Ep 3 – 2017 ‘Big Birthday’ World Tour

We Are Family! 

This week has been all about family – saying goodbye, saying hello, and welcoming the new. 

Goodbye Cindy and Peter 😭 There were tears….

Hello Mikayla, J’s niece in Whistler

Hello Halifax Edwin James Murray – J’s grandson……Welcome to the family ❤

Of course there has been fun and games along the way too…..

Shoes – my shoes passed away after losing their sole. 😢 They’ve been around the world a time or two, tramped through ice, snow, water (fresh and salt), beach sand, mud, volcanic ash, farms, fields and factories, wineries, breweries and distillaries so they had a good run (without ever having to actually run 😉). After some pretty fancy makeshift repairs by J, just to hold it together, we headed to Walmart for replacements. New shoes required lessons in how to tie laces from Cindy. She has boys and understands how and why to tie the weird top loop. I’m never undoing them completely! 

Goodbye old shoes…

Hello new shoes! Ready for some action?

Highs – whilst in Whistler, Mikayla organised tickets for us on the Peak2Peak gondola which stretches 4km between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. Breathtaking views from both the gondola and the peaks.  We were also able to offer Mikayla and her lovely boyfriend Logan a home cooked meal as we had a condo with kitchen facilities and J was missing cooking. Sent them home with hugs and leftovers. 

Looking towards Blackcomb mountain

Up through the clouds

Food – on our return trip to Vancouver from Drumheller we stayed another night in Salmon Arm. We had a hankering for wings and so we tracked down a pub where it was half price wing night – $6.50 per pound. We restrained ourselves to start with and only ordered 4 pound, with yorkies  (mini yorkshire puddings) and calamari.  The wings were self saucing (added it yourself, 7 bottles arrived on the table). We soon added another 2 pounds of wings, plus an extra plate of yorkies. J went to pay the bill and recieved his seniors discount. 

Hey look, beer! Surprise (not) ❤ 🍺 🍗 We had to move the sauce box off the table to fit the food (they are behind J’s head)

The menu – J was quite pleased to be an ‘old man’ on this occasion!

Radio station – as some of you are aware,  J is a volunteer presenter on the local country music station. At home on weekends he streams a Canadian station to keep up-to-date with music happenings here. During our drive back to Vancouver we stopped at Kamloops for lunch and it just happened to be across the road from the station so he dropped in for a bit of a country music presenters chat. 

Weird things – sometimes, when you are driving through cities and towns, you see quirky, unusual or just ‘laugh out loud’ things that catch your attention and you just need to share. This is one of those things…. 

You had me at pizza! 🍕 No, we didn’t.

Awesome road trip – we gave the Chevy back a little bit dustier and with a few more kilometres on the odometer  (2700 more). We travelled back via the Icefields Parkway which was awesome. 

Could have almost reached out and touched the USA!

More exceptional scenery – this time on the way back to Vancouver from Whistler.  

Shannon Falls

Loved the way the moss looked on this tree

Sunlight through the spray

In concert – after Whistler we headed back to Vancouver for a country artist concert – Kip Moore. Was a great atmosphere. The only issues were in our section which was designated non alcohol – naturally the young guys all tried to get around that restriction and were consistently told to remove themselves and their beverages from the area. 

$50 for a concert ticket!

Another car, another road trip! This week sees us heading up? across? Canada to Saskatchewan to catch another concert, and we may even head to Manitoba. After this holiday I will have visited every state in USA, so next challenge may be Canada 😉

J and I, top of Blackcomb mountain

Until next time ❤ xx