Washington and Oregon Travels

Our travels south took us through the beautiful city of Portland OR, a city of bridges and lots of traffic. We travelled through and out to the Pacific Coast while waiting for parts for the motorhome. Unfortunately, it rained and was very foggy this trip, something we have not encountered while travelling this beautiful coast.

Travels are much simpler with the toad "hitched" to the motorhome. We managed to follow one another to Vancouver WA with the aid of walkie-talkies and only once became separated while trying to find the lineup for the ferry in Lynnwood, WA. This picture was taken in the parking lot of our favourite cheese factory in Tillamook OR. We just had to have our ice-cream fix and make a purchase of our favourite cheeses. From here, we travelled north to Seaside, a beautiful resort town, but again lots of rain and fog.

Daniel at Five Months (Oct 28th)

Since we left Edmonton, Daniel is now sitting up (proud of it,too!), rolling over and is eating some solid foods...rice pablum, avocado, sweet potato and banana. We miss our frequent visits and Nadine and Michael report that we will not know him when we return at Christmas. He is strong and getting to be such a big boy; I would not be one bit surprised if he is standing and trying to walk when we see him next.

From This to This

In early September, we decided to make a big change. First, we bought a gently used SUV that we could tow four-down, meaning all four wheels on the road without making significant changes to the transmission. We bought a 2007 Saturn Vue. Next we went looking for a very gently used motorhome. We found one in Fairview AB....a 1994 Rexhall Aerbus. A couple of winters ago, we had visited and were impressed with the manufacturer of this small family run company of RV builders who specializes in design safety and inventive floorplans. When we purchased the motorhome, we asked the seller to winterize and find us some indoor storage as our intention was to travel in the fifth wheel for the winter. He obliged.

BUT, we decided to try to sell our F650 truck and leave our beloved Mobile Suite as a park model in Glowing Embers for the winter. Amazingly, the truck sold, leaving us scrambling to dewinterize the motorhome, return with it to Edmonton and then start to load it for the winter. We then had to winterize the fifth wheel. All of this was accomplished in about two weeks. Oh, and the motorhome needed some minor repairs which we found as we began to check its systems. Thankfully, Edmonton's beautiful Fall weather held and we found ourselves in travel mode by Oct 21. We headed to Vancouver and crossed into the USA at the end of October. California, here we come! Life is simple and very good!

Early Morning Sunrise/Evening Sunset

The Western sunset skies are glorious but the morning sunrises are spectacular. I don't ever remember seeing a rainbow with the morning sun, but this is what greeted us last Friday morning. WOW! The skies over Spruce Grove threatened rain, but the sun from the East cast light, producing this distinctly colourful rainbow. The colours remained until the sun was fully "up" and cast light on the golden leaves of the trees in our park giving the park its name "Glowing Embers".







This was the sunset at day's end. We have had some very cool nights with hard frost, so days with sunshine are very welcome. We know that there will not be too many more warm days this season, so we "drink" in days like this. In fact, a day of rain followed by a day of high winds scattered the leaves to and fro. The "glow" lasted sadly, only a couple of days! It was beautiful, though, while the colour lasted. The colours are very different to Muskoka; yellows are predominant; only mountain ash gives the oranges to reds. Still gorgeous...God's masterpiece!

Kendra Returns from Ghana

August 29th, Kendra safely returned from Ghana where she spent July and August working in a clinic, mostly for new moms and babies. She is pictured here with Esther, her "go-to" girl that would help her communicate in the language, Twi. Kendra landed in the capital city, Accra, spent a week or so in orientation, then travelled to Nsuta where her clinic was located. She has many stories to tell us. Although she is enrolled in Pharmacy at UBC, she acquired maternity experience, helping to deliver twins with no midwife present, weighing babies in the outreach programme, recording and giving innoculations, to name a few. Of course, she travelled, sometimes with the other volunteers and sometimes just she and Esther. Kendra lived in the top floor of a house and the little boys from the family down the street brought her meals to her each day. Kendra was known as "Obruni" which means "white person"; she was so greeted each morning as she walked to work and in her words, "possibly the best morning walk to work, ever"!
As most of you know, Kendra has very thick curly hair, but while there, she decided to have it braided. It took four women, six hours to braid her hair and three women, four hours to remove the braids, a month later. She had it braided twice as it was much easier to care for, as clean water to wash/rinse is not plentiful. In all, she reports a wonderful time and has a deeper appreciation for the amenities that we, as Canadians enjoy, especially fresh, clean water.

Back to Daniel

After a month of travel it was really great to get back to Spruce Grove to see our grandson, Daniel. Amazing changes in a six week period! Now, he is smiling and recognizes his mommy and daddy's voices and is beginning to reach out and grasp, not to mention smiling. He has had his first inoculation, which went well. Granddad can hardly wait to see him each and every time we go for groceries. He certainly has a captive audience when we visit. Bill and I had our first baby-sitting opportunity; what fun! Both of us on the floor playing; a young'un sure brings the "kid" back to life! Daniel loves his vibrating chair and play-mat. Everything is so colourful! Baby stuff has come a long way in 30 years!

Fort Macleod and Cardston

I have been very lax in keeping up with my blog! Time flies when we are having fun!
Further to our trip to southern Alberta, we visited the town of Fort Macleod and our friends, Doug and Jean. While there, we visited the North West Mounted Police Museum. If you look closely, you will see goats eating the grass from the sod roof. Not sure if there is enough sod to supply three goats for the summer; they are very sure-footed and enjoying their afternoon in the sun.

The Musical Ride, all teenaged girls, was a delightful highlight of this visit. The Ride was very precise with complex configurations which would have demanded hours and hours of practice. Very enjoyable!




Next day, we were off to Cardston to visit the Remington Carriage Museum. Can you believe that the carriage pictured here came in kit form and could be purchased from the Sears-Roebuck catalogue for $25.00! Imagine!
Mr Remington donated his life-long collection to the Alberta Government if they would build the museum and keep his collection together. An in-house repair facility restores many of the carriages, including the wheels. This is a dying art. Amazing!
Thanks, Doug and Jean, for a very enjoyable visit and stay in your driveway!