goes road-tripping through the Canadian Rockies in search of a polar bear. What he finds is much better. {Illustrations by Oksana Badrak}

THE FIGURINE SAT ON OUR MANTEL FOR ALMOST A DECADE. IT WAS A SMALL LLADRÓ POLAR BEAR, PURCHASED IN A GIFT SHOP JUST OFF THE MAIN LOBBY OF THE CHATEAU LAKE LOUISE. LOOKING BACK, I THINK THAT BEAR COST ME ABOUT $80, WHICH SEEMED LIKE AN EXTRAVAGANT AMOUNT AT THE TIME. BUT I SPRANG FOR IT ANYWAY BECAUSE THAT DAY IN LAKE LOUISE MARKED THE LAST STOP ON A HONEYMOON ROAD TRIP THAT HAD TAKEN CALENE AND ME FROM VANCOUVER THROUGH THE CANADIAN ROCKIES VIA THE TRANS-CANADA HIGHWAY, A STRIP OF ASPHALT THROUGH THE WILDERNESS THAT IS LINED WITH SOARING PEAKS AND WITH ICE-COLD RIVERS THAT RUN CLEAR.

I had marched into the gift shop searching for a keepsake by which to remember that auspicious journey. Sweatshirts and shot glasses just didn't seem appropriate. That Lladró bear represented Canada, if only just a little, and had a permanence that bespoke a certain emotional heft; it would remind us of our adventurous drive each and every time we looked at it.

For 10 years, it did just that. As we moved from our small condo into our first house, I carefully wrapped that polar bear in newspaper and placed it inside a box for the trip from one mantel to the next. And then it disappeared. To this day, I don't know what happened to that box. I searched and searched but could not find it.

Thus began a quest to replace it. But not just any Lladró store would do, and I certainly couldn't purchase another bear alone. Sooner or later, my wife and I would have to road-trip through Canada once again, if only to visit that gift shop. Not long ago, we finally did just that.