Week ending April 26, 2012

On Thursday, we drove into Calgary to catch up on a few things. We had an 11:00 appointment with our financial team so we could sign the originals of all the forms that we had faxed back and forth over the winter. When we were done there, we went over to Scotia Center to visit with a few of the T3 team members John had been working with before retiring. We had a good chat with Krishna, Mark and Grant. After lunch with Krishna, we headed to get our hair cut at our usual spot, only to find out it had closed over the winter. We did manage to find another place in the Beltline. Then we finished the tasks for the day by going to John's doctor to get the necessary prescription refills.

On Sunday, we drove out to Canmore to have lunch with friends Al and Sharon and check out the new house they have almost finished building. Then we had supper with our friend Elizabeth at LunaBLUE Restaurant where we each had a different tasty pasta dish. Then we stopped for tea and cookies that had been left on Elizabeth's door step and butter tarts.

On Wednesday, we ordered new glasses for Joan and took our grandson Anthony, and the family, out to dinner to celebrate his 16th birthday.

Week ending April 18, 2012

On Thursday, we took a quck trip to Armstrong to pick up some cheese at Village Cheese, and some cereal and pancake mix at Rogers Bulk Store. Joan had hoped they would have some white whole wheat bread for a recipe for the bread maker. Unfortunately, they did not have any, but at least had heard of it. They would have ordered some in, but that doesn't work for us.

On Friday, we did a hike around the Kenna Cartwright park in Kamloops. It is a nice wooded park on a hill with panoramic views of Kamloops in all directions. Near the end of our walk, we saw a really vivid blue bird. However, we didn't have our camera with us, and didn't think about being able to use our phone to take pictures until it was too late.

On Saturday, we checked out some more hikes. One was to a place that involved driving up a bunch of gravel roads, and as it was overcast, we decided we didn't want to take the chance of driving back on wet roads. So, we walked a short section of the 40 km. long Rivers Walk in North Kamloops. The river is really low right now, with very wide sandy areas where it looks like there is normally water.

On Sunday, we took a walk up Petersen Creek Park to Bridal Veil Falls from downtown Kamloops.

This is a nice easy walk until you get into the canyon close to the falls. Then you have to do a bit of scrambling across the creek and along rock ledges.  We remembered the camera this time!

On Monday morning, we packed up to head further east. We had been planning to stay for a few nights with friends on Mara Lake, but we found out they had gone to the coast. So we were going to stay for a few days in Revelstoke, waiting for a clear day over the mountains. However, the first campground we looked at was not really open, and was fairly damp, so we decided that, even though it was overcast, since the highway was bare, we would keep going. The weather wasn't an issue, but we found that the potholes that the highway cautions warned of were frequent, and some quite deep. There were a few stretches heading down from the summit of Rogers Pass that were very rough. When we stopped in Golden, we found most of things in the bathroom cupboard had moved onto the floor. Before carrying on, we had a burgers in the Legendz Diner, a late lunch about 3:00 PM (not as bad as it sounds since we had crossed the time change). The trip through the parks was uneventful. We arrived in the Bow Rivers Edge RV Park in Cochrane about 6:30, and got set up before having a late supper. The trailer had cooled down to 50F (which we think is the bottom of the thermostat's range), so it took a while to get the temperature back up to something tolerable.

We were a bit concerned about the limited facilities before May 1 in Bow Rivers Edge, since they only have electric hook-up over the winter. We thought we would have to move the trailer every few days to drain the tanks and fill the water tank. However, they kindly fill the water tanks every few days, and we can use the sewer as long as we don't leave the lines open all the time. Not a problem, since we always leave them closed anyway, and only drain when the tanks are full.

On Tuesday, we went to High River to pick up the mail that was collecting over the winter, and figure out what tax forms we were missing, and get our replacement debit cards authorized. While we were in town, we went over to George Lane Park and made a reservation for the first two weeks of May. They only have 4 full service sites, which are usually used by the couples taking care of the park. However, we got lucky. This year some of the staff are local, so there are a few full-service sites available.

On Wednesday, we made phone calls to arrange to get our missing forms, and entered our tax info into Turbo Tax. We will wait to file until we head back to the kid's place in High River, so we don't put all our info over campground wi-fi.

week ending April 12, 2012

After arriving in Vancouver on Sunday, we setup for the first time in months. Everything went reasonably smoothly, except of course, for the satellite alignment. As one of the neighbours said while he was trying to find a signal, getting the satellite set up is probably the number 1 cause of divorces with RVers. But, we found out that you can get a picture with 27% signal. Fortunately, with a repositioning, and a power bump on the receiver, we were able to get the signal up around 80%.

On Monday, we took it easy, with just a stroll around the RV park, checking out the various units located here. This is a much bigger park than the one we stayed at in Victoria.

Tuesday, we had our GPS guide us into Metropolis at Metrotown, the largest mall in Vancouver. After wandering around the shops for a few hours, but not buying anything, we had lunch in the food court, both choosing to have a quarter chicken dinner at Nandoo's. It was very good, and we even picked up a bottle of their garlic sauce to take with us.

Wednesday, we spent a few hours at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. They have done a really nice job, with several walks through the rainforest and along the edge of the canyon, with many informative signs. 

Thursday, we walked through the Serpentine Fen marsh area near the RV park. There were only a few birds in the marsh.

Good Friday morning, we walked the length of Crescent Beach. This was a really interesting walk along the edge of the mud flats between the Roberts Point Peninsula and White Rock. There weren't as many shore birds as expected, but we did see 3 herons. The tide was low, so it was possible to walk a long way from shore. In the muddy area, along with the eel grass, there were a lot of different types of shells, most empty, but the further we got from the high tide line, the more it looked like there might be creatures still in the shells. In addition to the common clam shells, there were a few pectins and some thin conical shells. It was difficult to avoid stepping on them in the damper areas. We parked ourselves on one of the many driftwood logs along the high-tide line to enjoy a lunch of peanut butter sandwiches on bread made in our bread maker. 

On Easter Sunday, after Joan put our scalloped potato dish into the slow cooker, we went for a walk around Redwood Park in South Surrey. After the area had been logged many years ago, twin brothers planted trees from all over the world. There are giant sequoias, redwoods, walnuts, maples, several types of firs, oaks and cedars.

In the morning the sky was clear and we were able to see Mount Baker, one of the few times this winter that there haven't been clouds covering it. On our way back from the park, we stopped at McD's for some triple-thick milkshakes which we enjoyed on their patio.

Later that day while relaxing in the trailer, we had a visit from the Easter bunny. A small rabbit was nibbling on the flower stems behind the RV next door to us. 

On Tuesday we packed up the trailer again, and travelled through the Fraser Canyon to Kamloops. The weather was good for travelling, not too cold and bit overcast, so not as warm as the last couple of days in Vancouver, when it got up to about 20C.

October 2011 to April 1, 2012

Now that spring has arrived, we are resuming our travels, so it is time to update the blog.

After getting set-up when we arrived at Westbay RV Park in Victoria for the winter, we met a number of other full-timers, so shared tips about the various challenges we encounter that are particular to the RV lifestyle. Their friendship made the winter pass pleasantly.

The weather over the winter was quite good. In general, the low temperatures were a bit above the average lows for the season, and the highs were a bit lower. Since our main concern over the winter was keeping the trailer warm, that worked out quite well. We only had a couple of days in one stretch when it got down around -5 C with a bit of snow. Occasionally, the low would be one or two below, but usually it was around, or just above zero. Once in a while we would get winds with strong gusts, that were annoying, but they rarely lasted more than a few hours.

We had a lot of good weather, which allowed us to spend a lot of time walking around Victoria and area, using a book we bought about walks in the area. There is a large variety of walking areas, along the shore in the city, in parks on the many small, and a few not so small, hills in town, and around the various lakes in the areas around the city.

We saw a variety of animals in the parks and lagoons, including a bald eagle on a rock in the harbor, a peacock in Beacon Hill Park, a seal at Fishermans Wharf, and swans in the Esquimalt Lagoon Migratory Bird Sanctuary. 

We found out that there is a Niagara Falls in Goldstream Park, which, while not as wide as its namesake, is a bit higher.

John had planned on joining a curling league, and possibly a rubber bridge group, but decided that it would be better to just take advantage of the many walking opportunities.

We also went swimming 2 days a week at the local swimming pool.

Of course there were those days when it was cool and damp, those were the days we spent lolly-gagging around in the trailer watching TV, playing PC games or WII and reading.

In November as an anniversary gift to ourselves we went to Just for Laughs Comedy Tour.

In mid-December, Brian and Kris, friends from Calgary, joined us for a few meals. They had sold their condo in Calgary, and were renting in Comox while they house-hunted in that area.

Karen and Dominique joined us for Christmas, arriving Dec 24th and flying out Dec 28th. Joan actually roasted a turkey in the little RV oven. She learned how to bake cookies and all sorts of treats in the electric frying pan, waffle iron and other electric appliances. We also had a couple of our neighbours over for Christmas dinner.

While Karen and Dominique were here, we went to Fort Rodd National Historic Site, and Fisgaard Lighthouse.

We did golf once, in January, and, no, we did not need coloured golf balls.

February was vacation time, so we went up to Courtenay to visit our friends Kris and Brian. They had just purchased a house and took possession the day after we arrived. They had quite a few renovations planned, so John and Brian did some stripping out old walls in the basement. That was really John's only work for the winter, except for repairing a leak in the roof over the shower, and washing the trailer.  On our way up to Courtenay, we stopped in Cedar to visit Bill and Penny, friends whom we met last summer in the campground in Ottawa, and enjoyed the muffins and coffee they had ready for us.

In early March, we attended a Susan Jacks concert with the proceeds going to the kidney foundation. We really enjoyed the show. Considering she had a kidney transplant 2 years ago, she is in great shape.

Toward the end of March, Ann, John's sister, and her husband, Daniel, arrived in Victoria. We spent a couple of days with them, taking them to some of the places we found interesting.

The last week of March, started getting ready to travel again. We had moved the couch from the side of the trailer to the back window, and had to move it back, so we could close the sliders. We disassembled the set of stairs that Janet had made for us, and packed them in the trailer storage space.

On April 1^st, we went through the routine of closing up the trailer and hooking it up for the first time since October. Everything went smoothly, as we departed Victoria and headed back to the mainland to Peace Arch RV Park in Surrey, our first step on our way back to Calgary for appointments in late April.