We had a ball in Canada. Dad and Shirley are such great hosts, but their kids have ignored them so long, they now have a 5 bedroom house that only boasts one bed. We slept on a trundle bed and it does have two mattresses one on the frame and the other in a pop up trundle. I promised that we would be back every year and urged them to get a bed for one of their myriad rooms. The weather was awesome when we arrived, sunny and warm and I sat out in the garden with Dad soaking up the sun. We had heard the forecast for the rest of the week and knew that unsettled weather with rain and clouds were off the coast and headed for Vancouver. Saturday was by far the best day of the week and truly the weather was identical to that of Northern California this time of year. I call it golf weather. We took a drive after lunch into Fort Langley and enjoyed window shopping in the tourist town.
Saturday night Dad and Shirley treated us to one of their favorite restaurants (for good reason). It is a German inspired restaurant with Schnitzel and other typically German dishes. We all had the house specialty, prime rib, and enjoyed visiting and eating a delicious meal served at Elizabeth's and our hosts were the owners, Elizabeth and her husband (whose name I'd remember if it was part of the restaurant name).
Sunday dawned with rain and wind and you can see the pictures taken up at Simon Fraser University with the umbrellas and daisies. It was cold and we endured a short visit to the park and then a drive around the area and were home by mid afternoon to meet Wayne and Marilyn, who drove down from Kelowna to spend the afternoon and evening with us. Shirley fixed appetizers and a pork loin with potatoes and vegetables. Cam , Kathy and their boys joined us for dinner and we heard many hockey stories as two of the boys are big hockey stars. Their oldest, Chris, has been asked to try out for the provincial under 17 team that will compete this Summer and Fall in Canadian national competitions.
It was great seeing both Wayne and Cam and hearing how their lives are going. Cam is very settled in his life and enjoys his role as a hockey coach and GM. Wayne is just a happy go lucky guy with the perfect wife to fit his mold. They are such "up" people and make you wonder why you see hurdles in your lives where they see opportunities. It was great seeing them and hearing about their trip to Mexico this Winter and about their empty nest. They look forward to being grandparents and will both be great at the job.
Monday, we took a trip into Vancouver and toured the Olympic flame and the Olympic downtown venues. I was accosted by a beggar, who had a salesman's knack. I stopped to listen to him and my family scooted across the street ahead of me like I'd farted or something. I finally paid him $5 Canadian to shut up and move on. His story was about a broken down car and his family (including the requisite disabled child) waiting for him in West Vancouver and the need for a "twonie" for bus fare. I don't know what a damn "twonie" is and as chatty as this "I'm not a beggar guy" was, I didn't want a lecture on Canadian currency.
We enjoyed the sights of Vancouver, but it was COLD and we finally headed over to West Van for a late lunch of White Spot hamburgers. It was a treat and I even had a chocolate shake. The conversation was good and the venue was warm. From there we drove on back to Surrey and our afternoon cocktail. We were all stuffed from lunch and had a late dinner of leftover pork on rolls.
Tuesday was Dad's 73rd birthday and we all slept in a bit before gathering for breakfast. Dad opened his gift from us, which is a book on Hot Rod Garages. One of the members of the BC Hot Rod club is featured in the book and Dad seemed to enjoy the book and said that he would get it autographed by many of the guys in the book, who attend many of their car shows.
We drove out to White Rock on Tuesday and looked at a few of the homes and neighborhoods that dad and Shirley have been house hunting. The area is an absolute gem and reminds me of Aptos, California with the ocean below and a hill of homes above. The hill is at such a perfect incline that each home has an unfettered view of the ocean. The advantages of White Rock besides the perfect location is that it sits only five minutes from Hazelmere, Shirley's country club where they were married (ten years ago) and have a golf membership. We had fish and chips at a brand new Irish pub and hey were excellent. We saw the restaurant Johnny (can't) Fish where Dad and Shirley took David for dinner when he visited two years ago.
We headed back home, relaxed a bit, had (what else) cocktails and ten got ready for dinner. I bought dinner for everyone at Dad's choice, The Olive Garden, which I think was in Langley, but I could be wrong. We drove quite a distant to get to it, had a bit of a wait and then thoroughly enjoyed dinner together.
We missed Al and Shirley on this trip as they were in the Caribbean on a cruise out of Florida and won't be back for another week yet. Dad and Shirley were moving over to their place to watch the dog. Hopefully, dad truly does watch the dog this time and doesn't get bowled over by him again. To be safe, I'd suggest Depends.
The trip as a whole was a great deal of fun and we even had a deep and interesting conversation on Tuesday night about Don Miller and his death and the time leading up to Mom's passing. it was very enlightening and we see so many similarities in Dad and Shirley's stories. It's amazing, but not surprising, that they ended up together. We left on Wednesday promising to not be such strangers and told them we'd meet them at their new place in White Rock on our next trip. The flight to and from Sacramento was very easy (about 76 minutes in the air) and the 2 1/2 hour drive into Surrey was very easy. We rented a brand new Altima and quadrupled it's mileage from the 110 miles when we picked it up. It was only 2/3rd of a tank that we used on the trip and that included the drive into Langley and White Rock.
Well, Darla is waiting on me. The weather here was 72 degrees today with a high blue sky, but with a threat of rain tomorrow. The weekend looks ideal. Thank you, Dad and Shirley, for a wonderful trip and for the two golf shirts that I will put to good use. I will write more on Sunday night. Ciao.
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