'We always bring her with us': Alberta woman honours deceased sister by hiking with Matryoshka dolls
Anytime Julie Chomlak goes for a hike or — prior to the pandemic — travels the world, she never leaves the house without a special doll.
The 24-year-old is an avid collector of Matroyshka dolls, also known as nesting dolls.
"I have a whole shelf of them and when I look I kind of just think I’ll take that one today or I’ll ask my boyfriend which one should I bring," said Chomlak.
Along with her love for them, there is another reason the dolls are special. Chomlak shared her passion of the dolls with her older sister, Jenna, who tragically passed away in 2018.
“We were on a family vacation in the Dominican Republic and she had a pulmonary embolism on the day we were supposed to fly home,” she said.
Chomlak describes her sister as an old soul and someone who loved to help people. Jenna also liked to travel.
“There was just a lot of places in the world that she didn’t have the opportunity to go to because she was so young when she passed," she said.
After a family friend took one of the Matryoshka dolls to Kelowna, it inspired Chomlak to start taking the dolls on all her adventures. Together with her boyfriend, Danny Nguyen, they’ve summited countless mountains in Canmore, Banff and Kananaskis.
They’ve also taken the dolls out of the country to Hawaii and San Francisco.
"She is the dolls," said Nguyen about Jenna.
"I think it’s a beautiful way to give her a tribute and our goal is take her to as many places as possible."
Chomlak takes a photo of the dolls whenever they reach a destination and posts them on her Instagram page called 'thetravelingmatryoshka'.
She says capturing the pictures are important, but the experience of being close to her sister is meaningful.
"I think just bringing the doll out and having her with me reminds me to just think of her. It just gives me an opportunity to just think about what’s really important," she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.