Mountain Life

“Hey there Nolan,” waved Mr. Henry from across the road. “How are things today?”

“Things are great,” said Nolan. “Dad just got back from the sales barn and he is very happy today.”

“Don’t blame him,” said Mr. Henry. “I bet he’s glad that border is open now.”

“Definitely,” said Nolan. “We were just about starving and Dad was even talking about selling the ranch.”

“Not good,” said Mr. Henry.

“Definitely not,” said Nolan. “We needed the American border to be open to our beef. It was killing us. Anyway, Mr. Henry, I got to get back to my chores.”

“No problem,” said Mr. Henry. “Tell your Dad I said hello.”

“I will,” said Nolan.

Nolan stood and watched Mr. Henry walk back into his house. He admired Mr. Henry. Mr. Henry might be old and might act strange at times, but he sure was a hard-working man. Seventy years old and still tilling the field.

“We need more people like Mr. Henry around,” said Nolan to himself.

“Yes, son, we certainly do,” said Nolan’s dad, putting his arm around him.

“Gee,” said Nolan. “I didn’t even see you standing there.”

“I know I’ve been pretty cranky lately,” said Dad.

“Dad don’t worry about it,” said Nolan. “I know you’ve been under a lot of pressure with the border being closed and all.”

“Anyway,” said Dad. “I wanted to make it up to you. How about we go fishing this weekend?”

“Really,” said Nolan.

“Really,” said Dad.

“I’d love it,” said Nolan. “We haven’t been fishing at all this summer yet.”

Nolan loved to go fishing and especially with his dad. He had been waiting all summer to spend some quality time with him. He was very excited about his fishing trip with his Dad.

“Perfect,” said Dad.

Just then Nolan’s twin sister came around the corner on her bike.

“Hey Nolan,” said Jessie. “Did Dad tell you we are going fishing?”

“Yeah,” said Nolan. “And I can’t wait.”

“Me either,” said Jessie. “Cause Dad also said we are going to go fishing in Trail!”

“Really,” said Nolan.

“Yes,” said Dad. “That was my other surprise.”

“Oh sorry,” said Jessie.

“Are we really going to Trail?” asked Nolan.

“Yes,” said Dad. “Really!”

Both Jessie and Nolan loved Trail, BC. They loved fishing on the big Columbia River that runs through it. They love the mountains, they love the weather, they love the fact that they could sit out at all hours of the night and not be bugged by mosquitoes.

“When are we going?” asked Nolan.

“This weekend,” said Jessie.

“I can’t wait,” said Nolan.

“Well,” said Dad. “It is only two days away.”

“Yeah,” said Jessie. “And Dad even rented an RV.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Nolan. “This is going to be a riot!”

The night before the trip to Trail, Jessie and Nolan could hardly sleep because they were so excited. They did however manage to get up early and were all ready to go when their Dad got back with the RV.

“Remember our trip to Trail last summer,” said Dad, while they were driving along the mountainous roads in BC.

“How could we forget!” said Nolan. “That was the best trip ever.”

“Yeah,” said Jessie. “But at least this year it won’t take as long to get there.”

Nolan, Jessie and their Dad lived in Ontario, Canada the year before, in fact they were born and raised there but never really liked it much. They didn’t like the smog, they didn’t like the pollution and they didn’t like the fact that there were so many people. Last summer, their Dad took them on a trip to BC and they all fell in love with it, so they made up their minds when they got back home that they were going to move to BC and when spring came around that is exactly what they did and they have loved every minute of it.

Nolan, Jessie and their Dad didn’t catch any fish on their holiday to Trail but they enjoyed it just the same and they enjoyed it so much that they decided that they would make Trail their favourite vacation place.