Turnbull Family Pacific Tour 2015

I do like all the gadgets we brought on our trip - they let us work and play just about anywhere. This morning we hung around a Starbucks in Abbotsford for a while - Catheleen did some on-line booking, the kids went off looking for a geocache, and I read a news site. It does have its downside though as we followed Siri's directions to three different George streets before we found the right place to drop off the car rental in downtown Vancouver. Made for a tight rendezvous with the ferry nearby in Horseshoe Bay with minutes to spare. Here's a picture of Elizabeth feeling the breeze on the crossing on the first sunny day in the area in a while. Reminds me of running for the ferry heading for Victoria a few times in the late 80's after visiting with a friend and his family in North Vancouver on the weekend. Woe to he who missed the last ferry Sunday night and didn't make it back for roll call and Monday morning classes. We always seemed to make it though. So we've ma...

It's been great spending some time with my extended family. They are mostly in western Canada and I don't get out here to visit as often as I should. I went for a run this morning with my sister Bonnie and her husband John - middle two in the shot below. It was good to get out to help shake off the jet lag along with a lingering cold that's finally on the wane. We even managed to re-live some sibling rivalry over who could do the most push-ups - sadly I didn't prevail. In the afternoon the kids went with their Grandfather for an activity while we visited a winery near Hope called Kermode Wild Berry Wines near Mission. The berries are picked by locals throughout B.C. After much taste testing we settled on the Himalayan Blackberry Merlot and a few others. Afterwards we went to the Blackberry Kitchen in the Fraser Valley Heritage Park. A nice afternoon spent with my sisters Bonnie and Christine, John and Catheleen reminiscing and enjoying the day.

We just arrived in a hot and dry Fraser Valley with some lingering smoke in the sky from all the forest fires in the province. We are here primarily to visit my family and do some sight seeing around Vancouver island. Besides me breaking a luggage handle en route, the flights here were uneventful. Last time we were in town a couple of years ago our car rental was upgraded to a muscle car, unbeknownst to me. The kids would call it "one sweet hot ride" and I have to admit I did like it with its roaring engine. Just a regular sedan for us this time round though. For the next few days we'll be staying in Abbotsford on the outskirts of Vancouver. Brings back memories of childhood when I lived nearby in Chilliwack and visited Abbotsford on occasion to go to the movies or to attend the annual air show. The place is much more built up now. The place does still smell the same though with huge lush trees and blackberry bushes growing everywhere. These bushes have big blackberrie...