Blair's Blog

This post was delayed a couple of days because the server crashed. Thanks to Sean’s Emergency IT Response Service Inc., we are back on the air.

Our two days in Victoria were really quite enjoyable. On Friday afternoon, we walked about the harbour front and saw a couple of buskers and just enjoyed the warm day. After a bit of discussion with the kids we decided to head for the Bug Zoo. Despite a bit of a dodgy start with the entrance being the gift shop and then seeing that the whole “zoo” was only about double the size of our living room, it turned out to be a really great place to visit. It turns out that you just don’t need a lot of space for bugs.What really made the experience a good one, was the enthusiastic commentary provided by the two ‘twenty-something’ guides. Both were young ladies that had an ability to grab some giant bug out of it’s cage, show it around, maintain their narrative and never flinch. The one girl was so good at her job that she got Brenda to hold a tarantula! We spent several hours there and the kids interest never flagged.

In the evening, we were able to catch up with some friends from our time in Australia. Back in 1997, Errol and Maria were a newlywed Canadian couple that we met as they spent about 8 months touring Australia and used our house as bit of a base from which to launch their various tours. After having lost touch in the last couple of years, Maria found me on Facebook and we were able to spend an evening with them and their two boys.

Saturday we had a slightly later start to the day, but the first thing we did was to walk a block to the BC Legislature in time to see the Emperor and Empress of Japan on part of their Canadian tour. Apparently, this is a pretty rare opportunity as the Emperor and Empress rarely make appearances in public.

The afternoon was spent on the waterfront again and we watched the buskers again. Steven was picked from the crowd to assist one of the performers and actually made $5 from a busker! We had lunch at the Olde Spaghetti Factory (one of the kids favourites on holiday) and then went to the Undersea Gardens in the Victoria harbour. This was the opposite of the Bug Zoo, it looked good from the outside but the actual exhibits were pretty second rate – not recommended!

In the evening we headed to our friends Keith and Pippa’s new place in Victoria for dinner and a visit. Keith and Pippa used to live in Chestermere, but moved to the coast last year, so it was good to see them again.

Today we slept late and then made our way up to Thetis Island, catching the ferry at 2:10 pm. That gave us plenty of time to settle in to our cottage at Capernwray Harbour and spent a little time exploring the beach before dinner. We are looking forward to the rest of the week here at Capernwray – it’s a beautiful spot and there are lots of great activities for the whole family.

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We got a reasonable start on the day on Wednesday, leaving Salmon Arm about  10:00 am.  We stopped in Hope for lunch and to let the kids run around in a park for a bit then headed into Vancouver.  Our timing wasn’t the best, we were headed right into the rush hour, so Brenda googled up some attractions in the lower mainland and we decided that a visit to For Langley would be interesting.

Fort Langley turned out to be a great stop, it is a Parks Canada site and they have retained much of the historical character of the place.  It was a bit drizzly out and we pretty much had the place to ourselves – the staff gave us one on one guided tours of the buildings and site.  There was a lot for the kids to do as well, feeding livestock, making barrel staves with a spokeshave and, later in the evening, cooking bannock over an open fire.

After Fort Langley we stopped briefly for tea with some friends of the family, Ralph and Marilyn Bagshaw have know my parents for years and we dropped by their house for a short visit before heading to our hotel in North Van.

Thursday, we started the day with pannekoek for breakfast and then headed to the Vancouver Aquarium.  The aquarium was quite busy, so we just took our time and saw what we wanted to over the course of the day.  There was a new baby beluga whale again this year, which was quite cool to see.  There was also a brand new (opened just 2 days before we were there) “4D” theater that we got to see.  Feeding the bullfrogs was a highlight too.

We didn’t get out of the aquarium until 6:00 and by the time we got to Tsawassen, we ended up on the last ferry of the day.  It was midnight before we settled into our hotel (The Royal Scot Hotel), which is a suite with a kitchenette.  It is spacious and quiet and one block from the harbour and parliament building.  It seems luxurious compared to the run-of-the-mill Best Western’s that we’ve been in so far!

Now that we’ve had a sleep in, breakfast and an hour or so at the hotel pool, we’re about to head out to see what sights we can see in Victoria.

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Today was a full day, but not a lot of memorable vacation moments accrued.  Yesterday we did a bunch of prep for the holiday and I cleaned up the van so that it would at least start out neat and tidy.  Today we finished up the packing and did all the last minute things around the house – drank the last of the milk and ate up leftovers, mowed the lawn (thanks, Steve!), watered the plants and so on.

We hit the road about 2:00pm and by 2:03, Brenda and Alyssa had conspired with Tim Horton’s to begin returning the van to it’s natural state by purchasing a blueberry-filled, powdered-sugar donut.  The spotless exterior then joined the interior in the quest to maximize entropy by attracting a rainstorm less than an hour later…

The driving was good, Tuesday afternoon and evening is pretty quiet on the highway.  We had a little picnic supper just before Golden at the Kicking Horse River rest area.  From there it was straight through to Salmon Arm, we had just enough daylight to go for a little walk as a family and then the kids got a little dose of TV in the hotel room before turning in.

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The kids had a professional day on Friday, so I took a vacation day to make a 4-day weekend for Victoria Day. Friday started out nice and sunny and I managed to get a bunch of yard work done before we tossed overnight bags into the van and drove to Banff in the afternoon.

It was a nice drive out, there is still a lot of snow in the front ranges and the peaks were still crowned with white snow. We arrived into Banff and spent the afternoon poking in and out of the shops on Banff Avenue. By dinner time we were all pretty hungry and had the carb-lover’s special at The Olde Spaghetti Factory – we’d eaten there last year with the kids and that’s where they wanted to have supper!

After the obligatory hour to digest, we headed for the pool at the hotel. The kids vetoed the Upper Hot Springs, because it’s a “boring pool that you can’t play in”. Apparently they have not learned the value of a relaxing soak at the end of the day…

Saturday morning was bright and sunny and, after breakfast, we drove out to Lake Louise. I don’t think that I’ve been to the lake for about 20 years and I’ve never done any of the trails in the area, so we took a walk down the shoreline trail. The rest of the family turned back after awhile, but I went to the end of the lake – then had to hot-foot it back to meet up with the others.

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