky enough to have one of the best guided tours I've ever had, anywhere. Talk about history coming alive! 

I've updated my graphic to 10 important Black history sites. 

There are so many more places to learn about Black history. I'm keeping a running list as I learn of more, in hopes that someday I can visit them all. 

• National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, D.C.)
• Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park (Church Creek, Maryland)
• National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel (Memphis, Tennessee)
• Stax Museum of American Soul Music (Memphis, Tennessee)
• American Jazz Museum (Kansas City, Missouri)
• Whitney Plantation (Wallace, Louisiana)
Rosa Parks Museum (Montgomery, Alabama)*
• Wright Museum of African American History (Detroit, Michigan)
• Jackie Robinson Museum (New York, New York)
• National Center for Civil and Human Rights (Atlanta, Georgia)*
• Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park (Atlanta, Georgia)**
• Jim Crow Museum (Big Rapids, Michigan)

*Both of these museums were closed for the holidays when we visited Alabama and Georgia. It was incredibly disappointing, but we'll be back. 

**I have technically been to Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park, but only saw the outside. It was closed due to COVID when we visited. I will return someday to see the rest of it. 

Do you know of any other great places to learn about Black history? Let me know in the comments!