Tuesday - October 18, 2011

Went to Nordic Tugs this morning to pick a port hole screen and pay my bill for the venturi, I ordered two months ago and received last month. As with the whole US economy, the boat building business is very quiet, although they do have a couple of boats under construction. We then drove down to the City of Anacortes to look around. Interesting town which has a ferry that runs to Victoria. Lots of interesting but not trendy stores.

After visiting Anacortes, we drove back to La Conner and went to dinner at the La Conner Bar. Had a good wheat beer. First one in a while.

Monday October 17, 2011

From our room balcony









Left Vancouver this morning and drove to the Peace Bridge border crossing. As we went along, saw a sign saying at least a 40 minute wait to cross the border. When we approached the Peace Arch there, we could see a long line of cars, but we also saw a sign indicating Nexus Cardholders to a separate lane. We drove a kilometre or more along side all the waiting cars, flashed our Nexus cards at a machine and were waved through with no questions asked. I have found the Nexus cards very useful at airports to circumvent the long lines but never at a border crossing. It was worth the %50 and interrogation to obtain the cards.

We then drove to LaConner Washington, and a beautiful hotel called the Country Inn Channel Lodge and got a room overlooking the Swimomish Channel. Lots of boats passing through. La Conner is a neat little town with lots of restaurants and craft shops. We were here a couple of years ago when we visited Nordic Tugs - the manufacturer of our boat. Staying here two nights to take a look around the area.




Looking down the main street of La Conner





Nordic Tug going down the channel

Sunday - October 16, 2011

Watched the football games and read for most of the day. Went down and worked out in the exercise room. This hotel (Pinnacle in North Vancouver) has one of the best exercise rooms I have ever seen in a hotel. 25 metre pool, lots of treadmills and other cardio machines, and a full set of machine weights. Even Brenda got on one of treadmills and walked for about 3/4 of an hour.

Went to dinner at Bridges on Granville Island with our niece Ainsley. Good dinner but a little pricy considering that the main restaurant was not open.

Sunday to Saturday - October 9 to October 15, 2011

The Empress Hotel with its Fall coat





Brenda's aunt let us use her place to stay for the last week, so we moved our stuff over there.


Had thanksgiving dinner with Jim and Diane at Jonathon's in Victoria. The dinner was so-so but it was good to see them again. Last time we saw them was in Myrtle Beach way back in late May when we were cruising up the ICW.

On Monday we went for lunch at the Princess Mary which was at one time an institution in Victoria located on a ship. Unfortunately the area where the ship was originally located was redeveloped an the ship is now scrap metal. However the new restaurant is still serves great seafood.

Spent a lot of time over at the local coffee shop which had wifi. On Wednesday, was going to play golf but it was raining so didn't go.

Had Paul and Debbie over for supper on Thursday and had a good chat. Made roast beef and yorkshire pudding. The pudding didn't come out as good as usual, as I used spelt flour in place of white flour. Seems that the spelt flour did not soak up the liquid as much as it should.

Friday, we started packing up as we were going to leave Victoria on Saturday. Had lunch with Bill and Mary over at the Gorge Vale Golf Course and saw their new place overlooking the course. Went to dinner with Jim and Diane near their home. Great dinner, but I can't remember the name of the restaurant.



View from Jim & Diane's living room

Saturday, we left Victoria for Vancouver to visit Ainsley for dinner. I still love the ferry trips across the Straight. Beautiful scenery in a relaxing atmosphere. When we arrived at Horseshoe Bay, we went and had dinner at Trolls, an institution in Horseshoe Bay. When Laura and Alex were much much younger, we went there quite frequently for family dinners out. The place has not changed very much. Stayed at the Pinnacle Hotel in North Vancouver, same place as we stayed last week in Vancouver.




Leaving Departure Bay

Monday to Saturday - October 3 to October 8, 2011

Traveled across the Straights of Georgia this morning (Monday) on the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. Thought we would make lunch at Trolls in Horseshoe Bay, but got their too late. Trolls was one of the restaurants we used to go to on a regular basis when the kids were young and we lived in Vancouver. Will make it on the way back or before we head south to the U.S. Drove south down the Island to Victoria and arrived at Brenda's mother's place at around 5. Beautiful drive along the Island Highway, with lots of scenic vistas overlooking the Gulf Islands.

Tuesday we went to dinner with Brenda's aunts Joan and Mary and her uncle Bill along with Carol.







On Wednesday and Thursday, I played golf at two great golf courses - Bear Mountain - Valley Course and at Olympic View, both about 30 minutes from downtown Victoria. However most of the time we just relaxed after our drive walked around town. Went to lunch on Friday at the Ogden Point Cafe on Dallas road which serves various light lunches and good desserts. Easy walk from Carol's house. Also visited a local marine store which is moving to a new location to see if they had any good items on sale, but unfortunately not.

Saturday, Sunday - October 1,2 2011

Left Vernon in the pouring rain which continued for most of the trip to Vancouver. The road was pretty good as it was 4 lane but busy with truck heading to Vancouver. The terrain changed from lake views to typical ranch property.

The traffic got really busy as we approached Vancouver, and unfortunately we had to drive all the way through to North Vancouver as Brenda had picked a hotel on the north shore. The hotel, The Pinnacle Hotel was located right on Lonsdale Key and was very reasonably priced. In fact the hotel upgraded us to a better room. It had a great work out room and a 25 metre pool for swimming. Great place.


















On Sunday we got up and went down to Granville Market for breakfast and a visit. The first thing we did was to obtain 1/2 dozen glazed warm donuts from Lee's Donut Shop. When we lived in Vancouver (way back in the early 80's) it was a Saturday morning ritual to visit Granville market with Laura and Alex and get some donuts. They are just as good as they used to be. We then got a delicious bagel with egg and smoked salmon. A lot had changed over the years as a lot of the old warehouses had been replaced by various artists and art shops.

We walked the sea wall around Stanley Park.




The market at Granville Island






Looking across the water from Granville Island

Friday - September 30, 2011

From Field, we drove to Vernon in the Okanagan Valley. Another great drive as we drove through a couple of more National Parks, stopped at Rogers pass where they have a good display about the parks, saw the location of the Last Spike where the Canadian Pacific eastern and western rail lines were joined to complete a trans Canada rail way.