Marineland! Today we were in Thorold at The Inn at Lock Seven. A great little motel where all the rooms face the Welland Canal. After our breakfast we head to Niagara Falls and went to Marineland. It was overcast and drizzly on the 20 minute drive there so we stopped at Walmart on the way to buy umbrellas and ponchos. For the first couple of hours, it looked like we would be ok and that we would stay dry.
We saw the beluga/seal/dolphin/walrus show, fed the deer, saw the killer whale and got a bite of lunch. Then we decided to make the long trek to the rides. It’s quite a walk. The park was pretty quiet so we had no lines for any of the ride and would get off & right back on again. Thst was actually a bit rough for me, I just don’t do as well on the spinny rides as I used to! Our fortunes started to change on the 2nd trip on the Sky Screamer – the intermittent drizzle turned to a steady rain. By the 3rd run on the Dragon Mountain coaster (4 loop the loops!), it was pouring. The ponchos and brollies just weren’t enough so we sploshed back towards the main gate – just in time for the final dolphin show of the day. By the time it was over the rain had stopped, so the kids legged it back to the rides. By the time Brenda and I caught up with them it was really pouring.
That was enough – we splashed our way back to the rental van, cranked up the heat and head back to the motel. Picked up a pizza on the way and ate on our balcony watching the lakers “climbing the mountain” on the canal.
It was a pretty fun day!
Today we took a trip down memory lane on a moped- with stops at the drama club, McDonald’s on Memorial and Montego Bay. After arriving in Toronto late last night we were off to Orillia for the day. Brenda lived in Orillia during high school (grades 9 to 12). So it was a bit of a trip down memory lane – Brenda hadn’t been back since the summer after she graduated.
We started off dropping by ODCVI, the Orillia District Collegiate & Vocational Institute and were able to tour the building which hadn’t changed appreciably. It was so cool to see Brenda recalling some of the events & things of that time, and even chatting to the current drama teacher. It was fun for the kids to imagine their Mom in school! We even got a brief rendition of Brenda’s “Montego Bay” performance on the stage of the girl’s gym.
The next stop was out of town to Weber’s for burgers then we drove past the two houses where Brenda had lived with her family – Lankin Blvd in town then out by Lake Simcoe on Orkney Beach Rd. Brenda told the kids about how she had to use a moped to get back into town whenever she had work or youth group – and, because the top speed was less than 50 km/hr, how she had to take the long way on side roads.
We spent an hour walking around downtown – to the Opera House where Brenda was an usher, past the old Sam’s record store location. Finally, on the way out of Orillia, we stopped at the McD’s where Brenda worked for 4 years and got drinks for the road.
Once the nostalgia tank was full we headed for St Catharines where we will be for the next few days.
We got the whole family up in a hot air balloon this morning. We’ve joined the folks from the Calgary Balloon Club for their fall fly-in that they have each September in Drumheller. It was really quite amazing to be drifting over the town and along the Red Deer River. At one point were were floating along the river not more than 18 inches from the surface of the water – it was incredible. About halfway through the flight we landed briefly in a small field and swapped passengers – Steven and Mark jumped into the basket while Alyssa and I jumped out. As soon as we’d switched, the pilot gave a long blast on the burner and off the balloon went for the second leg of the flight. That was cool.
A trip in a hot air balloon has been one of the things that Brenda has wanted to do for a long time. A couple of years ago we purchased a balloon flight for two at a charity auction, but it was in the fall and we couldn’t line up weather and schedules. The months went by, we got busy but tried again last year with the same result.
Through Brenda’s work at the museum, she realized that the balloon that we’d been trying to get a flight on was owned by the president of the balloon club. He invited us out this weekend to join the club and we’ve been having a great weekend. We had dinner with the club members last night when we got to Drumheller, flew this morning and had brunch together afterwards. We’ll help out with the flights planned for tonight and tomorrow as well.
The kids are well into their summer routines – hiding in the house, hoping not to get caught playing on their electronics when it is beautiful and sunny outside. Whatever happened to being out on your bike all day and only coming home for food or band-aids? When I was their age…
A lot has happened in the past few days – school wrapped up, I got a ride in a P-51 Mustang, Brenda & I spent the long weekend in the Okanagan with friends, and there is news about our feathered tenants.
First the ducks – we were very pleased to see Amanduck on the nest when we got home from BC, we hadn’t missed the ducklings after all. Our excitement was very short-lived, however. On Wednesday morning we looked out the front door and saw several ducklings just lying there – dead. It seems that a predator (a skunk, we think) found the nest and killed all the babies during the night. At least the hen got away, we saw her a few times that morning. It was pretty sad for all of us.
In the back yard, the robins have hatched. Four ugly little guys that can really glom down the worms, they’re keeping ma and pa robin pretty busy. The nest is easy to see from one of our windows and we’ve hung around the sitting area enough that the parents are fairly calm about our presence.
Ok, the P-51. It is a Vintage Wings of Canadawarbird that is based at Springbank until October this year. Brenda is well connected with the Vintage Wings pilots and staff and managed to get me on the roster for a flight to Banff on Friday afternoon.
Mine was the first flight of the day and after the briefing and getting strapped in, the pilot, VWoC COO Rob Fleck, fired up that big Merlin and … Wow! After a warm up and controls check we taxied to the runway. Once we were cleared for takeoff, we lined up on the runway and Rob opened up the throttle. The sensory overload is something else! Six seconds later … we were coasting down the runway at idle.
Did you notice how I said that I got a ride in a P-51 earlier in this post? That’s because you can’t call it a flight if the wheels don’t leave the ground. Rob had aborted the takeoff due to a power surge that he felt as we accelerated. You can see where he cuts power on the takeoff run in the video. We taxied back to the hangar and that was that. The plane was unserviceable and I was done for the day. While I was disappointed about not flying, I have to say that it was the best drive around an airport ever! (Later, I found out that the problem was a broken carburetor inlet cover – a 15 minute fix, but several hours of troubleshooting first).
After the excitement at Springbank, it was a busy evening at home packing up and getting ready to head for Summerland, BC. We met up with our friends, Stu and Jacquie, at their place at 9:30 Saturday morning and hit the road. It was fine weather leaving Calgary, but clouded over quickly. We stopped for lunch in Golden (in the rain), took a quick break for ice cream at Sicamous (in the rain) and arrived in Summerland and checked into our B&B (in the rain). Fortunately, it cleared up in the evening and we had dinner at a “wannabe” Greek restaurant in beautiful downtown Summerland and celebrated Stu and Jacquie’s wedding anniversary.
Despite a bit more rain early the next morning (Canada Day), it cleared up nicely by the time that we finished a nice brunch at the B&B . We decided to head to Penticton and explore. As we drove around to get our bearings, Brenda spotted a flea market from about a mile away and eventually tricked Stu into pulling into the lot. She’d seen a leather jacket from the road and pounced on it – talking the vendor down to $50. An auspicious start to the shopping…
We headed to the beach on Okanagan Lake about noon and walked along the water’s edge, stopped for nachos at a restaurant with a patio facing the Lake and then wandered through another market. It was such a fine sunny day we decided to head back to the B&B to just hang out by the pool for the rest of the afternoon before ordering a pizza for dinner.
Monday was a full day, a little cooler but at least no rain! We had booked a tour that took us to 4 or 5 of the area wineries and then on a steam train ride. There are a lot of wineries in the area and vineyards certainly outnumber orchards. The train ride was cool – it is a 16km section of the old Kettle Valley Railway that has been preserved. The trip is out and back from the station and is noticeably downhill on the way out. To get back the engine has to switch ends and it really huffs and puffs up the grade – way different sound and feel compared to the flatland steam trains in Alberta. That evening we took Stu to see the new Spiderman movie since it was opening night.
Tuesday was our travel day home and most of it was in the pouring rain – about the last thing they need in BC. The Enderby to Sicamous stretch is quite flooded with homes and cars inundated in several areas. Last week the highway had been washed out and closed for several days. Stu did yeoman service with all the driving getting us back to Calgary before dark. OF course, a big thanks goes to my Mom and Dad for hanging out with the kids for the long weekend.
