Hello dear steemians,
Today I share with you another one of my Candian adventures, and it’s a very special one.
I decided to return to Berry Farm, to get a chance to see things that I possibly missed last time and also have a pretty relaxing day after intense few days of sightseeing. It was in general a cloudy day, so Berry Farm, located quite close was a perfect venture for me… also, I needed to have some more of that Saskatoon pie that left me speechless last time. I honestly thought that it will be a pretty relaxing day, ohhh…. Was I soo soo wrong…..
After arriving at the farm, I had a stroll around surroundings once again. I picked up some saskatoon berry jam which was made there from a gift shop, to bring back into the UK, lengthening the berry dreamland I was in.
And then came the favorite part of food, I sat at the café, ordered a chimichanga, drank loads of coffee and finished with the perfection of the Pie again. I will spare you from sharing the same images that I did in my previous Berry Farm blog, so feel free to head over there if you haven’t read it yet. It will grant you a little more insight to the story!
Being full on food and coffee, I headed outside to the canyon view part, with my travelling journal in aim to fill in the pages while breathing some fresh air with amazing views. I sat there for a minute, took a few photos, and manged to write a little bit… but it wasn’t too long before my previously chilled day would take a full 360 turn, and I wouldn’t have it the other way…
(My face when the lightning stroke down)
Just as I was taking some pictures, a lightning stroke in the distance. I watched as the dark clouds started hovering over the sky, in a very dramatic and quick manner. It seemed like in a movie… At this point I was standing on the hill, with a canyon and hills stretching in front of me, so I had a pretty clear view!
The clouds were forming into weird shapes, and I was standing there watching in complete amazement. And there it was another strike…this time I saw all of it, touching the ground, and the sound was so damn loud. And that’s when my excitement kicked in. All the other tourists varnished, while I stood there with my company begging to stay longer. I saw rapid rain fall in the distance and it wasn’t long until it reached us. I stood under a tree but even that wasn’t enough to keep me dry, so in the matter of seconds I was completely soaked, just watching thunder and waiting for another lightning strike!
(Excuse the quality but I didn't bring my rain camera protection, and it was getting wet, so I took out my phone!)
And…. Then it happened. A strike of lightning hit right behind us. RIGHT BEHIND USSSS!!!! I saw it in a split second, hidden behind the trees…. And as soon as it hit, the loudest sound along with some good ground shaking started happening. At this point my jaw just dropped. I don’t think I have ever been this close to lightning … but also I’m not a suicidal maniac so knew I need to head somewhere safer at this point!
(Where I saw the strike hit!)
So through rain we started running, into the café (which by now closed down). And took cover under the wooden roof of it. We texted our lift to pick us up, as it seemed the place was shutting down at this point and looked at the rain surrounding us. The path was starting to flood… and the clouds kept getting darker over us, making it seem like evening time. The dramatic contrast has left me in awe and excitement. Yes, I was happy to have witnessed this and here’s a reason why…
Since a very young age (since I watched the twister -movie- as a kid actually), I discovered an underlying love for tornadoes and storm chasing. I would read books, watch documentaries, print photos and hang them on my wall of beautiful yet very destructive tornadoes. In fact, tornado chasing has been on my bucket list in a number one place for a long long time. I still re-watch the twister movie, and although it aged a bit, it’s one of my favourites still. Storm chasing has been on my mind since first day I flew into Canada, and although such a rare occurrence, just the fact that there was a possibility of seeing one, gave me indescribable amount of joy. Yeah…just the idea of it.
I was looking out for clouds and checking weather channels almost every day, but I think deep inside me I knew I probably wouldn’t end up seeing one as it was still pretty early for them to be around. But this time… this time it was different. I was there, and all my tornado chasing indicators were flashing. The clouds started getting darker, and I loved it so much… now I was looking for any rotation. I was already buzzing just from the thunder alone… but the idea that there might be a tornado actually brewing up, made me feel so alive…. I can’t really put this feeling into words. I don’t think even in my most gratifying travelling moments that I’ve felt such thrill…. And that says something!
But the journey was not over yet, our lift arrived, and we got into the car very soaking but also very happy to have witnessed such views… It seemed like all that was left was a drive home, but as soon as we got on the road, the wind started picking up, and the rain started picking up also, I saw a line of dark clouds across the horizon, with a somewhat of a cone formation. As we drove, I kept watching it, and although not a tornado- I’m pretty sure I witnessed at least a funnel cloud…. Because come on, everything was pointing to it. It was quite hard to see through the tough rain and car moving, but it looked so amazing!
(Apologies for the phone quality again)
Then we got hail, and the rain got so intense the driver was starting to get as little paranoid (my excitement screams didn’t probably help). At one point the rain covered the windshield, and the road in front of us, all we saw was a massive blur. We couldn’t tell where the road was, barely could see cars in front of us… chances of actually crashing were high.
But here was Marta, in her car seat, sqealing from joy and excitement… I felt like a kid, I never felt such excitement in my life and I kept begging the driver to follow the funnel cloud but he obviously wasn’t up for it in one bit. He probably thought I was crazy. If I was in the drivers seat I would follow that cloud without the hesitation.
After about 5 minutes of this intensity, we got out of the rain and we could see the road again. The driver who actually lives in Canada said that he has never experienced anything like this before. He also said that I have issues and am crazy. I don’t blame him, I realized after that experience, that there might be some people who would never want to see a tornado, which seems odd to me hehe
I also learned that, like most dreams- we imagine what we would react like in certain situations but we are never really sure how it would turn out in real life. I always wondered about my dream of seeing a tornado. Would I actually like it or would I be scared? Well, today I found that I would probably eagerly run into one. Hehe
We managed to get back home safely, but the thunder continued on and off for the rest of the day, with me outside watching it of course and hoping for tornadoes. I was buzzing for the rest of the day, full of adrenaline and excitement. And although Canada travels have been a wonder so far, I think it’s this experience that will peak amongst them for years to come, as it’s so close to my heart.
The amount of joy I experienced was so out of this world, and honestly I can say, I can’t wait to experience this again. Hopefully in years to come I’ll save up enough money to head to tornado alley for some genuine tours. But for now, I have this memory to live off on. I am so grateful, I know it will sound cheesy – but I’m almost in tears of joy just thinking about this experience.