macblaze.ca

Morning started with getting up. This might seem obvious but it seemed to escape a few of my traveling companions. To them morning seems to be some sort of möbius loop of up and down with intermittent napping. Nevertheless we made the ups stick and moved on to the free breakfast. Apparently the breakfast boy was new and hadn’t anticipated the weekend rush so resources were scarce. We managed to snags toast, juice and coffee in between the complaining and bustling of other guests.

As I have often mentioned to Leslie the reason socialism is doomed to fail is that in times of scarce resources people tend to horde, lash out and generally devolve into smaller and smaller social groups until it’s everyone for himself. So at least one guy got a load of precooked, defrosted scrambled eggs…may it bring him much happiness. On the bright side, the fact that the ravening hordes just made us smile is a sign that we are starting to relax.

Today it’s off to Vancouver. We toyed with the old number 1, but in the end opted for the Cocquihalla because we would rather not face the drive into Van late in the day. So, more hours of being subjected to Leslie’s iPod (shudder) and over the mountains we go.

Arriving in Vancouver was, as Vancouver always seems to be, busy. Leslie and I switched off outs of Chilliwack and I proceeded to motor off until the traffic jam started. We moved at a crawl until we finally crossed the river. I could never live with that. Anyway we eventually turned on to Hastings Street and zipped downtown to our hotel. The Best Western Granville is Leslie place of choice when she’s in town so it was our ultimate destination.

After checking in and hauling our stuff we went in search of a CIBC so someone could reset their pin as their visa had ceased to work for unspecified reasons. Down near Yale town we found a bank and a Cactus Club for lunch. The food was, as always, delish. We all tried one of Rob’s specials and the girls opted for some sangria like booze.

We walked the rest of the way down to False Creek after stopping at Urban Fare to check out the travelator and peruse the bakery goods. We hopped the water taxi to Granville Island. Immediately. I dragged everyone down to then dock to check out the sailboats. Sigh. Next it was on to the fabric shop to fondle wool and fabric and an afternoon of shopping shops and trying on hats.

A quick ferry ride brought us up to Hornby street and we walked over to Davie to grab some sushi and later a brush for Carmen to help straighten out her hair–it was apparently curly. A nice walk to the hotel ended with some online updating, an nice French red and a quiet night. Tomorrow the girls are off to Simon Fraser for school and I am not going to buy that 32′ Bavaria… Nope, no siree…

Up with a headache is still up

Today we eat bagels. Well Leslie doesn’t actually want bagels and Carmen won’t toast or but butter on it so in my mind it’s not actually a bagel, but today I am definitely eating a bagel. Then we are off to Kamloops. We will have to stop and take in the sights along the way otherwise well get there too early.

We shall see…

Hitting the road brought nothing but trees and rocks until Mount Robson, at which point we found tourists. After a quick walk and snoop, Carmen (who after all is slightly smaller than a 1 year old moose) took up shotgun to Bruce’s pilot and we went west. Blue River provided lunch, tacky souvenirs and bad grammar and Bruce was relegated to the back seat.

Kamloops. Leslie drove us up and down the Number 1 while she got her bearings. Eventually we arrived at the tourist booth where a lovely lady pointed out the wildlife park, train rides and music in the park. Meanwhile Les acquired rooms at the local inn and we travelled off to meet some bears.

The park is a rehabilitation place for wildlife. There were a couple of 35 year old grizzlies sucking on watermelon and salmon steaks, a few peripatetic lynx and many many more cute, fuzzy and hungry animals.

After a very very hot stroll we headed back to Kamloops proper for dinner at Frick and Frack. Six mini beers later we were ready for a nap so we went for a walk.

Kamloops, as we had discovered years ago when we broke down here, has the best riverside park. Between gorgeous warm evenings, an incredible park and free music every night in July, the evening started some of the much needed relaxation process.

Bocephus King, a blues band was on the bill and provided our annual taste of indigenous entertainment. Sprawled on the grass, we grooved and snoozed. After a loverly evening we watched the sun set over the confluence of rivers and headed on to our hotel.

Prelude
Well we missed Bastille Day. Tired, grumpy, panicking and packing. No matter we will re-enact the day after when everyone had hangovers and guilt. We can do that.

Today we are off; the plan is on to Jasper and relax then on to Kamloops and relax and then on to Vancouver. Oddly enough, this the first time Leslie and I have gone to Vancouver via Jasper –other than that debacle with the broken radiator–better to say the first time we’ve done it in a leisurely manner.

Zak’s been toodling around London and I suspect playing a lot of cards. We hear something about his doings pretty much everyday on Facebook, but no pics yet. Rem is there now but I don’t know if they’ve met up.

T minus 2 hours…

We have lift-off

(to be continued)

Somewhere around Hinton, Carmen lost her bra. It’s a mystery. So we had to stop for her to redress herself. Apparently dressing isn’t something she can do in a car.

Our room in Jasper wasn’t ready so they bought us a free beer at the magic beer machine. Mmmmmmm.

Next up is some groceries, some dinner, some sauterne and some post Bastille shenanigans. Hopefully C can keep her clothes on.

Groceries ensued and Bruce hacked up a chicken while L @ C lolled. Later after Bruce queried where all the booze was, to which Leslie replied “what do you need booze for?”, Carmen piped in with the one-liner of the day: “look, AADAC, what holiday are you on?”

A walk around Pyramid Island, a cruise through town with a stop to get some cherry chocolates from the Candy Bears Liar took us home for a round of skipbo and beer.

And the 2010 holiday season begins:

Zak is first out of the gate; off and running to Calgary on Westjet. He should be leaving Calgary for Gatwick in an hour or so. No phone call so far…

After that he arrives in London tomorrow a.m. at 6:30 and is supposed to give us a call to let us know he’s there. We’ll see…

A last glimpse of Zak as he goes through security at YEG.

Update!

Update 2!