Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Driving to Canada

Actually, I think it’s after midnight here. Long day, but since we were in the car a lot of the time, I slept more during the day.

Got up for breakfast. I still had a bad headache, which was not helped by my very weird dream: my grandma Doris was about to pass away (she died this past January), but she was very concerned about something. She needed “to get something for the baby”, so we checked her out of the hospital and drove around to the parking lot of the grocery store, so she could find the owner’s car. The owner of the grocery store was going to be having a baby...or had just had one... and there was going to be a bris or simchat bat...and Grandma wanted to make sure to send a food platter. So we found the car and figured out who she was talking about, and I left a message for the lady, who called me or emailed me back to tell me it was actually her brother-in-law’s child and the event was going to be in Boynton Beach...and by that time Grandma had already died, but I had to get the food platter to them, but it was actually the new high school where Sam will be attending....

That’s when I decided to wake up.

Anyway, hit the road and headed north toward Vancouver, and I took a nap. Woke feeling much better. Spotted a Best Buy and raced in to get a replacement camera charger (I had a coupon that was going to expire in a few days, so I’d been looking for a Best Buy), and stopped at Starbucks for sustenance.

More driving, probably more napping, too.

We decided to take the scenic route, Route 11, Chuckanut Drive, along the Samish Bay. TOTALLY worthwhile detour! Really lovely views.

And along the way, a Japanese Garden and Tea Room. In the middle of nowhere.

The ride along Chuckanut (I just love that name) was shorter than expected, and soon we were back on Route 5 and then at the Canadian border crossing. And only a few miles later, we were at the hotel.

Which was an unexpected 45 minutes outside of Vancouver. Oops. I guess I had not looked at it clearly.

Oh well, on the plus side, the pool has a giant water slide. I was amazed Sofia managed to keep her clothing on until we got to our room. She changed to bathing suit IMMEDIATELY, and was so excited to go swimming!

The three kids had a blast on the water slide, and David even joined them for a while. Then we got dressed again and headed out, this time to Steveston and Richmond. Except that the Massey Tunnel is under construction, and it took a full HOUR longer than it should have for us to get there. (But I got to nap some more).

Steveston was lovely. A little waterfront town, lots of fishing boats and TONS of restaurants. However, since the three guys were all really hungry, we did not take the time to stroll and locate dinner. Instead, we picked the first one that met our criteria (open, outdoor seating, fish, rice - Sofia’s requests). It was yummy, but expensive. We probably could have gotten about the same meal for half the price elsewhere.

But we had a nice early dinner, and then strolled the area. For some reason, Micah wanted to know what it was like to walk around blind, so he kept his eyes closed and held onto David’s arm.

Until we found the playground! Beautiful, and huge. We were there a long time. Until sunset.

Got back in the car, but I got out to walk in the park at the end of the land, to take sunset photos. And get eaten by mosquitos.

The trip back to the hotel took way less time. Got Sofia bathed and threw laundry into the machine. Kids watched an episode of Dick Van Dyke Show and then went to sleep. David and I both had work to do (I had to clean out my email before things got deleted, and I’m still trying to figure out how to bring all the class blogs in under the school website). He’s asleep now, I’m just getting around to this.

Tomorrow I have to wake up early and log into the Edmodocon conference. Then we will go into Vancouver for the day. Hopefully we won’t hit too much horrible traffic.

Today's Photos...

The Japanese Garden






Chuckanut Drive
 The view of the Bay
 Oyster Farm!

 A band of fog that looked like a bridge

 Meanwhile, some light reading in the car...


Our traffic wait to go through the Massey Tunnel at least included a nice view...
 The view from Steveston





 The Playground

 The police went by, on ATVs

 Even Mommy had fun!
 Sunset







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