Magic Travels

“What are the magic words?”
“Abracadabra!” chorused the voices of the twenty or so children grouped around my feet.
“Absolutely not,” I said as solemnly as I could. They have been changed this year to …”

Magic permeates the remarkable journey of the young Patrick McLaren. With the spirit of adventure embedded in his genes, Patrick packs up his magic case and hitchhikes across Canada, spending two summers as a cowboy-guide in Jasper National Park. His off-duty magic shows are much appreciated, and Patrick is often asked to repeat his sleight of hand. While hitchhiking through Europe during a subsequent summer, Patrick continues to sharpen his craft as he finds himself performing in many unlikely situations, on one occasion, for a hostile audience at the British Embassy in Geneva. Always wanting to be at the ready, Patrick packs his magic case again when he accepts summer jobs that transport him into remote locations in Canada’s Rocky Mountains and High Arctic.

Magic shows and travel are not Patrick’s only interests. Indeed, much of Magic Travels is taken up with the tasks associated with geological fieldwork taking him to the tops of the Rocky Mountains and the High Arctic. But, somehow, the ordinary becomes quite extraordinary as horses seldom cooperate as planned, a trek to retrieve a vehicle becomes an eye-to-eye standoff with a grizzly bear, or a move to a new work camp on a Baffin Island ice cap becomes a marathon, sixteen-hour, skidoo trip in whiteout conditions. Patrick manages these and every situation with humour. It, along with optimism and a healthy dose of luck, ensure that Patrick and his colleagues come out unscathed.

The Unlikely Adventures of a Geologist: Magic Travels radiates an infectious joie de vivre. This memoir provides a captivating tale of an extraordinary young man’s formative years and hints about what will become important to him in later life.