A Mighty Good Time

I have a real difficulty announcing ahead of time that I will be leaving home and going on a trip.... as that means my house will be empty. In this day and age of internet and GPS, I shudder to think.   So, sorry to leave you waiting so long but we are now home and getting our life back to normal.  The laundry is almost complete, and I even managed to squeak in some weaving yesterday between loads.  Sort of like doing warm up's for the main event.

Our adventures started two weeks ago with Bruce's model train show in Victoria. I'm the one who handled all the sales receipts and money, so it left things to the guys to simply talk  and make the sales. They did this in fine style and Bruce had better results from the last spring's train show!  They had over 2200 people come through the doors and it was great to see many children with their parents and grandparents.  The little in-house cafe and coffee bar sold out of all food and drinks in record time!

Here's the gang just ahead of the doors opening: (from left to right) Bruce, Colin and Heath. Set up was still under way. Its a lot of work bring everything in and setting up.... standing mostly all day and then packing up and hitting the road for home. They love it though.  They are just as passionate about their modelling as we are our looms and yarn.

We had four days to sort stuff to where it goes between sales and rest up. Then start packing up again for our trip away. We were off to visit our grandson and his parents and later, head onto see Bruce's mother in the Okanagan Valley.  To help reducing the work load and stress factor, we opted to stay in a hotel. Its tough working full time and managing a home and active toddler and then throw in house guests to the mix! It also meant we had some quiet time to ourselves.

Soon our island was in the rear view and we checked into our hotel. Navigating the greater Vancouver area's traffic is always interesting as they have many road improvements under way. They have two new bridges, rapid transit trains (and I heard just yesterday another bridge has been announced for 2017). Just the sheer numbers of cars and people always has us flustered!

Once at the hotel on the 18th floor, I took some pictures from our room facing the mountains.

These are the new support cables for the one year old Port Mann bridge. The hazy north shore mountains in behind.

Then there's the Golden Ears Bridge way off in the Mission area. The mountains are in behind and they are called the Golden Ears. They can be stunning with fresh snow and sun light on them!

Then I looked down and then across the vista and noticed that the city has a lot of green space. Though I'm not crazy with what they did way over on the hillside near the mountains. I think that's called the Westwood Plateau.

Ethan is 17 months now and literally running everywhere!  He's so fast it makes your head spin. He loves technical toys and is looking for buttons to press to make them go. (He will be ready for all the high tech stuff in short order) We took him some old fashioned reading books, a sock monkey from Hilary and this toy transformer:  (sorry Hilary... I planned to take his picture with the monkey but he didn't hold it long enough to snap off a picture!) September 25th Edit: Ethan's maternal grandpa took this picture a few days after we left:

Ethan with his Prime Mate Monkey   Thanks Hilary!  He's perfect. 

He had no time for hugs and kisses, but I could hold the toy steady so he could better press the buttons and set off the lights and voice recording. That was my job for two days: hold the toy for him.    Geesh!

His favourite toy of all (right now) are these plastic rings. He has become a pro at spinning them with a flick of the wrist. He spins them on everything and can even do two at a time with both hands. Rather then spin them with a twist to the right (practice in your mind how you would do it) Ethan turns them to the left or inwards!

One last picture as it is my blog and my grandson :)  Then we were on our way.  It rained from Vancouver to Hope. (Hope is where was the first Rambo movie was filmed for the movie buffs out there)

This is somewhere out in the Fraser Valley.... no sign of hills and mountains due to low heavy cloud. But things sure changed when we came down off the Connector route to the Okanagan!

The sun came out and we had sunshine all the way in to Kelowna.  Traveling through Westbank I got a nice shot of Mission Hill winery: (click on any picture to enlarge)

Kelowna had the world's longest floating bridge but they rebuilt it after we left and I'm not sure of the stats of this one. (It was featured as an episode of  Mega Structures on the television)

Then, as part of your Kelowna tour, here's the classic lakeshore view of the city:

The Grand Hotel and Casino along with the yacht club

The downtown city park complete with sand beach.

We spent three very pleasant and relatively quiet days with Bruce's mother  and caught up on family news and simply spent time together.

Lorraine lives in a lovely town home and is doing very well on her own for having just turned 90! The time flew by and we were heading home again.

The clouds appeared to accompany us home. Here's a last look at the new bridge, with Black Mountain on the left,  as we left town.

We came down the hill off the Connector route at Merritt and turned for the Information and Tourist log house for a break and stretch our legs. A car suddenly pulled in beside us and out popped Lynnette and her husband Michael!  They were on their way to the Okanagan and somehow it all timed beautifully for us to have this chance meeting at Merritt!  A chat and a few hugs later and we were back on the road again. We had to push straight through and aim for the 5 pm ferry. Except we weren't sure of the exact time as we didn't have any internet to double check.  Going to 'wing it'.

This one is for Wendy.  This Mount Cheam between Hope and Chilliwak. Wendy recently did the high altitude Mt Cheam hike and from her pictures on Facebook, she went almost to the top, or to a high shoulder at least!

We made it to the ferry with forty five minutes to spare as it left at 5:45 pm. Its a two hour crossing and so after unloading the car we finally had our very tired feet up at 10 pm. We just got home on this past Thursday night and been settling in ever since.   Calli came back from the kennel and had a double bath and is glued to our sides when she isn't sleeping.

The ride home was fantastic!  The water was flat calm and there was a beautiful sunset....with a warm breeze.

going home!

Great end to the week!

So we are getting things caught up and we should have things back to normal soon.  I also found when we got home that we had forgot to lock the back door.  Oops...  its all okay, my looms are still here and the yarn is fine.

Happy Fall Equinox!  

From Here to There and Back Again

So, for those of you who visit for the weaving and such, then the post is not for you this time. On the other hand, if you like road trips, babies and beautiful BC, Canada... then grab a beverage and settle in.

Okay, first up:

Ethan at two weeks old

You had to know that we wouldn't be staying home for too long after the birth of our first grandchild!  We made calls, some plans and soon after, we hit the road! Okay,  the ferry first...  we left via Nanaimo harbour since we missed the message the closest terminal at Duke Point was open again (after a ferry some months ago 'rearranged' the berth structures...oops!)

We are going to slip between the two points of land and then turn to starboard, with the Coastal mountain ranges across on the other side to frame the view.

We made good time through the city and out towards the Fraser Valley and we were at Ethan's house in no time. Before I could even get my purse down, shoes off and generally in the door, I turned around and saw this scene:

Hey!

Ah, male bonding! Being a Grandad looks good on hubby Bruce.

Not to worry, I got my cuddles in! It was amazing how all the right moves came back to me and I was burping him like a pro! (feeding was up to his Mum, which happened right after this picture as he was hungry!)

It was a low key visit as it was still early since his birth.  His Mum is working on keeping him to a schedule and Ethan didn't get the memo! We did what we could to help  (cook, laundry etc) and there was a night out at Ethan's other grandparents for a birthday supper for my son. A big family dinner with kids and crying babies, loud chatter and laughter.... and lots of cameras flashing!

It might have been his father's birthday but this little man was the centre of attention. He seemed to take it well but before too long, he started to be a bit cranky....but we weren't finished snapping pictures of everyone!

A finger was okay for a while.... but he soon realized he was being duped...

So after some quiet snuggle time with his Mum and he reappeared composed, with a full tummy and ready to party!  Okay, he fell asleep....

We enjoyed our time there and hoped we were of help. Before we left, we made sure that this little boy gets a good start and made sure he had his very first..... TRAIN! His Grandad was a railway engineer afterall,  so its mandatory.

There is a button to press under the 'smoke' handle, the face lights up and it whistles and goes toot-toot. It will be awhile before he can get his hands on it, but you know we have sowed the seeds for a train crazy toddler!

Time to hit the road and head to the central southern interior of BC and go to Kelowna to see Hubby's mother for a few days.  The trip is about 4 1/2- 5 hours by car through some spectacular scenery. I had my camera ready and snapped as we drove. I knew we were heading to Avalanche Alley and its still semi winter in the mountains. Before Hope, BC. we saw Mount Cheam (click to enlarge!)

We pulled over at the Floods- Hope road and behind the Husky truck stop there was an amazing waterfall cascading down the hillside..

From there we were on the Coquilhalla Highway and  well on our way.... and soon at Avalanche Alley!

Here's just one of many we saw and also concrete platforms set by the road where they  set up howizters and shoot shells to trigger avalanches to safe guard travelers.   Next up, the Great Bear snow shed:

I wonder what it would be like to be in the shed and have snow, rocks, trees and debris hitting it and going over the edge? Probably crossing your fingers and hoping it wasn't built by the lowest bidder!   :)    On the other side, there were more mountains, some with stunning cornices of snow and glaciers.

... and then the Big Rock I was waiting for.... Yak Mountain.

It is granite rock in many layers like slate (but on a grand scale!). We reached the Merritt  Visitor Centre rest stop and stretched our legs. Then, onto the 'Connector' as its called and in the final run. The terrain up here is high altitude soft rolling hills, lots of trees and small lakes. This one is Corbett Lake:

Its a great fishing spot and there's a lodge. We often see people in 'belly boats' trying their luck.

The next view I was looking for was the distinctive big mountain that was caught up in the nasty forest fire that swept Okanagan Mountain Park and down into Kelowna, where it burnt homes (five of many which belong to friends and weavers). When you see the mountain, the lake is right there!

A few more miles and the view opens up....

Around another corner and there was Kelowna's new floating bridge....

We could see many new buildings and home built right to the  hilltops! Things are booming in Kelowna and the traffic rivaled Vancouver's at times. The most noticeable new feature?  This walkway across the six lanes of traffic.

We spent an enjoyable time visiting with 'Granny' and she enjoyed the fresh pictures we took of her step great grandson. Our visit coincided with a turn in the weather and we enjoyed toasty days on her patio admiring her garden of flowers.  I did squeeze in a yarn store visit but I'll save those details for the next post.

Soon it was time to leave and head for home.....we had glorious weather for the road back through the mountains and they put on a grand show with blue cloudless skies and white, white snow!

Yak Mountain doesn't look quite so brooding this time round.

Mount Cheam usually with  cloud cover most days, sat proud in the sunshine.

The trip home tends to wear after a bit and so we were glad to get on the ferry and get back to our Island. I napped in the car and Bruce took a picture of the brown silty waters of the Fraser River showing a clear line across Georgia Strait, or the Salish Sea as it is now called.

The spring snows we saw up high in the mountains will all make their way to the sea here. This was midway on the two hour ride.

Since getting home there have been the usual chores to tackle and catching up to do. I sat and wove a book mark yesterday but it was a happy but brief twenty minutes while I waited for laundry..  Today was groceries and tomorrow the dog goes to the beauty parlor and then.....

Well, life should be back to normal soon.... right??