Road Trip - Canada

Some of you know that I am pretty wrapped up in my tribe - politically and culturally. Dancing, singing and drumming with friends and family is awesome! I can't explain it - but the songs are still in my head from the weekend before.

Mom and I went to Duncan, British Columbia (Canada) the 2nd and came back late on the 4th. We went there for the final days of the annual Tribal Journeys - and for the beginning of the North American Indigenous Games. Anybody can go really - but we were invited guests of our friend, Edgar Charlie aka Hanaquii, Chief of Ahousat (Canadian Coastal Tribe). We had a blast. The license plates say "Beautiful British Columbia" and they really mean it - it is beautiful! The ferry rides were amazing - we had nice warm weather - blue skies - beautiful water. We took our drums on deck for the 1 1/2 hour ferry ride. We quietly played our favorite songs and without knowing it - we apparently drew a crowd. Part of that crowd were 4 Army Officers who just returned from Iraq. They were very nice and very respectful. We ended up taking pictures of each other. We also sang them an honor song - to thank them for their service.

I told them I would post this picture on my blog so here it is. :) What can we say - we make friends easily.


So we get to this little town and started to look for the place we were going to camp. We pulled into the area - which has thousands of people running around and we drove right up to Edgar. It was funny but I guess you had to be there. We spent time sitting around chatting etc. then drove around to look for friends in the dark. Came across the Blue Heron Camp - which is the Snoqualmie Canoe. Anyhow - ran into friends there - ended up drumming some more. Fun!

Next day was the Parade for the opening of the Games - we had to be bussed across town - where we lined up. The parade was really fun - an overwhelming feeling from the crowds. Lots of cameras and video cameras - we kind of felt like celebrities LOL. We lined up with our host - Ahousat - and what an experience - their singers are amazing. We drummed, sang and danced for quite a ways - not sure how far - but I can tell you that I lost weight because it was so hot and I had on my dance blanket - which in itself is hot. Part of the experience.

So here's mom, me and Hanaquii (Edgar Charlie). We were in line for the parade.

It's really hard to describe it - there were really thousands of people there - look into the big screens to get an idea - that is just part of the seating area for the athletes.

Ok - so up above is me and Haliqui ( Ralph Edgar) doing a social dance - ya so he didn't tell me he had a bad back - he paid for it the next day - but we had fun.

The one just above is us at the end of the Potlatch - we were all happy since we had a great time.

There are a bunch more pictures to share and stories to tell - I think I've rambled on enough for now. I could go on and on.