Happy New Year!

From Vernon it was back to Kelowna, Martin's last hometown. Rather than having to hook everything up (phone, water, cable) at Martin's parents' place we took Don and Nicole up on their offer of their spare room downstairs in their beautiful mansion house. It was a fun time and we were made to feel very welcome. Their two girls, Karleigh (is 5), and Jocelyn (is 6), were a lot of fun and we loved spending time with them. (They really took to Michelle!)

On New Year's Eve Don and Nicole had a huge party which was a great success, especially after a few boozey shots after midnight! We all went to bed around 5 in the morning; even the girls managed to stay awake till then! Needless to say we were all pretty zonked the next day.

Finally, our 10 days were up and it was time to leave for Big White. We were sad to leave Don and Nicole, and the girls, and Mac the dog. The girls clung to our legs and didn't want to let us go and told us that we could "stay forever if we wanted to. They didn't mind". *Mush

With the Butter's, Vernon, BC

On our way back from Calgary, we almost made it back to Kelowna, but stopped in Vernon to visit the Butterworths. Dave is a good friend, but has been living in the US (most recently Savannah, GA), but was up for Christmas to see the family. So we had some fun times in the snow both in town and up at Silver Star Mountain. I even managed to get out on the slopes for a couple of runs and Angie was finished for the day and loaned me her pass. First time out in 2 years, and on a snowboard at that!! I 'ripped' it up with Dave and Little Butter (Darren).
Special thanks to Don and Joyce for being such welcoming and gracious hosts for putting us up for 2 nights and feeding us like Kings and Queens!! We miss the Butter's. *Stub

Christmas in Calgary, Canada

Friends Rob and Nat stayed on at Fairmont for Xmas, but very generously let us stay on at their house in Calgary for the rest of our trip. Christmas Eve we went snowshoeing/cross-country skiing with Martin's friends Jeff and Alana, and Stella and Steve, Jeff's parents. It was great to see them all after so long. We spent a quiet Christmas Day mostly watching my absolute, favourite movie - Elf (I always laugh my socks off at his first time up the escalator), and on the phone to our families in England, Toronto, and Mexico. Where would we be without Skype!

Later that evening, Martin's friend Mark Nielsen (also Jeff's brother) flew into town from Toronto, with Cathy and her son Nathan. We spent the evening goofing around at Jeff and Alana's. Mark decided that Martin's hair (being quite long for him) looked like Sonny Bono. Then, out came the burnt cork and a new moustache!! It all went from there! Double click the pic for some more arty-farty shots and the redneck Donkey look! * Mush

Christmas Holidays at Fairmont Hot Springs, BC, Canada

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The build up towards Christmas was great with a spontaneous trip to see Martin's friends in Calgary. We saw Rob and Natalie and their little girl Abby. Nat's family had rented a condo at Fairmont Hot Springs in the Rockies and we were made super welcome by Nat's Mum and Dad. We felt very lucky and it was a great few days chilling out, eating, drinking and doing jigsaw puzzles. We did do some snowshoeing and it was good to get out in the fresh mountain air. Here we are at the natural hot spring - a bit of a chilly walk down to it though.
Of course, it wasn't long before the boys were up to mischief. They found a logging road and using a strong branch stump and rope, they made a makeshift ski rope, and went car skiing! It was just like water skiing except instead of a wake, there was a road and ditches. They came back looking very pleased with themselves as they had managed to get some good speed up!* Mush

Craigdarroch Castle, Victoria, BC, Canada

After Michelle returned from Portland, we spent another enjoyable night with Lisa. Michelle loved the time as she and LT went to get a Christmas tree and we spent the evening decorating - getting into the Christmas spirit. The next day, we hopped on a ferry and cruised over to Victoria on Vancouver Island to stay with our good friend Bernie!!
The weather in Victoria was again unseasonably cold and windy, but we came at a good time as Bernie had just finished his semester at UVic, working towards his MBA. That meant we had time to sightsee with him. He treated us to a few good meals and toured some of the rainforest greenery the Island is famous for. The salmon run had just finished but this meant that there were still many fish corpses in the stream - a little eerie!!! Also, the downtown was all dressed in Christmas lights and the Parliament building looked exceptionally impressive with lights outlining it all.
One highlight for us was a trip to the stunning CraigDarroch Castle. Built in the 1890's by Canada's richest man of his time (Robert Dunsmuir), the exterior was ornate and the interior was decorated in wood to great detail. It took some time to circulate as there was plenty to see and lots to read.
We also managed to take a trip up to Mill Bay to visit our friend from Cambodia - Ron - at his eclectic house in the country. We had to leave in a hurry as another major windstorm was expected and we didn't want to get stuck at the ferry. A long day landed us back in the Okanagan in Penticton after driving through whiteout, blizzard conditions on the Hope/Princeton Highway. *Stub

Back in Portland, Oregon, USA

A trip down to Portland was on the cards and we were very excited about seeing old friends and good old Portland again. However, what happened next was to be our worst border crossing of our trip so far. Being British, I had to go into the US customs office to get a visitor's permit. Martin had to join me inside, and while I'm filling out the forms, Martin got asked lots of questions. Since we have been away so long, and without a current job or fixed address in Canada, after 3 hours of waiting they came to the conclusion that he was wanting to resume residence. Suddenly, he was fingerprinted and promptly refused entry! Boom! Nothing could have been further from the truth, but what could we do?!!!

I ended up going to Portland on my own a few days later. It was a hectic week, catching up with friends, and then having friends help move all our stuff to John Tomlinson's basement for storage. I managed to sift through our stuff to bring back some of Martin's things - he is still living out of his backpack. All in all, it was a fast week, and it was great to see some good old faces. The city seemed to have developed quite a bit since we left. It was great to see old faithful Mt Hood and St Helen's still there. It was great to be back no matter how short the visit. * Mush

A Brief Stop in Vancouver

Four and a half hours of driving through the beautiful mountains landed us in Vancouver. This is supposed to be the mildest city in Canada but we were greeted with a surprise sight of a large blizzard, and one that left 6 inches or more of snow on the ground for at least a week. Very weird for Vancouver. The city was at a standstill for a couple of days at least!
We stayed with a high school friend of Martin's - Lisa (or LT). She has a great little apartment across from Kitsilano Beach, so it is an excellent location in a cool and funky neighbourhood. Well, LT had a little surprise for us - a crab and shrimp feast to celebrate missed birthdays, and boy was it good.
We toured the town a little, caught up with some friends we met traveling and enjoyed a few drinks (Paul/Tracy, Andy). Spent some good nights catching up with Kelowna friends Geri/Eric, Pam/Jeremy, also a couple of Brampton friends - Sharon (with boyfriend George) and Tina. We even had a fabulous roast dinner with Michelle's old university friend Nadia and her family. They had a surprise for us too as they pulled out a bottle of Veuve champagne to celebrate our engagement.
We did even manage to do some sightseeing and getting to know Vancouver a little more as we have talked about moving there. One of our stops was the Museum of Anthropology, at the University of BC on Point Grey. A very interesting museum showcasing some of British Columbia's native culture and artwork including totem poles, masks and other artifacts.
Very cool. *Stub and Mush