Category — Travel

We just got back from vacation in Beautiful BC.

We started off visiting my parents. First my mom and Doug in Genelle and then my dad and Susan in Thrums. The highlight of the visit it my mom’s house was her new little kitten Winnie. She is only 8 weeks old and 2.5 pounds of cuteness. Last time we went to visit my mom we left with a kitten (Willow) and were so tempted to do so again…. She’s at the cutest age where she’s so bouncy and playful. Here are some pics of the kitten and my mom’s dogs:

Dog Bilby

Dog Oscar

Slightly wet with dog slobber

Sleeping Winnie

Stick 'em up

Then, off to my dad’s place. My dad runs a football pool every year and since last weekend was the first NFL game of the season, we had a no pool, pool party. Most people from the pool came. I had to admit to them all that I dropped out this year since I’m too competitive to finish at the bottom of the pack year after year. My dad even pays my way every year but it’s a bad investment for everyone, so I quit. I still got to go to the party though and meet everyone, even the champ from last year Zeke. Very nice group of people to play croquet and eat burgers with.  Sadly forgot to take photos of the party but here are a few of the yard and garden potatoes:

Is that a Lincoln?

Duck Potatoes

Neighbour's shed in the fog

The morning after the party Susan took us to the 17th annual Garlic Festival in New Denver. It used to be a very small, intimate gathering where people bought garlic but has grown in popularity over the years. Now upwards of 8000 people attend and you can buy all sorts of things: honey, veggies and fruit, clothes, art, and garlic of course. Garlic ice cream, garlic honey…you name it! We went with $100 and spent it all and didn’t come home with even a clove of garlic. It’s located on beautiful Slocan Lake:

Susan, Cheryl and Lindsay in line

Slocan Lake

We managed to get out golfing at the Castlegar Golf Course. I haven’t played there in years, but it’s a great course (especially when you go with your parents and they pick up the tab – bonus!). I think I had the best round of my life but I attribute it to the fact that I used to be a member there. In highschool as a student I think I got a golf membership for $180. I’m pretty sure most people who have been golfing with would question that I was ever a member at a golf course since my game is somewhat inconsistent….but it was on that day. Even beat my dad (although I may have “accidentally” kicked my ball out of the rough a few times).

After a short but sweet visit with my family, we headed off to Kelowna for a mini-vacation. September is definitely the time to vacation in the Okanagan. No traffic or tourists but it’s still 30 degrees! Perfect weather for swimming, playing disc golf and going on wine tours. We went to Summerhill Pyramid, Mission Hill, Quail’s Gate, Dirty Laundry, Sumac Ridge, and Greatta Ranch. Our favorite was Quail’s Gate. Good wine and fantastic food. Here are a few pics from the wineries:

Bell Tower at Mission Hill

Summerhill Winery

grapes

Us at Quail's Gate

Jeff at the DG course

Condo we rented in Kelowna (Playa del Sol)

From Kelowna, off to Penticton for Jeff’s brother’s wedding. Jeff’s dad wrote a post about the lovely day and posted a whack of pictures here. It was a hectic day but a beautiful ceremony.

Flower Girl Sage

Ringbearer Conrad on the run

The Newlyweds

Us with the happy couple

Closest we got to having kids stand still for a photo together

Cool photo of Larry & Brenda in Rose Garden

Roses and rings

Jeff's grandparents in Rose Garden - 59 years married and going strong!

Sage & Auntie Lindsay

The beautiful bride

Sage

Kevin and Tamara were staying in Penticton to enjoy married life and have some calm after the storm, so we went to Princeton to have some quality time with the kids. Luckily Larry and Brenda came too, as the kids are quite a handful at 4 and 2. Sage borrowed my purse so I got to have a mini treasure hunt in her room finding all of the contents. Conrad is at the age where he’s a sponge and it’s pretty much monkey see monkey do. They are both so adorable:

Uncle Jeff with Conrad and Sage

Conrad with curls that any woman would be envious of!

Jeff Riding Tractor at Bear's Fruit Stand (Keromeas)

We were going to head to Vernon to play in UHF, but were glad that we went to Princeton instead and it was kind of out of the way to head back to Vernon. Plus, sleep was in short supply our night in Princeton as Jeff and I got cuddles many times throughout the night from Sage

Now back to reality after a fabulous trip.

This past Saturday Lindsay and I decided to do our first real hike in the rockies.  We’ve lived in Calgary since Sept 2002…. almost 7 years and have only done 1 mini-hike.  So we decided that a ‘real’ hike was in order.

So Saturday off we went with our 5 litres of water, 6 power bars, 2 powergels, 4 ham sangwiches, 2 nectarines, bag of candied peanuts, goldfish and cookies. We weren’t going hungry that was for sure!

The hike starts at the parking lot of Chateau Lake Louise and winds itself around the back side of Mt. Fairview between saddleback mountain and fairview mountain.   It takes about 45minutes to an hour before the real hike occurs.  At this point you go up 600 m in 800m… or something like that…  Was steep but not dangerous just upwards.   We got to the top in 2 hours and had a great view of the glacier and lake below.  Here’s a couple of photos.
This is where we’re headed

The Glacier

Jeff At The Top

Lindsay at the top

Both of us at the top

Lindsay on the way down

After the hike and some food (of course) we headed back down.  Then did a little detour to the Mt. Fairview lookout which gives a nice view of the lake and hotel.  We then walked along the side of the lake and stopped to take a few pictures.  This was my favorite photo…  I took it and turned some of it into Black and White.  The blue from the lake has been totally untouched… I might change that later but I thought it looks pretty cool as is.

Before

After

Now it’s Monday and our legs are still burning… Who knew that our house had THIS MANY stairs! All in all a great hike and a fun day!

Last night we were lucky enough to attend the eastern conference final between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins.   How did you get ticktets you ask?  Ticketmaster….  Two Saturdays ago just randomly wondering if tickets were available.

Anyway, the game last night was SUPER fun. We showed up about an hour early and found that everyone was tail-gaiting and there was tons of events happening…  We got right in the mood and had to do a self-shot to show.

The game itself was really cool too…  The fans are crazy and really do put the Flames fans to shame.  No I’m not joking or trying to insult the flames fans.  The place was as loud (or lounder) than any arena I’ve ever heard.  When the puck was dropped everyone stood standing and yelling for a good 2-3 minutes into the game.   Even when the Hurricanes were down by 2 when most arena’s go silent they just started yelling again. Oh and the interesting thing is that when the scoreboard said, “yell” or “make some noise” or whatever people just started going nuts.

Anyway, was a fun night and definitely a fun and cool experience. Oh, and I took a video of when “rock you like a Hurricane” came on and people went nuts…. I’ll post it when we get home.

Yesterday was our first full day in North Carolina.  We are actually staying in Chapell hill as the conference thing that Lindsay is at is in Chapell Hill.   For those that don’t know Chapell Hill is a college town…. and by “college town” I mean….  the town is the college.  Where the school starts and ends is a mystery to us… it’s just everywhere and massive.

Anyway, Lindsay had an early morning work meeting with someone and then we headed out to hang out for the day.  We hit the disc golf course at the UNC campus… which is amazing.   It definitely rivals Pender Island as my favorite disc golf course…  It just has everything from the tightly wooded holes.  To wide open long shots.

One hole 15 we were walking along and I was watching the ground move below me and these beatles (as I thought they were) we’re moving really weird.  It was a very sporadic run as if they were jumping along or something… after steping on a few I decided to investigate these bugs.  Turns out they were cute little tree frogs.  I kinda felt bad for stepping on them but then we realized there were thousands of them. The little froggie is centered vertically in the picture and just left of half horizontally….  see if you can find him.

Anyway, was a fun day and we even learned a bit about UNC and NC.   Did you know UNC was the first public university in the US?  In 1789!

Lots of fun had at Sun Peaks this week for Larry’s retirement party. Stayed in a chalet on the hill that was literally ski-in ski-out. Just had to ski down to the Morrisey chair and then took a run back that took us to the doorstep of our place. I had been watching the weather in Kamloops for the last few months and it has been terrible for skiing. But, we totally lucked out and woke up to 16.8cm of fresh powder the first day. So awesome. Some of the best boarding ever. Met a guy from New Zealand who described it as skiing in custard. I’d say more like flour, but either way it was amazing. Wasn’t sure if I wanted to board again the next day since I was so sore (takes a bit of effort to pull yourself out of waste-deep powder all day), but it was too fun to not go. Day 2 was really chilly, but at least we traveled WestJet and received all of our luggage so we were dressed warm enough that it wasn’t so bad. The hot tub at the end of the day sure felt nice.

Thanks to Larry and Brenda’s great meal planning and Jeff’s good BBQing we ate like kings. Lots of fun had with Kevin, Tamara and the two little ones. I think I watched Finding Nemo with Sage 3 times, but luckily she was into that right instead of Barney (which she watched the entire way from Princeton apparently ). Here are a few pics from the week: http://picasaweb.google.com/jeff.sill/SunPeaks#

Sorry to everyone who may have tried to access our site over the last few days and received an Internal Service Error. Something random went on but Jeff’s a smarty and figured it out.

Since our last post we got back from a fantastic time in Quebec. We finally got our luggage on Saturday afternoon, so only went without it for 2 out of 4 days. Turns out the moron Airline company mentioned in our last post, sent our bags to the wrong hotel. So, they sat in the lobby of the Hilton for 24 hours. That would explain why every time I called (India) they told me our bags had already been delivered. I guess they were right in a way…

Spent the next two days wearing all of my clothes so I was sweltering but so happy to have my snowpants and mittens. Went to see ice sculptures, tobogganing, the parade and tried to see Bonhomme. That dude is a celebrity in Quebec. He arrived at the parade and was mauled. I tried to get close for a photo op and the mob of fans tossed me aside. I guess I should have valued my time with Bonhomme back in ‘95 when I got my photo taken with him. He must not have been such a celebrity then as I don’t look too impressed in the photo. Once we get a scanner I will post that picture as I don’t have a digital copy of it.

Played Ice Bowl this weekend. The weather was so nice for February and the tournament raised about $5000 for the Women’s Centre. Jeff played an awesome second round and held his own in the Advanced Division (could have had a shot at the title if there weren’t so many sandbaggers). Mark has improved a hundred-fold from last year and this tournament marked his 1-year disc golf anniversary. I look forward to next year. I came first out of 1.5 ladies in the Women’s division. Jana, before your feelings get hurt, I’ll explain your 0.5 does not relate to your skill level, but the fact that you only played one of two rounds. Jana and I both got nice prizes and I have the trophy to take home again to collect some dust until I turn it in next year. See you all out for Ice Bowl 2010 (there’s a trophy up for grabs!).

Now we are in Kamloops getting ready to head up to Sun Peaks for 4 days for Larry’s retirement party. We even got a sprinkle of snow last night so I’m pretty excited. I better run and have a nap and rest up for the chaos of our niece and nephew as Kevin’s family will be joining us for the festivities.

I’d like to take this special opportunity to thank Air Canada for this wonderful Friday evening during Carnaval in Quebec City in my hotel room. There are many festivities going on but instead I get to write a blog and watch TV. This is because they seem to have misplaced our luggage. What a moron I was to assume that my bags would arrive when I did with my bathing suit, mittens, snow pants, socks, long underwear or even underwear for that matter…Good thing it’s not -20 degrees with the windchill…oh wait, it is.

So we decided to go for a nice dinner and stay in. Making the most of it. As misery loves company, we are happy to say that we were one of 25 on the flight that arrived without their luggage. Looks like they managed to lose an entire trolley of bags. When the carousel stopped, I yelled at Jeff to sprint to the baggage claim line as I was unable to myself due to a recent foot injury (and have been limping around the city). Luckily by doing this we were among the first in line…which was important as it was 1:30am.

(Brief reprieve from the sarcasm for a sec). Today we had breakfast with Mary Ann and Robert, which was a great start to the day. We spent the afternoon shopping for a few essentials (ok, so I totally used the lost luggage as an excuse to go shopping!). We also took in some snow sculptures and had lunch in a cute little boulangerie (bakery).

I just spoke to Air Canada on the phone and it sounds like our baggage is on the way. Received at the airport (hopefully the Quebec airport) and the delivery process has been initiated. This process has been initiated for 10 hours according to the website, but hopefully it arrives soon. In the meantime, luckily they provided us with a nice overnight kit with all the essentials: an extra large men’s shirt, men’s speed stick, and half a tooth brush (Jeff’s toothbrush is actually missing half of the bristles…).

It is really neat interacting in French again; all those years of french immersion for Jeff and I are paying off. It’s amazing how much we actually still remember, and even more amazing how much we have forgotten. There were 2 people today who actually went along with the conversation in french and didn’t immediately switch to english after I spoke. Perhaps it was because I was making sense, or perhaps it was because they didn’t speak any english (I like to think it was the former

Well, gotta run. Time to put my extra large t-shirt on and watch the second period of the jeu d’hockey (Habs against Avs).

Salut!

Mais oui! Jeff and I are off to Quebec City. This trip is about the only to thank Air Canada for ever, and and I use the word “thank” loosely.

We canceled a flight last July for the Potlatch tournament in Seattle since it ended up conflicting with other tournaments. We had booked the flight in March, and Air Canada’s (lame) policy is that you must use your flight credit within a year of when the flight was booked. That meant that Jeff and I had a $650 shopping spree to use before March 12th. I just realized this on Thursday, so we spent the whole evening looking for a flight somewhere that wouldn’t cost us too much or take up too much vacation time. We have a long weekend coming up in February (Family day) and turns out Carnival is going on then, so we booked it.

Mary Ann and Robert will also be there that weekend so it will be fun to meet up with them for dinner or drinks. Apart from being bitter at Air Canada for the $240 flight change fee, I’m pretty happy and excited to be going. Combined with our ski trip to Sun Peaks at the end of month, this should be a really fun February.

I went to Carnival in 1995 and Jeff has been to Quebec three times but has never been to Carnival. See you soon Bonhomme!

Went to the Best of Banff Film Fest (BFF, not to be confused with Best Friends Forever) last night. For the past 28 years in Calgary they’ve taken the best films from the BFF and made a couple of shortened programs. Each program is around 2.5 hours so with intermission and stories about the films it makes for a very nice evening. A big group of us went last night and then went for drinks after. I really didn’t realize how late it was when we got out of the films (11pm) and it started at 7:30. I saw program “A” and it was incredible.

The first film was done by Ryan Leetch (aka my boyfriend), and he was as amazing as always. He’s a trials mountain biker. You can check out his stuff here:

[youtube _uffHX87iOU]

The film featured 2 riders along with Ryan, and they were also quite good.

The next film was an animation on orgami. I’m not usually one for the short animations as they tend to be really off the wall and too strange for me. This is the first short animation I really enjoyed.

Film 3 was on base jumping. What crazy f’ers. Seriously who does that? It followed the life story of 3 base jumpers and their journey to the Heavenly Pit in China. I felt nauseate just watching them. It was a good flick but I think I enjoyed the base jumping movie about Karina Hollekim “20 seconds of joy” last year a bit more. Maybe it was because that was my first real introduction to it so it was novel.

There were some cool movies in the middle of the program (rock climbing, avalanche safety) but the best film was the last one. Twist ending….the travelers did not accomplish what they set out to do and it was still entertaining. Two brits attempting to climb Patagonia and they failed and spent 4 days in a snow cave. They were characters and full of personality making it a great flick.

Maybe one of these years I will make it out to Banff to see the full program. If it comes to a city near you, I highly recommend going.

…..is that Lindsay, Jeff, Jill and Mark have a blast. They drink lots, do some gambling (now that Mark likes slots and blackjack), soak up the sun (just under 20 degrees the whole time), play disc golf at Sunset Park, go to the outlet mall, drink some more, stay up till 2 or 5 (depending on the night), see Phantom of the Opera (AMAZING), see O, Cirque de soleil (Jill and Mark only), conference (Jeff only), visit with Lindsay’s family (although they are slightly distracted by the blinking lights on the slot machines, we managed to get a little visit in), eat tons of great food and did I mention that we had a few drinks?

Jill and Mark were great fun! We had a blast showing them the in’s and out’s of sin city. Unfortunately I did not come back from Vegas this time with any diamonds, but it was great nonetheless.

Now Jeff and Lindsay are enjoying their 42 inches of plasma greatness. More later if we ever manage to put down the remote (or guitar).