Catching Up on a Very Busy Summer!!

Whoa! How'd it get to be August 4th already?? Happy 23rd Birthday, our beautiful Arianna!

Here's another update on our summer...get ready, get set, go:

I realize this should have been split in 2 - Family Event & Vacation - but, it's too late now!!!

KC & the baby boys were joined by Brian on June 22 in Pasco. Once they got back to Arlington, we had family pictures taken, got Brady baptized, and had a party celebrating both the baptism & Warren's retirement. Thank you to everyone who came for the fun. It was a great day!
After they left, we were tres desolate...the time had FLOWN by. We enjoyed McColley playing his guitar & his great imagination, as well as, Brady pulling himself up all over the furniture. We just don't see the boys often enough in real life! Everlasting kisses and hugs to them!

The next big event was our trip to Canada. Thankfully, with a huge infusion of moolah, my passport had been expedited to me & I was legal to cross the border. Warren, Mom (Marianne), and I set out in our rental car - a Buick Lucerne (which we decided should, but didn't, have a moonroof to gaze up at the mountains) - for Kamloops. It is a mere 4 hours from our house and yet we'd never been there before. What a great place to start! We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at The Brownstone & then Music in the Park down by the river...even though our cute, very retro, hotel was on a noisy highway.

After a fabulous Pannekoeken (Dutch Pancakes) breakfast, we headed for Lake Louise. WOW! We were really UP there in the Canadian Rockies. Our condo in Canmore was interesting. Mom had her own tiny dressing room with nothing in it??!! We also had 2 balconies! The only problem was that they were only about 36 inches wide & 6 feet long...the 3rd person in a conversation had to stick their head out the sliding door!

The next day, we picked up our GyPSy guide. What a wonderful tool for making touring easy! Our first stop was the Banff Lodge - a Scottish Baronial castle-like structure that's very famous. The service was so slow that for the first time in my memory, we did not leave a tip!


After that, we stopped in at The Cave & Basin, where Mom got to see some rare snails. This is where the Canadian National Park system began.

The next day we headed to Calgary, site of the 1998 Olympics. After getting lost, which included driving through the Calgary Stampede location 2 days after the end of the event, we found a great Irish pub where we ate lunch. Then, Warren & I toured the Olympic museum while Mom waited in the car. She didn't get to hold the actual torch that lit the Olympic flame in '98.

We rode the Lake Louise gondola, saw a grizzly bear from the air, and visited Moraine Lake. All awesome!

And then I insisted we go back to Lake Louise, where we ate dinner with a CRAZY hyperactive red squirrel, who literally ran across peoples' laps & up one guy's back, not to mention up Mom's purse & in Warren's plate! Sadly, we didn't get a picture of him! He was joined by a few Clark's Nutcrackers, one of whom almost snatched Mom's hair as he flew by on a reconnaissance mission.

On Thursday, we drove climbed up to see Peyto lake *over 7000 feet & walked on the Althebascan Glacier, while touring through amazing vistas.

When we got back to Banff, we decided to eat at a place called The Three Ravens, in the Banff Center. The Banff Center is a famous arts school. Well, we literally had to act as detectives to find the place & finally located it in the Student Dining Centre! It was worth the hunt, though.

On the 17th, we returned to Banff, ate at the Wild Bill Saloon, rode the Banff gondola, climbed up to the Cosmic Ray Station on top of Sulphur Mountain, & once again had to play detective to find our restaurant in Canmore. It was called Rustica & is part of the Silvertip Golf Course. Again, well worth the effort!

Quite a climb - gorgeous with a 360º view!

We left on Saturday and drove through the Kooteney National Park & back into the US to get to Colville to visit our friends, the Campbells. Sheena, their daughter, was there, too. They were amazing hosts! Their home is fabulous. The next morning, after a delicious Dutch pancake (ironically) breakfast, Bob took us on a tour of the new hospital addition. It is a marvelous facility. Vickie runs the gift shop, too.
We took the North Cascades & stopped in Winthrop for an ice cream cone.

The final nice surprise was that when we got home on Sunday evening, Arianna & Tim plus our dear friends John & Diane Simpson, were able to meet us for a fun BBQ dinner. All in all, it was an amazing vacation!

More to come in the next update...