Alaska

Andy and I returned from our Rocky Mountaineer and Alaska Cruise on Saturday (Aug. 25 2007). We flew from Winnipeg to Calgary on Aug. 15th, then from there to Banff by bus. After a tour of Banff and settling into our hotel, we had the afternoon and evening free to do what ever we wanted. We wandered around some, but the whole town of Banff (downtown) is a construction zone and hot and dusty. We turned in early, next day was going to be long. Next morning started at 5 AM; after breakfast and a transfer to the train by bus, we borded the Rocky Mountaineer for 9 o'clock departure. There were fifty-some people in our group, so it took a while. Did I ever mention, I hate bus tours with large groups? We travelled through some awesome scenery, took lots of pictures. The train is a tourist train, travels only in daytime, and we had our hosts (3 on the train and one more joined for the cruise) from our travel agency along to look after all the big and small problems - luggage, transfers, hotel etc. Breakfast and lunch were served at our seats by a very nice attendant, who was also the commentator for the 2 days. She had amazing knowledge of history and lots of stories and details. Also, she knew were the best places were for taking pictures, where to look for wildlife, osprey nests etc. By about 5 PM we arrived in Kamloops, were transfered by bus to our hotel then after a very short time were taken to a dinner and stage show. It was a buffet for about 400 people, probably the best I have seen - usually these things have cold, mediocre food, long line-ups and are generally messy. Not this one! The comedy show was about a train robbery in the interior of B. C. around the time of the gold rush. It was very enjoyable. Before the actual show started, Andy, along with several other people who were celebrating landmarks, were acknowledged. We were bussed back to the hotel after the show and went to bed, to be fresh for another early morning. So, back to the train, for the next leg - Vancouver. Now comes the camera story. All our luggage, except one small suitcase containing a change of clothes, wash bags and camera and a few items we needed, went by truck from Banff to Vancouver. In the morning we packed our little suitcase (how hard is that?) and left the hotel. When we got to the train Andy couldn't find the camera (the one we bought in China for the wedding - you remember the story). Panic of course. The tour's host phoned the hotel and asked them to check our room and they were going to send it right down - before the train left. However the train left and "no camera" for the second half of the Rockies. Everyone felt bad for these people who had lost their camera so early on the trip. So we took pictures with our brain. In Vancouver the same scenario, bus from train to hotel and still no camera. We had hoped it would catch up with us by then. So what do we do now? You can't go to Alaska without a camera and we leave in the morning! Two doors from the hotel was a London Drugs with a camera department so we bought a new one - thinking what if our camera turns up by the time we get back from the store. It didn't! Not until Andy opened the small suitcase and took out a bundle of clothes. There was the camera, it had got tangled up in the clothes when he packed and ended up in the suitcase without making a peep! It was never intended to be in the suitcase. After some discussion about returning the new one, we kept it. It has some features that the Kodak doesn't have. Andy wants to be able to take action pictures - read "soccer" and this one will do that. It also has a setting that takes out some of the shaking. Anyway, we now each have a camera, and that's ok too. So that is the camera story. The hardest part was to have to tell our host that all her efforts were in vain and to admit where we found it. So this is the end of the first part of our trip. Next day we were re-united with the rest of our luggage from Banff and were taken by bus to the cruise ship terminal and transfered onto the ship - Holland America - Oosterdam, arriving early afternoon, in time to partially unpack and go for our first dinner in the dining room. More next time.

A Busy Week

Our granchildren, Trevor and Rachel, left for home today. It was a busy time and we are not used to this much commotion. The kids were good most of the time, spent hours watching TV and even more playing children's games on the computer. One day we went to the museeum but Rachel soon got bored and became a bit of a nuisance. When she couldn't get her way she crawled into a hole in the bat cave and pouted, but that got her nowhere. We went home soon after that episode, it was just too long for her. We did see lots of interesting stuff though: prairie wildlife including buffalos, Indian villages, a replica of a sailing ship (pretty small for having come across the Atlantic Ocean), lots of Indian and Eskimo clothing, etc, etc. Food was an issue for Rachel as well, she is the most picky eater I have ever known, even the brand of Soya sauce matters, it's either the right brand or nothing. She would eat nothing but buns and tomatoes if she could get away with it. We finally settled on bread or toast and either peanut butter or Nutella for breakfast for both, and for supper I confered with them about what we would have. We had spaghetti and meatballs, bbq'd chicken breast (which Rachel wouldn't eat because Andy tried to teach her how to cut them herself), Pizza of their choice, and pyrogies( Ukrainian dumplings) with sour cream. Trevor is much easier, he likes most things.

We are leaving for Alaska in 3 days so I have things to get ready for that. Andy and I both went shopping today, I got 2 pairs of shoes (sandals) and Andy got several pairs of pants and shirts. Now I have to shorten the pants a bit, but first they need to be shrunk by washing them, so I can tell how much shorter they need to be. Then we will be ready to pack. Tomorrow night (Sunday)we are invited to Karin's for supper, Monday night Andy has an executive meeting for the condo that we live in, and Tuesday evening we leave for the airport. Almost time to panic because I want to clean my house before we go! Andra will come to check our house while we are away. We will be back Aug. 25th. with lots of new tales.

Joan, thanks for your interesting blog. I love to hear what you do every day. It is not quite as nice as talking to you in person but at the moment it is the best we can do. I have no special wish for "our" baby's name. One of my older grandchildren (Erin) and her mom thought "Emma" would be nice, but I think it is only up to you and Michael what you name your baby. Having both a Chinese name and an English name is a good idea - maybe it could be something that sounds similar (like what Nick and Wendy did), that would make it easier for both sides of the family as well as for the baby when he/she grows up. When Michael was born we chose his name because it is similar in all Western languages - and so it would be easy for him in Canada, and equally easy for his grandparents in Germany, who spoke no English - only German. But we also chose the name because we liked it.

On the weather scene, it is still sunny and hot with lots of thunderstorms. Parts of Manitoba had hail to wipe out some of the crops. So far we have been spared in our part of Winnipeg.

My next entry will be after we get back from Alaska. Take good care of each other, and stay cool. Mom.

Welcome Joan!

Joan has now joined the family bloggers. Welcome Joan. Now that you have started, this is what I would like from you: details of what fills your days - and not only when you feel "not so good", but everything you did and things you saw outside your home. Remember, we don't get to see those things every day. Have you and Michael decided on the baby's name yet? Have you seen any exciting things you want your baby to have? What are your hopes and dreams for the new little person?
Now here is what we did in the last few days. Yesterday we travelled to Kenora, a small town in Ontario about 200 km from Winnipeg. We went with another couple (we met them on our cruise to the Panama Canal) to bottle our&their wine. Kenora has a u-brew place that we have been using since I came to Winnipeg. For some reason Manitoba doesn't allow u-brews, however it is ok to go out of province and bring the wine back. We each bottled 90 bottles, their poor Toyota Rav RV was almost dragging. It was cool and dark from clouds when we left at 8AM but by noon it was hot and muggy again, the way it has been for the last 2 weeks. We were back in Winnipeg before 4PM and invited out friends to stay for a BBQ supper of steak, large bourbon shrimp, and potato salad and coleslaw which I made the day before. It was a fun evening for all of us.
Today we were invited to a farewell luncheon for a girl that worked with Andy for CISIP. Even though he has been retired for more that 2 years, he is still included in some of their "does". They worked for a frustratingly mini-managed organization located in Ottawa, but the office here in Winnipeg had great cameraderie, maybe because the job was so frustrating. After the luncheon we ran some errants before coming home to our nice cool home. It was really hot again, but very windy today. We spent part of the afternoon putting shrink caps on our newly bottled wine and now it is nicely "filed" away in the basement. Supper consisted of left-overs: potato salad, coleslaw and cold barbequed chicken from a couple of days ago. Now Andy is watching a football game - Toronto/Montreal - on TV. I usually just watch the last half hour. That's enough for me. I need to get back to my sewing - Barb sent me a pattern for a baby bunting bag that I want to attempt.
This weekend is a "long" weekend. Karin's kids are coming on Monday to spend a week with us. Also on Monday Andra has invited us to a BBQ in honour of Andy's 65th birthday. It is on Aug. 4th. On that day just Andy and I are going to a special restaurant for dinner. We don't do presents but we do celebrate by going out.
All of the above may not sound very exciting to you, but you wanted to know about what we do, so there it is.