Vacation redux
Well... I'm home.
It's been a wonderful couple weeks of vacation.
Week one was our annual fishing trip to Loon Lake and spells the end of an era for us. The fishing was great! Dad caught 14 fish, I caught 5, Gloria had 4 and mom 3. It has been a long time since we pulled that many keepers out of the lake. We threw back at least twice that. Gloria managed to end up in emergency with a cut on her leg that required 5 stitches. She's going to have an impressive scar. The wound was caused by a Raspberry Jam jar. Jackie and Bob are selling the resort and it looks like a developer is the buyer, which means that next season will be the last on before the resort is knocked down and replaced with several small houses. Sad. We have booked ourself in at Evergreen, just down the lake for next year so that we can still have our trips each summer. It will be weird to go to a different place, but in the end, fishing on Loon Lake is the same no matter which dock you launch from.
Week Two was a trip to Calgary that I secretly planned so that I could surprise some friends. I didn't tell anyone in my family because I knew that my mom would worry terribly about me on the 12 hour drive. It was fun, starting out on the Saturday morning in my truck. I updated my facebook status from my phone as I passed Hope. I really REALLY enjoyed that drive with music blasting from my iPod. I would play set of music from a single artist and then between those sets I would let the iPod dish out 5 random songs. I dubbed these sets my "Mandatory Fives". I have 4000+ songs of all types on my player. Letting it choose 5 at random is a bit risky because there are hundreds of songs I don't like on my player. Songs that are there for other people's benefit. Some sets would be remarkably good. I had one near Merritt that was all 80's music. Others were a challenge to listen all the way through, but I stuck by my guns. I arrived at my cousin Aaron's place at around 9pm Calgary time. It is a really beautiful drive through the southern BC heartland and Rockies.
Sunday, I got up early so that I could go down to Cranston Ward and surprise Debbi at Church. I couldn't figure out how to get Aaron's shower to work. Darn new-fangled thang! So I had a little crouched down bath/shower from the faucet. Had to admit to Aaron later that I couldn't suss out how to work it. Made it to Cranston with time to spare. I don't know how I didn't know that Katerina was in that ward too, but it was funny when she came in, looked right at me and just nodded and continued on her way. I had to call her over. It was like her mind saw me and just thought "There's Don and he's at Chuch and that's where we always see each other" and didn't connect the part where that was usually back in Surrey. It was pretty fun. Found Debbi down in the nursery and her reaction was a bit subdued. Sort of a classic response from her said in that certain bemused tone she has. "What are you doing here?" slightest shake of her head. I stayed and talked to her for about half-an-hour, arranged to have dinner at her place Thursday, then headed back NW to go to Aaron and Jodie's ward. Dinner was at Reuben and Cindy's place and after dinner we got to check out their 70" High Def TV. Daaaaaang. The brakes on my truck felt a bit weird, I think the front left will need to be done as soon as I get home.
Monday I went over to Jos and Djo's place and hung out with Jos and Aj. It was pretty excellent to just loaf around and talk about stuff like old times. Aj has really come a long way in the short time since they moved back to Calgary. He knows his ABCs and can sign them as well. He still struggles with his diction and you have to correct his pronunciation, but he is really trying hard to repeat what you say. While Jos went and picked up Djo from work, AJ sat on the couch and I drew letters and numbers for him and he identified them one after another. That was cool. Once Djo got home from work, we went out for something to eat. We ended up at Perkin's. Disaster. Flat out awful experience for everyone. It is my recommendation that this establishment be burned to the ground as a safety precaution. While out driving, I noticed that in the low gears, sometimes the truck needed to be revved higher than usual to get any pull. Like it was slipping a little out of gear. Need to get that looked at too.
Tuesday I went to Market Mall, bought a couple DVDs and a book, got my watch a new battery! Yay, only took me a month to do that. Then I went over to U of C and picked up Emily and her friend Natalie so that we could go to the Beehive Bookstore. Got to say hello to Kristi too. At the bookstore Emily was the ultimate Queen of Indecision and it was very amusing watching her not decide what she wanted to buy, particularily when it came to music Cds. After I dropped the girls off back at EFY, I went back over to the Willard's to pick up Jos. We met up with Aaron, Reuben, Kevin and Kelsie to see Transformers. Kevin, Kelsie and I had already seen it, but it is worth seeing twice on the big screen. This time around I was really struck by how Megan Fox reminds me of the girl from my english class that I went out with a few times at the start of the year. Megan is in a very similar category of beauty as Jacy. A lot has to do with her bright blue eyes and the shape of her mouth. It was distracting in a good sort of way. I miss hanging with Jacy.
Wednesday I drove down to Cardston to see the Temple there. Man what a mind-numbing drive that is! I have never appreciated the drive to Bellevue so much before! Nevertheless, the Temple is very cool and beautiful inside. After the session, I drove to Raymond and stayed overnight with the Runquists. Their kids have grown a lot since they moved out there. It was neat to sit around with Cathy and Tyler and catch them up on stuff going on back in Surreyland.
Thursday I stayed at the Runquists for as long as I could. We took a walk into main street to return a video and rent a couple more. Lizzie decided that she wanted to hold my hand the whole way. Best walk ever. By the time we got back to the house all three girls were talking to me and showing me things they could do and it was clear that Uncle Don was in their good books. It was very hard to say goodbye when the time came. Too late, I learned that I had two other friends living in Raymond and another friend in Lethbridge who would have driven down to Raymond to say hello. Sorry James, David and Lajayne, and Sarahlynn. Next time I promise. I drove back to Calgary and made it to Debbi's place in time for dinner. Sadly Debbi couldn't stick around after dinner because she had a girl's night out. Dinner was really good though and I have a new appreciation for vanilla yoghurt I never imagined I would. After dinner I hung around for a bit, watched some Curious George and then went out to look at fish related stuff with Kevin and Kelsie. Got back to Aaron's place after that and he and I tried to watch 1408 but the DVD rip didn't work. We watched the Fog instead. Worst Ending Ever. Very disappointed. Salma Blair though... she's hot.
Friday was my last day in town. I spent most of it just lazing around at Aaron's after he and Jodie left for Jodie's sister's wedding. Hit the Willard's place at dinner time. Jos and I played some NHL '07 and then we watched Van Hellsing.
Saturday morning I set out at 8:30 on my long drive home. It only lasted a few blocks. The transmission on my truck blew. We had it towed, the shop looked at it and it was determined that I needed a new transmission. I don't have $1500 to $2000 to put into my truck, so it is still in Calgary and I flew home on Westjet. I will be back in Calgary on the Labour Day weekend. to deal with final disposition of the truck. If you had told me before I left on this Calgary trip that I would have all the experiences I did and it would cost me the truck to do it, I would have still gone, without hesitation. I had an AMAZING week seeing all my friends back there.
It's been a wonderful couple weeks of vacation.
Week one was our annual fishing trip to Loon Lake and spells the end of an era for us. The fishing was great! Dad caught 14 fish, I caught 5, Gloria had 4 and mom 3. It has been a long time since we pulled that many keepers out of the lake. We threw back at least twice that. Gloria managed to end up in emergency with a cut on her leg that required 5 stitches. She's going to have an impressive scar. The wound was caused by a Raspberry Jam jar. Jackie and Bob are selling the resort and it looks like a developer is the buyer, which means that next season will be the last on before the resort is knocked down and replaced with several small houses. Sad. We have booked ourself in at Evergreen, just down the lake for next year so that we can still have our trips each summer. It will be weird to go to a different place, but in the end, fishing on Loon Lake is the same no matter which dock you launch from.
Week Two was a trip to Calgary that I secretly planned so that I could surprise some friends. I didn't tell anyone in my family because I knew that my mom would worry terribly about me on the 12 hour drive. It was fun, starting out on the Saturday morning in my truck. I updated my facebook status from my phone as I passed Hope. I really REALLY enjoyed that drive with music blasting from my iPod. I would play set of music from a single artist and then between those sets I would let the iPod dish out 5 random songs. I dubbed these sets my "Mandatory Fives". I have 4000+ songs of all types on my player. Letting it choose 5 at random is a bit risky because there are hundreds of songs I don't like on my player. Songs that are there for other people's benefit. Some sets would be remarkably good. I had one near Merritt that was all 80's music. Others were a challenge to listen all the way through, but I stuck by my guns. I arrived at my cousin Aaron's place at around 9pm Calgary time. It is a really beautiful drive through the southern BC heartland and Rockies.
Sunday, I got up early so that I could go down to Cranston Ward and surprise Debbi at Church. I couldn't figure out how to get Aaron's shower to work. Darn new-fangled thang! So I had a little crouched down bath/shower from the faucet. Had to admit to Aaron later that I couldn't suss out how to work it. Made it to Cranston with time to spare. I don't know how I didn't know that Katerina was in that ward too, but it was funny when she came in, looked right at me and just nodded and continued on her way. I had to call her over. It was like her mind saw me and just thought "There's Don and he's at Chuch and that's where we always see each other" and didn't connect the part where that was usually back in Surrey. It was pretty fun. Found Debbi down in the nursery and her reaction was a bit subdued. Sort of a classic response from her said in that certain bemused tone she has. "What are you doing here?" slightest shake of her head. I stayed and talked to her for about half-an-hour, arranged to have dinner at her place Thursday, then headed back NW to go to Aaron and Jodie's ward. Dinner was at Reuben and Cindy's place and after dinner we got to check out their 70" High Def TV. Daaaaaang. The brakes on my truck felt a bit weird, I think the front left will need to be done as soon as I get home.
Monday I went over to Jos and Djo's place and hung out with Jos and Aj. It was pretty excellent to just loaf around and talk about stuff like old times. Aj has really come a long way in the short time since they moved back to Calgary. He knows his ABCs and can sign them as well. He still struggles with his diction and you have to correct his pronunciation, but he is really trying hard to repeat what you say. While Jos went and picked up Djo from work, AJ sat on the couch and I drew letters and numbers for him and he identified them one after another. That was cool. Once Djo got home from work, we went out for something to eat. We ended up at Perkin's. Disaster. Flat out awful experience for everyone. It is my recommendation that this establishment be burned to the ground as a safety precaution. While out driving, I noticed that in the low gears, sometimes the truck needed to be revved higher than usual to get any pull. Like it was slipping a little out of gear. Need to get that looked at too.
Tuesday I went to Market Mall, bought a couple DVDs and a book, got my watch a new battery! Yay, only took me a month to do that. Then I went over to U of C and picked up Emily and her friend Natalie so that we could go to the Beehive Bookstore. Got to say hello to Kristi too. At the bookstore Emily was the ultimate Queen of Indecision and it was very amusing watching her not decide what she wanted to buy, particularily when it came to music Cds. After I dropped the girls off back at EFY, I went back over to the Willard's to pick up Jos. We met up with Aaron, Reuben, Kevin and Kelsie to see Transformers. Kevin, Kelsie and I had already seen it, but it is worth seeing twice on the big screen. This time around I was really struck by how Megan Fox reminds me of the girl from my english class that I went out with a few times at the start of the year. Megan is in a very similar category of beauty as Jacy. A lot has to do with her bright blue eyes and the shape of her mouth. It was distracting in a good sort of way. I miss hanging with Jacy.
Wednesday I drove down to Cardston to see the Temple there. Man what a mind-numbing drive that is! I have never appreciated the drive to Bellevue so much before! Nevertheless, the Temple is very cool and beautiful inside. After the session, I drove to Raymond and stayed overnight with the Runquists. Their kids have grown a lot since they moved out there. It was neat to sit around with Cathy and Tyler and catch them up on stuff going on back in Surreyland.
Thursday I stayed at the Runquists for as long as I could. We took a walk into main street to return a video and rent a couple more. Lizzie decided that she wanted to hold my hand the whole way. Best walk ever. By the time we got back to the house all three girls were talking to me and showing me things they could do and it was clear that Uncle Don was in their good books. It was very hard to say goodbye when the time came. Too late, I learned that I had two other friends living in Raymond and another friend in Lethbridge who would have driven down to Raymond to say hello. Sorry James, David and Lajayne, and Sarahlynn. Next time I promise. I drove back to Calgary and made it to Debbi's place in time for dinner. Sadly Debbi couldn't stick around after dinner because she had a girl's night out. Dinner was really good though and I have a new appreciation for vanilla yoghurt I never imagined I would. After dinner I hung around for a bit, watched some Curious George and then went out to look at fish related stuff with Kevin and Kelsie. Got back to Aaron's place after that and he and I tried to watch 1408 but the DVD rip didn't work. We watched the Fog instead. Worst Ending Ever. Very disappointed. Salma Blair though... she's hot.
Friday was my last day in town. I spent most of it just lazing around at Aaron's after he and Jodie left for Jodie's sister's wedding. Hit the Willard's place at dinner time. Jos and I played some NHL '07 and then we watched Van Hellsing.
Saturday morning I set out at 8:30 on my long drive home. It only lasted a few blocks. The transmission on my truck blew. We had it towed, the shop looked at it and it was determined that I needed a new transmission. I don't have $1500 to $2000 to put into my truck, so it is still in Calgary and I flew home on Westjet. I will be back in Calgary on the Labour Day weekend. to deal with final disposition of the truck. If you had told me before I left on this Calgary trip that I would have all the experiences I did and it would cost me the truck to do it, I would have still gone, without hesitation. I had an AMAZING week seeing all my friends back there.