Summer is here. The Summer Solstice has come and gone. In a few days time, the days will begin to shorten by a couple of minutes per day as we head towards the fall.
In our last blog, we anticipated undertaking a trip to Vancouver, then south into the United States which we did. We met up with Donna's son Jeff and his daughter Laura from Langon, Alberta, and with Daryl and Cady from Saskatchewan.
It was a complete coincidence, the two girls (relatives) being in the same competition at the same place in BC, yet living so far apart (one in Alberta, and the other in Saskatchewan).
They were all in Vancouver at an international Cheerleading competition at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre. We had never been to the building before and were both surprised at how large it was.
Both Laura and Cady looked great and both did really well in their routines and although the noise from the music was deafening, it was an interesting time, something neither of us had ever experienced before. We spent some time with Jeff and Daryl while the girls executed their routines on stage. We were impressed with the level of skillsets the girls of all ages had, especially the older ones.
We spent the night in White Rock, a city in the suburbs of Vancouver then, the following morning headed for the border. We drove down the interstate 5 until we could cut across at Portland, Oregon to join the 101, a coastal highway that goes south all the way to West Burbank, a Suburb of Los Angeles.
It poured with rain right through Oregon but the views of the coast were gorgeous. We can highly recommend this journey. It's one you will never forget for its beauty, especially if it is done on sunny days.
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| Donna looking diminutive stood by one of the younger trees (only 1000 years old). |
As we entered Northern California we decided to visit the Giant Redwoods which were very impressive.
The photo above is one of the younger trees and although it's over 1000 years old, it is not nearly the size of some that exist in this amazing Place. It certainly makes one feel at home with nature. It was like........Where's Shrek? if you've ever watched the movie. I am also led to believe that some of the star wars chases were filmed here.
We were also very lucky inasmuch as, the traffic on the 101 was minimal because of the time of year, but later on in the year (we heard), the traffic lineups can be awful and very slow, especially with all the RV's that take that route
We had originally decided to visit Hollywood and Pasadena, two of our favourite places but we had a timeline we were trying to stick to, so we drove as far south as San Francisco, passing numerous vineyards on the way down with literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of grapevines all growing in neat cultured rows either side of the highway.
Eventually, we headed towards Fresno, Bakersfield and on to Barstow and then into the Mojave Desert, passing Edwards Air Force Base en route to Las Vegas, Nevada.
We spent over a week in Las Vegas, staying at the second home of some friends of ours in Henderson which they kindly said we could use. We had it all to ourselves which was a real treat after spending so long in the truck driving all those kilometres.
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| Shots of The Strip in Las Vegas |
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| New York New York behind the bus. |
We re-visited some old haunts in Vegas as we always love to do. While there we wanted to re-visit the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead a short drive from Las Vegas.
As we approached the Hoover Dam, lineups of vehicles started to appear and we still could not see the dam. We had been before but sitting in a vehicle in a traffic jam at over 100°F didn't enthral us so we decide to skip the Dam, did a quick u-turn and headed to Lake Mead National Park.
We later learned that much tighter security exists at the dam and the bridge now as the US officials don't want some nutcase blowing up the dam or the bridge, so every vehicle is either searched or inspected before they drive over. Lake Mead National Park is another gorgeous spot.
This area (the National Park) is a playground for those who live in and around Las Vegas. Users can participate in many activities in and around the lake including the famous Helicopter tours out of Las Vegas or, fish, swim, waterski, dive as in Subaqua. The list is endless.
The shot below is one of the Marina's within the park boundaries taken from a long way off. You can imagine how large this marina is if up close.
We purchased a Year's Season Pass which cost us $80 US, but that gave us access to every National Park in the US for one year and, for multiple visits which we thought was a great deal.
After Easter, most of our friends then took off camping so we had the run of John and Sandi's home in Mesquite for a few days before heading north for the journey back to Canada.
On the way, we visited Yellowstone National Park. This is truly a gorgeous place to visit. We sat waiting for Old Faithful to blow the water out of the geyser. There was hardly anyone there. We were not disappointed. Having waited for about an hour, out spewed the water, piping hot, along with lots of steam.
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| Some of the pools are gorgeous with several colours in them |
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| Old Faithful |
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| Stunning colours exist throughout the park |
Donna sitting on one of the benches at one of the many hot springs
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| Old Faithful in its glory, The Forest Rangers of the shop staff can tell you exactly to the minute when it will erupt |
That's a Heron below in the photo bottom right.
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| The Bison abound here |
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| Home on the range |
It's a real treat to see all the wildlife in the park. There are many wolves and grizzlies and Cougar (Mountain Lion) but we did not see any this time around but we did see lots of buffalo or bison.
Then, it was time to cross back over the border and back up into Canada.
We headed to Calgary Via Couts Crossing in Alberta to stay at Kath and Roddy's new home in Cranston. We had a good time with them....... and a party.
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| Son Jason, Stepdaughter Kath and friend Megan eyeing a new glass of hooch during the party kath threw at her place. |
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| Grandson Adam receiving his first ever Cell phone for his birthday. |
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| Adam agreeing to the rules for the use of the cell phone (overseen by Grandma) tough but necessary i.e. I will not use the phone in the classroom, I will not ride my bike and be on the phone. I will never cross the road while using the phone............ The list was long but, you get the message. It's all for safety |
Kath and Roddy have put in some nice upgrades and continue to do so even now. My son Jason and his wife Lucia and the kids came around for a visit and joined in on the party. It was fun.
I had caught a cold, somewhere along the way and it was getting much worse, so much so, that we thought it might develop into Pneumonia so we left a couple of days early for the drive home so as not to pass it on to the family.
We arrived back on the island to nice weather but it took forever for my cold to dissipate but it did so in the end, about six weeks later.
We had driven 6,700 km and been away for a little over a month, and upon our return, we were truly exhausted. It took some time for us to recover from that journey which we would not repeat again, at least not that far in such a short time period.
We are thinking of our next vacation now. We are contemplating Georgia, South Carolina and West Florida around the Tampa area or, Hawaii, maybe Lahaina or Kaanapali area on Maui. We have visited Oahu and Honolulu before, so don't want a repeat of that.
And finally, we are so excited. Our very good friends from Cochrane, Alberta, arrive here tomorrow or Wednesday to begin their new life here in the Comox Valley. We hope they like it as much as we do.
Donna being the "ever open-eye" found the house for them as soon as it was listed. They happened to be on location here at the time and quickly came over to see it with our realtor® (That sounds kind of funny coming from us). The rest is history.
We wish you all a great summer, plant lots, make many friends and enjoy yourselves. LIfe is to short. Time is too valuable to sit around or to dwell on insignificant matters.
As my good friend Pete Scott said to me in a Facebook post not long ago from the UK ..... "There are no rehearsals for life, so we have to make the most of it while we have it". It's so very true.
Carpe Diem..... "Seize the day!"
Ken and Donna
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