Heading off

Well, the first segment of my summer vacation is coming up.
On Sunday, I will fly to Montreal for a three-day visit with my son and Scouts from 1st Coldstream Scouts and Venturers from the Okanagan. We will then attend the Canadian Jamboree at Camp Tamaracouta just north of Montreal. This is a national jamboree being held in the 100th anniversary of the creation of Scouting worldwide. My son and I linked up with the Coldstream group earlier this year so that we would be able to attend this gathering of over 5,000 Scouts and Venturers and their leaders from across Canada, including Scouts from the U.S. and Europe.
This will be a fantastic opportunity to experience a national jamboree and visit a part of the country I would rarely get a chance to see. I actually have been in Montreal before. It was when I first emigrated to Canada as an eight-year-old. We landed in Halifax, were processed by immigration and then flew to Montreal where we stayed for two or three days while our dog was in quarantine. We then flew from there to Labrador City, NFLD where we lived for the next three years and I worked on acquiring a Canadian accent. I like to joke that I was bilingual for the next five years or so as I spoke Canadian at school and with my friends and with a Scottish accent to my parents at home. Eventually, I dropped the brogue entirely and now only use it to amuse my kids.
So I was pretty young when I was in Montreal and don't really remember much. One memory I have was seeing my first snowplow clearing the streets (it was November, a good time to emigrate to Canada from Scotland). But other than that, not much else.
So, this will be my first time there as an adult and I look forward to visiting this great city. The jamboree is quite an undertaking and I believe I may have access to my blog and will try to post some updates of my visit. Maybe even some pictures.
So, if you're interested, check back here periodically over the next two weeks and I'll give you my first attempt at remote reporting to my blog.