Castlegar to home

 We left Castlegar about 8:30 AM (9:30 Alberta time) and headed back to Alberta. Our original plan was to stop south of Calgary somewhere but, as is usual for us, when we get that close to home we just "go for it".

We stopped for lunch in Fernie where Caro picked up some bagels at a shop that Lisa likes to go to (and Caro "loves" their bagels so we picked up a dozen). We also bought some salami so that is what we ate as we carried on. 

Once back in Alberta I filled up with "cheap" gas (I think it was "only" about $1.85 litre).

Just outside past the Crowsnest Pass area we took highway 22 north and then cut over towards Nanton. It is a beautiful drive (even though we had bad weather).

Caro took over driving at Nanton as six hours driving is generally my limit.

We stopped in Red Deer at Famoso Pizza and made it home at 9:30 PM. The non-stop driving time is ten hours so we had two hours of breaks during the day.

The Escape made it home okay and the weird vibration didn't get worse. The vehicle is going to the mechanic next week.

Kimberley to Castlegar

 Caro was up early to tend to Rachel while Mike and Michelle slept another hour.

By 9:30 we were all on our way with Mike and family heading back up to Fairmont to rejoin Hannah,Will and the D'Angelo family while we started going to Castlegar.

We gained an hour on our journey as we entered the Pacific time zone. This allowed us plenty of time to take a side trip to the beautiful city of Nelson (where Mom's sister Molly raised her family). After a twenty minute drive around town we headed south towards Castlegar,stopping just north of town to an historical suspension bridge and information panels on the Doukhobors sect (they had a thriving community here many years ago).

The photo below is taken just downstream of the Brilliant Suspension bridge and is the highway bridge into Castlegar.

 It wasn't much time after that that we were in the backyard at Brent and Tiffany Ryan's house. Kevin and Linda live in the bottom half of the house in the summertime and live the other six months in their home in Florida.

The rain forced us inside shortly after we got there mid-afternoon. 

They drove us around their city and out into the countryside to show us some points of interest. Very pretty area!

Supper was B-B-Q'd chicken with baked potatoes etc. We ate with Brent's family upstairs, enjoying good conversation.

After supper the rain had stopped so we went on a great hike through the forest nearby.

After further conversation back at the house we said our "good byes" and went to our hotel (The Sandman Inn).

Another wonderful day. "Thank you" to the Ryan's.

Kimberley

 ....or "the big cry day". LOL 

After a somewhat OK night at the Days Inn in Cranbrook we got up and had the free breakfast !! Pancakes, oh boy!! Freshly made pancakes for me and bacon,eggs and potato gems for Caro. Truly wonderful in my books!

We gassed up and we paid $2.19.4 for gas. The most we have ever paid, ever!!

The trip to Kimberley was nice and we were soon with Mike, Michelle and Rachel at the hotel at the base of Kimberley ski area. 

While Rach had her nap Caro and I went downtown for an hour to see the town and give time for Mike and Michelle to prep for the wedding.

We walked around the small downtown which is pedestrian only and while we were there we listened to musicians playing for those enjoying the beautiful day we were having.

Back at the hotel we got last minute instructions from M+M re: Rachel and soon they were gone on the 1:15 shuttle out into the country side to the wedding venue.

It was obvious Rachel was not having her normal happy day and no matter what we fed her, entertained her, or where we walked her she was not happy.

By 5 PM it was time for us to get Rachel ready for the 30 minute trip out to the wedding venue location for feeding time with Michelle. Rachel was certainly upset on the way out but she calmed down once she saw Mom and Dad!

One feeding, a showing off of the baby to the wedding guests, and we were homeward bound with a contented baby..... for the first 3 kms!!

Then unhappy baby returned LOUDLY. LOL. Not much we could do for her at this point but grin and bear it!! Maybe one day she will read this post. Ha ha. 

Caro managed to get Rach to sleep by 7:45. I had a drink prepared for Caro soon after.

Addendum-Sunday morning. 

Happy,wonderful Rachel is back with us!! Yay!!

Fairmont Hot Springs Resort

 After a decent night's sleep last night in Radium we went out for breakfast in a recommended takeout place. It was busy and the food was good. 

We hiked Sinclair Creek ( we also did this hike some years ago). It is a flat walk of about two kms. total so it was a good way to start the day.

Mike phoned us from Fairmont suggesting we could meet in Invermere however the backup of cars on the highway attempting to get into Invermere for Canada Day was loooong so we cancelled that idea and drove straight to the resort.

It turned out to be a fantastic day. We started off with everybody going for lunch. Afterwards most of the group went back to their cabins to relax and  Caro and I walked around the resort to see the outflow of water from the hot springs pool. Pretty neat!

Zooming in shows people swimming in the natural ponds.

Later Hannah and Will participated in some Canada Day activities put on by the resort,getting candies and cotton candy as rewards.

Then it was off to the pool with all except Barry and Lois. I must have been out in the sun alot the last couple of days as I have a sunburned head ( yes, I know the reason why my head burns so easy LOL)

We said our "good byes" about 7:15 and were on the road to Cranbrook. The vehicle still "shudders" with hard acceleration but otherwise is OK. 

Tomorrow we will meet Mike and Michelle in Kimberley. While they attend a wedding and reception etc we are looking after Rachel (with anticipated two drives out to the wedding location for feedings). Hannah and Will are staying behind in Fairmont with Barry,Lois and Aunt Ray. We will be spending the night in the same suite as M+M tomorrow night.

Radium

 We are on a trip to BC to help out Mike and Michelle with some babysitting.

We left town about eight this morning,  first stopping at the Costco in Red Deer ( a zoo!). Caro had been doing the first shift driving today and by  Airdrie she had had enough so I took over. 

Lunch was at Canmore at Timmies. MmmMmm, love their chili!

The Escape has a funny vibration which is extremely  noticable when accelerating hard around 2000 rpm. It is worrisome however most of the time there is no problem so we will just take it easy as best we can. I believe we will end up coming back via the CrowsNest pass so as not to have to climb much in the mountains and potentially do some damage.

We were originally planning to meet Michelle and the kids at Radium Hot springs. They are on a vacation at Fairmont with Michelle's parents and sister and Michelle was planning to give her family some quiet time (while Barry and Mike were golfing) however the end result was that it was more convenient for us to meet Michelle and kids at Fairmont

They are staying right at the hot springs so we all went swimming ( and "thanks" Barry and Lois for the pool entry passes).

Once everybody was back together we had supper courtesy of Michelle's family, played with the kids for a bit and about 7:30 we headed back to Radium to our hotel. The hotel prices in Radium are much more economical than the Fairmont Resort (which only makes sense).

Mike and family are staying in two cabins at the resort here is a photo 

M and M's is the front one and the D'Angelo's is in the background.

Back Home Again

 Breakfast was at Mimo's again and we enjoyed it as always.

We walked back to the hotel, cleaned up and did our final room checks before leaving for the tube station. From Paddington station we went to Oxford Circus where we switched lines to go to Victoria train station. With the final use of our Oyster cards we were on our way via regular train to Gatwick Airport.

Our arrival time was three hours ahead of departure (as requested by Westjet) and while  Caro used her free time purchasing duty free items I used the free wi-fi to watch Utube videos etc.

We left 30 minutes late as Westjet had to remove the luggage of some checked-in people who somehow didn't make it to the plane. The flight itself was smooth and Westjet had wonderful service. I was very impressed.

Upon arrival at Toronto the Canada Customs people requested that only connecting passengers  get off immediately (due to insufficient staffing in Customs and Immigration) and the others would have to wait. Great for us!

We  cleared immigration quickly and because we had carry-on baggage only there was no waiting at the carousel so customs was the last remaining thing to do....except we had to go through security again.😒

We made it to our gate about 10 minutes before boarding started. I wonder how many people got stranded because of the delay in London?

The flight home was smooth and Vanessa picked us up at the airport and we were asleep not long afterwards.

A visit to the home of Henry and Anne

 We had a slightly later start than normal as we recovered from our walking yesterday however after a breakfast at Mimo's (our "go to" restaurant) we headed in the tube to Waterloo station. Here we got a train to Hampton Court.

In the center of the photo is the Palace of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn as seen from across the river Thames at the nearby town.

We spent four hours seeing  Tudor,William and Mary, and Georgian styles all in one palace. I was there particularly to see the Tudor things but all of it was super interesting.

Below are photo's of Henry VIII's Great Hall building and ceiling.

The workmanship is amazing.

The stained glass windows in the chapel were stunning.

The grounds are wonderful too as befitting a palace used for over 250 years.

We decided to walk a bit in the nearby town and chose to stop at a pub for a beer and cider. It was a beautiful hot day so it was nice to sit outside and enjoy our drinks while the world drove by.

We took the train back to Waterloo ( ten stops on the way!) And then got our tube from Waterloo to Paddington. It was rush hour so the train was packed with many unmasked people (including us). Time will tell if we made an error in judgement or not in regards to covid.

We have checked in for tomorrow afternoon's flight and tonight we are going out for one last supper and that will be that!

Only 14,500 steps (9.2km) today