Now to add to the saga of my travels so far in 2013:
As we left off I was also freezing in August... at my nephew's wedding in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. We warmed up considerably at the reception. His new bride is middle eastern. Her family is so loving and welcoming. They catered the food (I think they have a restaurant somewhere) in the "starlight" room of one of San Fran's most prestigious hotels. (We were among the rich and famous) The selection of food was fantastic and so different from the standard wedding foods! YumYum. and the dessert table Oooohh sooo delectable! The music was invigorating and every age was up and dancing, inviting all to join them and teaching us their traditional dances and the significance of the the movements in the dance. What fun.
Bringing this section around to sewing and quilting; my sister has resisted the call of the needle preferring other crafts such as beading and candle making. I introduced her to shasiko a few years ago and she loves it! She made her first quilt for the newlyweds... and a beauty it is. Each block has a different shasiko pattern. Her work is exquisit Mom qne I helped to arrange it.
I believe she has now caught the fever.
She has already started another and will have one for each of her 3 children. I am assuming that her other son's will be next as he is already married.
So after the wedding DH and I took an impromptu trip to British Columbia. We'd heard so much about the climate and the beauty and we were already on the west coast and I needed to fill a week or so before beginning Nana Camp with the my Grand girls, so off we went. It was the most luxurious trip we've taken,..... mainly because we waited so long to make arrangements that most if not all of the moderately priced hotels were filled. DH has limited patience in making arrangements and a willingness to spend some hard earned money (got a love him for that). It was first class hotels all the way!!!
We ferried to Vancouver Island (who knew it was not just a city but an entire island an hour and a half ferry ride from the city) Lovely: quaint, modern,urban and rural all on one island. And a very temperate climate due to the ocean currents.
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| Vancouver Island via Ferry |
We ferried back to the mainland after visiting a town renound for its many murals on the outside of the buildings. I think it would take the better part of a full day to see them all. From there we drove up the coast to get another ferry only to find out that Sunday afternoon was not the time to try to get off island we had a 3 hour wait standing stock still IN the CAR before even being able to get close enough to get our tickets and get out of the car at the dock. Needless to say when we finally got to the main land we were exhausted and then dismayed to find the hotel was not at all what we expected and not in a good part of town. Restaurents were only the fast food or dive variety and the clientle was unsavory to say the least. We had no plans for the next day except to leave that area.
I was awake most of the night! So I finally gave up trying to sleep at 3 am and took up the computer.
By 4 am I had reservations at Whistler for the next 3 nights. Finally to sleep at about 4:30am only to discover that not 30 yrds away construction on the renovation of another hotel begins at 7 am sharp. I looked out the window to find the construction crew close enough to talk to.
We left before even thinking of breakfast!!
We found a market place on the order of Fannial Hall in Boston but on a larger scale with all kinds of shops. Great food court and market place wonderful coffee, and all manor of prepared food, green grocers, butcher shops, flower shops etc. etc. We were off for resumption of our magical trip.
We drove up the west coast of BC to Whistler-Blackcomb resorts. Stunning drive!! Another beautiful resort and ski village.
We took advantage of the weather to ascend Blackcomb Mt....via chair lift of course... and took a very short hike at the top Cool, but beautiful. Even this small hike was at times a little nerve wracking as some of it was over rocks at what seemed the precipice of the mountain!!
Then we took the world's longest single suspension and highest gondola from Blackcomb to Whistler. We waited for about 30 minutes to take one of 2 glass bottom units to get the full effect whoa!!! what a view.
Here are a couple of views from the ski chalet at Whistler side of the gondola.
Believe it or not there is still a higher peak. An open chair lift to the summit takes one up and over sheer rock cliffs. I was very anxious about going back down after seeing the rocks close up and personal on the way up. It was actually better going down because the steep cliff was now behind us and the view was spectacular of the mountains at a distance.
I was a going to post up to date but this is going on too long. Reminiscing is such fun.
Until next time---
Sew On
&
See the positive in everything
