Our Travel Blog

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Driving Miss Donna - what does this mean? Whenever I want to go somewhere, if Don is home he will usually drive. He always says he is driving miss Donna! This blog is for our travels, usually with our truck and fifth wheel trailer, but sometimes in our other wheels. When we are not vacationing check in for updates, although less frequent, about our life at home and our wonderful family:)

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

And that's a Wrap

Well our September holiday has come to a close, but with a great ending. When we left Cape Lookout we headed to Seattle for an evening. Usually in the last day of vacation we pick a serviced site in order to clean, vacuum and whatever else the RV might need. But this time we accomplished all that and more in our state park site, even without services. So our evening in Seatlle was spent having a meal out, a bit of shopping and then a riveting game of Yahtzee!  
Thursday morning we leisurely hooked up and headed to Langley. Our weekend was being spent attending a wedding on the island at Merridale Cidery. This last wedding of the year for us was a special young man. Nathan Campbell is the son of Don's cousins Stewart, the same Stewart that I have referred to in previous posts. 

We were honoured to be invited, and it was a beautiful wedding in a beautiful location. The photo below was taken from the photographer's Facebook page. 


Alex was a glowing bride!

Once again Stewart and Susan treated us to a fabulous time. We walked, toured and ate our way through a few days. Sunday was time to head home, and back to reality!

I'm not sure what that means right now. We both have some work days to look forward to and are anxious to see our family. 

I'm sure my posts will be infrequent until our spring trip, but I'll try to touch base monthly.

Have a wonderful fall!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Leaving the Beach Behind

We spent the last of our ocean days at Cape Lookout State Park near Tillamook. In hindsight we should have spent more nights here and less around Astoria. The only reason being that this is the best walking beach, in our opinion. But it's a hard choice to make!  At any rate all the beaches have been near perfection and no regrets. 
Again this has been a relaxing stop with not much excitement to report. We made a visit to Mo's Restaurant to fulfill our clam chowder cravings.



This is a must stop if you are on the Oregon Coast. 

The weather here was outstanding and we had a great evening visiting our neighbour over the glow of the fire pit, sharing stories of American and Canadian health care and life. 

Look at some of the life we found on the beach. 



But as always the best part was being together and walking the ocean beaches. 




As always another great stop. 

Until next time. 

Monday, September 21, 2015

Back to a Favorite

When we decided to take mom on her trip then continue somewhere for 2 weeks it didn't take much consideration to know we were going to go back to the Oregon coast. With a limited time to travel we simply picked our "best of the best" state parks. That brought us to Cape Disappointment on the farthest south tip of Washington. This is the state park where can walk out behind the trailer and onto the beach. And it has great access to the peninsula and another favorite, Oysterville. After two nights here we moved across the state line to Fort Stevens park on the northern most tip of Oregon, Astoria. I total we have been here seven nights. Our days have been filled with beach walks, hikes, reading, Yahtzee and a few drives. It has been a wonderful slow pace and in that way a bit unusual for us. We did make an afternoon jaunt to Portland to visit a mall, but with our dollar the way it is, we didn't stay long. Also I see no sense in shopping at a store we have at home so that limits which ones I visit!  Which isn't a problem. LOL

The Astoria Bridge


A View of Astoria


We completed a 7 km hike around Leadbetter Point near Oysterville. The path went through both ocean shore and forest. Look who I saw on our hike!


And of course we had to stop in Ousterville for some seafood. 



Every morning we walked this beach. Today we are moving a bit farther south and will miss it!


Monday, September 14, 2015

Moving On

So after a week in Stony Plain our next destination on mom's road trip was to see her brothers and their families.
The first stop was at Ern and Meryl's in Rocky Mountain House. We picked a good time to be there as a 60th birthday party was happening and hence we were able to most of the cousins in that family, but missed a couple. 
After a couple of nights we continued on to Penticton to Frank and Gwen's place, and visited for a few days. Their son Cal came down for a visit from Kelowna as well. It was sure great to see everyone!
Our last stop with mom was Langley and her brother Ed and wife Ethel. Here we visited with Stu and Susan, Nathan and Alex, and from Frank's family Scott and Karen and Shelley and Terry!
I know by Sunday when it was time to go to the airport that mom was ready to go home but also full of memories and happy to have made the trip. 
I really want to say thanks to the "aunties" who made these possible. You are some of the best hostesses and ladies I have the pleasure of having in my life. I never dreamt when I joined this family all those years ago that I would gain so many beautiful souls in my life. And always thanks to Stu and Susan for being our west coast adventure tour guides. We can't say enough how we appreciate your company and look forward to our visits.
Don and I are on our way to the Oregon coast and will report back soon!
I'm so sorry we didn't take any photos of mom with her brothers!

Friday, September 4, 2015

The Adventure Begins

On Sunday August 30 we drove to North Battleford to pick up Don's mom.  His sisters met us there.  We were about to begin a road trip with her!  But first we had a week at home and the opportunity for her to visit with our girls and their families. I'm afraid we may have exhausted her with all our family dinners, visits, laughter and yes even a bit of shopping.
Everyone was so excited to have their grandma and great grandma around. This is a rare treat for all of us. I know mom missed dad but it was a very special time for us and we appreciate that she was able to be with us!



Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Speed Living

It's kind of like speed reading - imagine our life is a book and you have a limited time to read.

After we returned from the August long weekend with the Camerons my mom and I traveled to Saskatchewan for a little road trip to see my sister and some of mom's sisters.  It was a fantastic trip and we had such great visits.  We even were at Ginger's for her birthday!  Thank you to sis Ginger for the overnight, and to cousin Barb for an overnight at her place.  While there we were able to catch up with MANY relatives.  I hope mom had fun, I sure did.



The next weekend was on course for being one of the more fun ones of the summer. Friday night we had tickets to attend Edmonton Rocks, with the bands The Stampeders and Sweet. It was such a  good time I don't know why we haven't gone before but I know we will again. Then on Saturday we met Clifford and Cheryl at the Red Piano. It was a great meal, fabulous music and above all so much fun to be out with them again. For a period of our lives we practically lived on each other's door steps!



The next morning Don had to go to Red Earth to work, but I was not alone as I had our grand dog Heidi for a few days. Tracy and Cal were on vacation and Lindsay was dog sitting but unable to start until they returned from camping. Heidi is great company and she keeps me closer to home. So I stayed busy cleaning and baking. If you have not read The Life Changing Habit of Tidying Up, you should. That's all I'm saying.

Oh and Lindsay and I hung out quite a bit. We went to a hilarious movie called Trainwreck, and even fit in a visit to my mom. 

We visited St Albert Market and purchased enough fresh veggies to make some dill and carrot pickles. 

Two events that happened in our family that we are proud of and want to mention. Both of our son in laws are pretty cool guys and focussed individuals. Cal has been running and training and completed his first full marathon!  Jeremy has also been training for something a bit different but also challenging. Him and a buddy hiked into the mountains over 80km to hunt big horn sheep. Congrats to both of them!!

Don and I went camping for a few days at Cross Lake as well. Lindsay and the boys joined us overnight and Tracy and the kids came for the day. The boys did superbly sleeping overnight!  We had a fantastic boat day with everyone. All the kids took turns tubing and even Mason enjoyed his first tube ride. In fact he wasn't happy when it wasn't his turn. LOL






And I had a great girls night out on Monday. My friend Sharon won a sailing evening and dinner at a Silent Auction and I was invited along!  Our hosts were wonderful, we enjoyed a lovely evening of sailing, food and friends!



My big event of the year was attending Wanderlust 108 in Edmonton. Wanderlust is phrased as a one day mindful triathlon. I could not have had a better friend and partner to attend with than Mary. The day comprised of a 5 km, yoga and meditation. It was fantastic and we are going back next year!  I was so excited to practice yoga under the guidance of my yogi crush Eoinn Finn!!





So that brings us to the end of August. September is our vacation month and this year it will have a twist to it, so stay tuned!