Fryor Duck

We arrived back at our farm at 8:34 this evening after driving from Revelstoke, BC. My attempt to blog this morning was unsuccessful, don't know why I could view but not make a new entry. The night before last we stayed at Larrabee ( not Larramy as I said a couple of times earlier in our trip) State Campground - even got our same camp0site as before, with water tap and garbage across the trail and washrooms very close. This time I put 50 cents in the shower instead of 25 and had a hot shower! Yesterday morning I took a 10 minute walk to the "beach" which is actually a piece of rocky coastline, but kind of a neat walk through large ceders, ferns, split ceder railings along the path, etc. I even picked a ... read more

Wow, what a day! Up at 7AM (well, I was, not Dianne!) Coffee and visiting with Dianne's 3rd cousin on their upper deck overlooking a valley. Then the three of us went downtown to the Mustard Seed cafe for breakfast - I had 3 crepes, being already coffee'd out. Home briefly, we then decided to make a half hour drive to vineyard country (there are about 30 of them), and sampled 11 wines at two different vineyards, also saw some beautiful gardens/grounds. Back about 3:30, we decided to have a before dinner nap. David then took us to a German restaurant in what was once a private school. The food was terrific and very reasonably priced, the waitress was Danish and a lot of fun.Now we' ve time to relax and chat (only 8:15 PM here) ... read more

A wonderful leisurely breakfast on a beautiful morning. Great to stay with someone who loves to cook as Dennis does: last night it was fresh salmon bbq'd slowly in a wood fired indirect head bbq that gives a smoky taste - delicious! Now the Indian Runner ducks (7) are back in the pond with the half dozen large koi (look it up!) and some real rice growing along with other plants. The pond partly ices over i n the winder but the fish hibernate in the mud. A beautiful yard with all kinds of flowers and shrubs and trees, a raised bed garden, and many species of trees (watch for pics and names on my website (photobucket) later. Now we hit the road to north of Portland and down the Oregon coastal route to Jacksonville over ... read more

A gorgeous warm day on the coast. Picked up our Dodge Journey at 7:45 AM, and crossed the border at Sumas crossing. We got hauled aside for an agricultural search because we admitted having tomatoes and peppers in the vehicle. They took our tomatoes! Breakfast at a casino with Dianne's family cost 99 cents. Later we got to Larramy State Park on the coast and are tenting until tomorrow morning when we go back into Bellingham to visit relatives. After setting up camp we had a nap and went into Fairview - found a great bookstore (Village Books) with a cafe with WIFI which is where we are now. We had supper at AW Bistro, an asian cafe with great food and prices we liked. Now we're off to the campground for the night!... read more

Up at 7 AM, found Don in the living room. He'd been up since 4:30 lowering his model railroad layout (about 8ft by 16ft) which is done by electric winches (I had expressed interest in seeing it). Lots of good conversation, pictures, etc. We did see the train layout (impressive though with much work on scenery yet to do with their daughter's help) and heard as well as saw the train engine whistling down the track! We left there after lunch and headed south toward Chilliwack on the Cariboo Highway (Gold Rush route) - actually #1 after Cache Creek). We were told to watch for Mountain Sheep but did not see any, driving a valley along the Thompson and Fraser rivers (did see some white water rafters). Got to Chilliwack just before 6PM, no thanks to ... read more