Tunesday : Counting Stars

Counting Stars

(Tedder, R) Performed by One Republic

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard
Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars
Yeah, we'll be counting stars

I see this life like a swinging vine,
Swing my heart across the line
In my face is flashing signs,
Seek it out and ye shall find.

Old but I'm not that old
Young but I'm not that bold
And I don't think the world is sold
I'm just doing what we're told

I I I I feel something so right by doing the wrong thing
And I I I I feel something so wrong by doing the right thing

I could lie, couldn't I, couldn't I?
Every thing that kills me makes me feel alive.

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
Baby I've been, I've been praying hard
Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars
Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard
Said no more counting dollars, we'll be-we'll be counting stars

Ye-e-yeah

I feel her love
And I feel it burn down this river every time
Hope is our four-letter word, make that money watch it burn

Old but, I'm not that old
Young, but I'm not that bold
And I don't think the world is sold
I'm just doing what we're told

And I I I I feel something so wrong by doing the right thing
I could lie, couldn't I, couldn't I?
Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
Baby I've been, I've been praying hard
Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars
Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard
Said no more counting dollars, we'll be-we'll be counting stars

Oh, take that money watch it burn,
Sing in the river the lessons I learned
Take that money watch it burn,
Sing in the river the lessons I learned
Take that money watch it burn,
Sing in the river the lessons I learned
Take that money watch it burn,
Sing in the river the lessons I learned

Everything that kills me makes me feel alive

Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
Baby I've been, I've been praying hard
Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars
Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But, baby I've been, I've been praying hard
Said no more counting dollars, we'll be-we'll be counting stars

Take that money watch it burn,
Sing in the river the lessons I learned
Take that money watch it burn,
Sing in the river the lessons I learned
Take that money watch it burn,
Sing in the river the lessons I learned
Take that money watch it burn,
Sing in the river the lessons I learned

As I wrote about last week, we've been on our yearly pilgrimage to my parents' house in Nova Scotia, and to move away from the sad story I recounted then, this week I want to concentrate on what was good about the trip; all those stars. It's funny to me now that the first time I really remember happily belting out this song as it played on the radio was on the way home from Nova Scotia one year, so in addition to being a literal choice for this week's Tunesday, Counting Stars has an emotional connection for me, too. 

Every year, driving to Nova Scotia is the same thing: breaking the trip up with a hotel stay about half way; my brothers always asking, "Where are you stopping? Edmundston? Why wouldn't you go a little further, start a little earlier, get to the old folks' house a little quicker the next day?" As much as I feel I need the break halfway (despite Dave's suggestion, every year, that we drive straight through; which is so exhausting for me that it makes the trip pointless), stopping at a hotel only to order in pizza, watch a bit of TV and try to get to sleep right away feels like such a waste of time: not part of a vacation but something to get over with in order to make the vacation start (and yet, since arriving at my parents' home is always stressful and awkward for me, it hardly feels like a vacation anyway; what am I rushing towards here?) So this year, as it was me, Kennedy, Zach, and Ella who would be going down in the car, I decided, "Why not camp along the way?" Zach has been talking about his cartoonishly large tent for years - always disappointed that we don't need it when we rent a cottage at Sauble Beach - and I figured it would make the stop in Edmundston an event in itself; not just a waste of time. Plans were floated and we committed to the idea.

The presumed glitch in the plan: It wasn't possible to make a reservation at the campground in Edmundston - they don't take reservations, but they apparently had a lot of room and the only direction they could give us was to arrive before dark - so it was pretty stressful for us to get there fast enough as the sun was setting. In the end, we needn't have worried: as soon as got there, we understood that they didn't have set campsites; we could set up anywhere we liked and the "campsite hosts" were happy to bring over a picnic table and firebox for our use once we decided. Kennedy and Zach started setting up the tent as Ella and I went off in search of gas for the car and hotdogs, and when we returned, we had a wienie and marshmallow roast; enjoying a campfire that lasted as long as we were interested in it. This was so much better than staying in a hotel (and at $42 including firewood, a much better deal) and we hit the road the next morning pleased with the experience.

Because Zach hadn't been to Nova Scotia before (and because my parents aren't exactly anxious to spend every minute of our visit in our company), we did plenty of touristing - taking him to Lunenburg and Peggy's Cove and Halifax. 

                   

(For whatever reason, Ella tries pretty hard to be stony-faced in pictures, but she can't help smiling, lol.)

And when we picked up Dave from the airport, we were excited to report that we had had such a good time camping; refloated the idea that maybe he'd like to spend his last night camping before we brought him back to the airport and continued on our own adventure. In the end, we did all go to Kejimkujik together and it was a great time. As the only Dark Sky Preserve in Nova Scotia, the stars are incredible from this national park; I had never before actually seen the Milky Way in the night sky. And as it happened to have been the week of the Perseid Meteor Showers, the time we spent down by the lake was a beautiful spectacle of shooting stars and brilliant constellations. Because my grandfather had been a game warden in Keji (and the Tobeatic Wilderness Area abutting the park), I wanted to right the wrong of having never been there before, and my Dad was pleased enough in our interest that he insisted on bequeathing to Dave his enamelware dishes and coffeepot. Dave was pretty stoked to have received them.

We dropped Dave at the airport after our cowboy breakfast of coffee, bacon, and beans (he agreed that it had been a spectacular night and comfortable enough sleeping in the giant divided tent) and then the rest of us headed off for a bit of adventure: driving the Cabot Trail around Cape Breton and camping in the Highlands National Park. We set up the first night at Cheticamp, and were initially disappointed that the dusk hike along the Skyline Trail was sold out - until we realised that anyone could hike the trail; we just couldn't pay $14.50 each to a park guide to lead us along. So we drove to the trailhead and walked the ridgeline towards the coast, arriving at the cliffside overlooking the ocean just before the sun went down.

Okay ^ that totally doesn't capture how high up we were (that is a cliff just beyond me) but I can say that it made my knees weak to be looking down from there towards the twisting, cliffside road that we had just driven along; a road that had seemed plenty high enough when we were just driving along it. We walked back along the path into total darkness (seeing an up-close moose and her calf along the way; welp!), cooked some chili and in-husk corn over the campfire when we got back, and once again, packed up our campsite and hit the road again early the next morning.

We spent the next day driving around - north to Meat Cove for a chowder lunch and east to Ingonish Beach for a dip in the ocean (Kennedy had read about the freshwater lake that is separated from the ocean by a naturally-occurring barrier of wave-smoothed stones at Ingonish and she was enchanted by the idea [and later, the experience] of dipping back and forth between the two) - and once again, we got back to the campsite (at Broad Cove) in the dark, cooking our dinner over a campfire. 

Meat Cove

Ingonish Beach

Another well-earned rest in the tent, and then: disaster. We woke up to pouring rain and pooling leaks and all I could think was, "I don't want to try and pack all of this gear up in a downpour." But when Zach looked out, he noticed that it wasn't actually still raining (we were listening to the water falling off the trees onto our flimsy shelter) and as everyone was awake anyway, we did pack up and hit the road for the last time. 

We were driving by 6 am (yawn!), and although we all assumed that we'd be off of Cape Breton in no time, no one had really looked at how far up the coast we still were. And the road being so close to the ocean, and the weather still overcast, I drove the first leg, slowly, through dense fog and hairpin turns; it took two tiring hours to drive the 97 km back to the mainland of Nova Scotia. 

Over breakfast, Zach and Kennedy started talking about how the early start meant that we could probably drive straight through the night to get back home again - and as much as I really wanted to protest, with wet gear, the final night of camping was out of the question. In the end, we drove straight through, as though this day was a waste to get over with, and were in our own beds by 4 am. 

I'd much rather spend my nights counting stars.

                                                                                Old but, I'm not that old
                                                                             Young, but I'm not that bold
                                                                        And I don't think the world is sold
                                                                            I'm just doing what we're told