GrannyRant

Afternoon, Granny Calling……You know the type of telephone call you get on a wet Wednesday afternoon, from some numpty salesman, just out of short trousers, with a script that says “have you ever thought of getting an extended warranty on your XXXX”.

Whether it be your oven, microwave, car……you huff and puff, and um and ahh as you weigh up whether or not it’s worth the £6 per month? You have nothing better to do, so you let him ‘rattle on’ about the benefit of insurance and the fact that they will replace your XXXX if it’s lost, damaged or stolen!

Well, my significant other, got a nice Nikon Camera for a present a couple of Christmas’s ago and the one year guarantee ran out in December, so he decided, after listening to the nu….I mean nice young gentleman, that he would take the extended insurance, after all, new for old if it was lost, had to be a good idea…didn’t it?

So there he was, all set up with his insurance, off we went on our Canadian Adventure, when – on day 15, (as readers of my Canadian adventure will know) we got unceremoniously thrown from a raft and lost 3 cameras along with a pile of other stuff.

The next day, he dutifully rang Nikon Insurance and informed them of the ‘loss’ and the lady said, ring again when you are back in the UK and we will sort it out. We carried on with our holiday, safe in the knowledge that we had reported everything as it says in the bumph and that it would be sorted out, what could be easier?

We arrived home and on the first working day, he rang Nikon…and he rang…and he rang. After tens of phone calls and e mails, passes of the buck to other departments’ etcetera etcetera etcetera….we finally received a letter telling us

“we do not cover your camera for water damage”!

It was not damaged; it was lost to the Bow River! We reported the loss and you said you would sort it out! We wrote to you saying as much, but it was to no avail.

Now…..is it me? Would you say that when a bag gets swept away by a torrent of water, the camera was lost, or water damaged? We haven’t got the camera, we don’t know where it is, we don’t anticipate getting it back! I think you will agree, it’s well and truly LOST!!

We have been back from our holiday for over 2 weeks now and there is still no joy. The Other half has now cancelled the policy, they have sent him a refund of £41.00 and he swears he will never pay insurance again….What is the point?

Granny

CANADA 2010 – THE FINAL EPISODE

Good morning, Granny Calling. The final day has arrived, we are flying home today and everyone is a tad subdued. We have had a whirlwind tour of some beautiful places in Canada, met some wonderful people and seen sights we shall never forget. The bears, the wine tour, the dreaded raft…..We have stayed in some beautiful hotels, eaten some fabulous food and laughed, cried and gazed in awe at some of the most incredible scenery.

As we ate breakfast on the morning of the flight, we talked about how difficult the journey is and the fact that we don’t actually like flying but you have to do it, if you want to experience some of the world’s wonders. Robyn talked about how she hates to go to the airport and say goodbye to people and I agreed, saying that I always cry like a baby. Martin and I were all packed and struggled to shuffle stuff about in bags to make sure we didn’t exceed the 20kg weight allowance. This was difficult especially as we both had a Calgary Stampede cowboy hat to get in the case and pack it in a way that kept it’s shape. We had breakable presents to bring and rolled them up in clothes to help keep them whole.

Our flight is at 3.40pm and we need to be at the airport by 12.40. The airport is about 20 minutes from Robyn’s house so by 12.15 we were on the way and we were all quiet on the journey, I think in anticipation of the tears that would soon flow. Uncle talked about how happy he was that we had made it and was telling us which members of the family had made it over to see them. He was thanking us and we had just been treated like royalty for almost a month, “we should be the thankful ones” I said.

We arrived at the airport, got the cases out onto the pavement and took turns to hug each other, say how much we loved each other and cried like babies, even Martin was brought to tears and Robyn was so tearful she said Adam would have to drive home. I hugged Uncle and told him to say goodbye to all the people we had met and who had made our holiday special and gave him kisses to take back for Aunty and Katy, then we turned and walked towards Departures and waved as they drove off, Martin and me still wiping our tears away. We wasted away the couple of hours before the flight and bought last minute souvenirs, got Tim Horton’s coffee for the last time and pretty soon, we were boarding the plane.

The flight was as you would expect, we watched rubbish TV, ate horrible in flight meals and drank vodka and tonic thinking it would encourage sleep but it was to no avail as neither of us slept throughout the entire 9 hour flight. We arrived at Manchester airport exhausted, hot and felling ropey as you do after that length of time in a tin can with 300 other people breathing recycled air. It took 2 hours to get clear of the airport, wait for the minibus to shuttle us to the car-park and load the car and start the 4 hour drive home.

Martin drove the first 100 miles or so and then we stopped and had breakfast, which was very welcome. We had been travelling for 12 hours and in our heads it was 12 o clock midnight, while it was 11 o clock UK. We stopped near Birmingham, I bought water and when I got back to the car, Martin was asleep in the drivers seat. I swapped places and drove the last 78 miles home.

When we arrived at the house, there was a mountain of mail, no bread or milk and I had to shop for food. We managed to stay awake until 12 midnight by talking to neighbours outside on the patio and that enabled us to get a full night sleep. The perfect end to a perfect holiday. I hope you have all enjoyed reading my escapades. I wasn’t sure if I could keep up this blog as we travelled but judging by the amount of ‘hits’ and comments it has received it has been well-read. The Canada adventure has ended but the blog will continue, please come back a visit again……..Granny xx

Granny Calling……we left Kelowna at 10.30am and drove out of the city and into the countryside. The smell of burning wood is strong and burns your throat. According to this morning’s TV news there are now 370 fires burning and that’s just in British Columbia. As we approached Kamloops, the terrain changes and the fields are dry and yellow. There are burned pine trees dotted about, which look like cocktail sticks poking out of the ground, I would not like to live in such a dry climate and it’s such a contrast to our wet Wales. It actually looks like a scene from a prehistoric film, ‘the land that time forgot’. The river has etched a lifeline which looks like a huge vein down the centre of the valley floor and either side of the river houses have sprung up all over the place.

We stopped for petrol and to use the toilet as it was going to be 8 hours or more before we got to Jasper, our next destination. Kamploops too, is hazy from the smoke and apparently the inhabitants have to keep all windows and doors closed and use the air conditioning to filter the air. I am having problems with my asthma from the air conditioning and it is causing a dry cough, I am so glad we have it though, especially now.

As we hurtled along the highway, we ate crisps and drank water and listened to silly country songs, they are so funny and have such weird lyrics. Like, pound sign, forward slash, tick exclamation mark? Then a song called ticks, where some man is hoping to get his girl naked and check her for ticks! Then there is the one about, ‘if I die before I wake, feed Jake, he’s been a good dog to me’. Country music, you have to love it, it‘s so comically morbid. The landscape further on is still recovering from fires over the last few years and as we passed a sign for Chinook Cove, I can’t help feel sad that these lovely trees are now reduced to charred tooth-picks.

We wound our way for hours, always with the North Thompson River to our right, this river is so long and we have now been following it for over 4 hours. No sign of a service station anywhere. We saw a sign that says Jasper 243 km, it is 2.06 in the afternoon, Adam is driving and Robyn sleeping and then from nowhere there is a 30 second rain shower, there it was and then it’s gone. Like we drove under a hose pipe. Head Waters, Wells Gray country, Vavenby, Mad River, Little Hells Gate, whiz by town after town as we continue on. We pass Mount Robson and at 3954 metres it’s the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, it is enormous and the snow covered top of the mountain is in the clouds and out of sight.

We crossed the border into Alberta at 5.29, we made good time and the whole journey to Jasper took around 7 hours, We checked into our Hotel and made a plan to meet in 30 minutes to walk into Jasper and eat. Jasper is pretty and it’s bear country, although all we saw there was a couple of red squirrels. The town is nestled in the shadow of some really big mountains and the temperature is quite cool as we walk along. We ate at a Greek place and then strolled the four blocks back to our hotel to get a drink at the bar there, we are all tired, but especially our drivers and got our heads down early.

Day 27, started with an enormous breakfast skillet, we were going exploring today and the plan was to work our way back to Calgary via some tourist destinations. I failed to eat all my food, as did Adam and the waiter said, you even beat your Mom (thinking I was Adam’s Mother), Adam said, how does he know I beat my mom? We all laughed for ages, the waiter was a little dense we decided.

We piled into our Van and left Jasper, first stop Athabasca Falls. The falls were amazing and made a great backdrop for pictures, it was really interesting reading about how the power of the water had created potholes and strange lines in the rocks. We decided to video some short films as we didn’t think Pictures would capture the atmosphere. I got my usual bite, but this one was not a mosquito, more like a horse fly and I have now got a hand like a blown up kitchen glove and this is not going to go down any time soon. On we go, to the Columbian Ice fields, a huge glacier, which is receding far too quickly due to global warming, the glacier stands at 2,000 metres and it is cold near the ice. We walked up the hill and a sign said, people with breathing problems should make other arrangements before going up to that altitude, too late we are already up here, and breathless! It was fascinating and well worth the visit.

We came along the road to a beautiful still lake, where you could see the reflections of the mountains and pine trees in the water, this is Bow Lake and you can see the origin of the Bow river on the mountain. There is a traditional lodge there called Num-Ti-Jah and some pretty birds with orange breasts, I must try and find out what they are? We took some lovely pictures and Martin tried to skim stones on the water, unsuccessfully. On the way out, Adam spotted a place called Mosquito Creek and suggested we should go…are you kidding, mozzies find me easily, I don’t want to go looking for them!

Next stop Lake Louise, which was every bit as stunning, there were lots of people about and we fed a young bird as we ate enormous ice cream cones, I asked for one scoop, I swear there were six scoops at least! We wandered back to the van, talking about the day and decided that the falls were the highlight, we piled into the van for the last leg of our journey back to the house in Calgary. We slowly drove out of the grounds surrounding the lake and started to wind our way down the hill towards home. We hadn’t seen a bear, even though we were told we would and despite the fact that we had kept the camera on standby all day, ‘just in case’. Then as we rounded a bend, Adam said “what’s that?” and there she was, a young female grizzly bear, peeping over the wall looking directly at us and we could not get the camera ready before she turned and went back down the slope. She was about 6 foot tall and was tagged as they are disappearing and there is research being done and they are all tagged with a number. Adam spun the van around and we went back to the spot, but it was too late. How lucky are we, we have seen two black bears and a grizzly on this trip.

We got home about half an hour before Uncle arrived with Robyn’s car, we had Chinese and beer and drank every spirit in the house as well as oceans of home made red wine. Robyn and Martin got to bed at about 2.30 am, me at 3.45 and Uncle and Adam at 06.00.…why do we do it to ourselves, we have felt like crap all day, but better then than tomorrow night as we have to fly home the next day……Granny…to be continued…

Good morning, Granny here. It’s day 25 already and I can’t believe how quickly this holiday is going. We spent our first night at the Marriot in Kelowna and woke to an overcast day. The TV news is reporting over 300 forest fires in British Columbia and judging by the amount of smoke in the air, they are not too far wrong as the sky above the valley is hazy and the sunlight is struggling to filter through.

We made our way down to breakfast. Hotel breakfasts are a strange affair, with all the food lined up the opposite end of the counter to the cutlery and the juice always the other end of the counter from the cups. Somewhere in the middle there will invariably be a microwave and two ‘four slice’ toasters and a free-for-all of people, old and young scrambling to grab their bagels and boiled eggs all at the same time. When you have finally got your food, you turn to find that all the tables are full and you have to wait until one becomes free. As we were going in Adam and Robyn were coming out. “Good luck in there” says Adam, as he had given up after trying to toast a croissant and as he stood chatting to us he was holding the tiniest muffin you can imagine. They were going out to try and get Robyn a bathing suit as we may be having a dip in the lake some time today, so we carried on with breakfast challenge and actually managed to eat quite well after a bit of a toaster fight with a huge crowd of Asian people, who didn’t speak English. I am not being disrespectful to people who can’t speak English or Asians, it’s just that they were trying to read the English instructions and I was trying to get to the toaster and they took forever to even put theirs into the toaster. As soon as I got my chance, I shoved my rolls into the toaster and smiled. It seemed to work and I don’t think I offended anyone? By 10.45, we were waiting in the Reception Area waiting to be picked up for the wine tour.

Kelowna, is a well known Canadian Wine region and it’s huge lake and beautiful sunsets make it a draw for thousands of people every year. A lot of rich hockey players and athletes have houses on the lake and Goldie Hawn is one of the celebrity inhabitants, although I suspect she has a few properties in other choice areas of the world. Houses on the lake can cost upward of $1000,000 and that’s just the small ones. Dave Crosby, a friend of Uncle’s for many years, lives in Kelowna with his partner Diana Coulthard and when we met Dave at Joan and Henry’s house, he said if we contacted him when we were in Kelowna he would try and organise a wine tour for us. We weren’t sure if this would work out as we couldn’t plan a definite day; as it happened it worked out fine.

Out of curiosity we asked at our hotel about an organised tour, $89 per person for four vineyards, with lunch which you had to pay for seperately. Seems a little expensive but if we couldn’t get it together with Dave and Diana, we would have to take it. It is Martin’s birthday today and this was going to be his birthday treat, so no expense spared. Thankfully Dave and Diana came up trumps and contacted Robyn’s mobile phone to say they could take us, whoopee we have a plan and it would be great to go with people who know the area and can advise us on where to go and also to give an insight into the local points of interest.

Dave and Diana met us at the Hotel just after 11 and we all piled into the van. Dave has kindly offered to be the designated driver for the day, which was great for Robyn and Adam as this was the first whole day that they didn’t have to drive. He came well prepared too, he had two cool boxes, one stocked with beer, soda water and ice, the other in case we bought any wine on our tour. It gets really hot in the van when it’s left in the sun and we would have cooked the wine had it been left in the heat.

We visited, Gray Monks first and did a tour, they told us how the vineyard was started by George and Trudy Heiss, two European hairdressers (one Austrian, one German) who had always dreamt of owning a vineyard. The winery celebrated it’s 25th anniversary in 2007. The lady guide took us through the process and told us how the grapes were harvested and pressed and that it takes 2lbs of grapes to make one bottle. We ate at the Grapevine Restaurant at the winery and the views over the valley were stunning, as was the food. Diana told the waitress that we had a ‘birthday boy’ with us and after we had eaten the waitress brought Martina beautiful slice of cake, with Happy Birthday written around the edge of the plate in chocolate. My cheese and charcutrie was also really good, I had cheese, smoked meats and bits of salad and fruit, with crackers, soda bread and bread sticks, delicious. We bought some Pinot Auxerrois, a delicious crisp white wine which we all liked.

On we went, winery after winery, far better than any organised tour would have been. At each one we had a tasting, you sometimes get a free tasting, sometimes it’s $5 for a taste of 5 wines. A few times though we got it free, as the staff found out (surreptitiously) via Dave shouting “Happy Birthday Martin” or Diana slipping Martin’s birthday into the conversation. What a hoot! Apart from Dave we were getting pleasantly squiffy as the day rolled on, with us repeating the tasting, the buying and clicking the camera at every photo opportunity. We went from Gray Monk vineyard to Straw hill, then to Mission Hill Estate, which reminded me of a rich Italian’s home with vines as far as the eye could see, anyone remember the TV programme Falcon Crest? Well that’s what it’s like. This was really upmarket place, with a bell tower, a natural grass amphitheatre and great views of the lake. The tour was too expensive so we just looked around, took pictures and left. We went to Quail’s Gate, then volcanic hills, Mount Boucherie, Rollingdale Winery and then finally we went to Summerhill Pyramid Winery & Sunset Bistro where Diana’s adopted son is one of the chefs. Summerhill is BC’s first Champagne House. They use a pyramid in their winemaking process as they have discovered the effect that the pyramid shape has on liquids, I am no scientist but the wine is to die for.

The food at the bistro was fabulous, Adam and me had Lamb, Dave had a pork rack chop, Robyn had the duck and Diana and Martin had a lovely Halibut steak, which looked great. I even had a desert which id unusual for me, lemon tart, lava cake, pana cotta, all so good.

We watched the sun go down over the lake and everyone laughed at my British sayings like Jiggery Pokery and Higgledy Piggledy. Adam thought ‘Fandabbydozey’ was hilarious and Diana wrote them all down so as not to forget, we laughed and talked until around 9pm and then it was time to leave.

As we left, we took some pictures outside the winery as we strolled back the van, good old Dave had been driving all day and deserved a drink by now, we were all pretty tipsy. What great company Dave and Diana were, great sense of humour, informative about the area and the wines and really easy people to be around, I am so glad we took them up on their offer. Another memorable day that Martin and me are really grateful for and will remember for years to come. We chatted until the early hours in our room before drifting off to sleep…goodnight all ….Granny…to be continued.

Good evening, Granny calling. I am writing this from my Hotel room in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley. It is day 25,but first I have to go back a day as I am behind again.

Yesterday, we left Vancouver at 11am, we said our goodbyes to the lovely Carmen the night before as she was working the early shift. Steve saw us off and we thanked him for his hospitality. We had a great 4 nights with them and that saved us a lot money in hotel bills. They are great people and we will have lovely memories of our stay in Vancouver. If they ever read this blog, we are truly grateful.

We had our Tim Horton’s breakfast before driving out of Vancouver towards Highway 1 on our way to the Okanagan Valley via the Coquihalla mountain road. the weather was a little overcast but this was probably better for driving. We drove past waterfalls, steep valleys with carpets of green pine trees and lush vegetation. Up, up and even further up we went. The Coquihalla Highway passes through some of the most beautiful landscapes imaginable. This dramatic change of environment is exhilarating, as you go from misty coastal cedars and tall firs to bright sunlight on the high rock faces in the space of half an hour. You sometimes drive above the clouds and this adds a certain mystique to the landscape. it’s amazing and you get up as high as 1,780 metres, on the day we drove it, it was cloudy and therefore our view was somewhat obscured, none the less it was still a thrill. The road is dual carriageway all the way and it makes for a good safe journey, even with some of the sharper bends. I tried to imagine what it would have been like taking this journey before the highway was built, it must have been an epic trek!

Adam drove most of the way to Kelowna as his foot is a little better today. We drove past some more wild and wonderful road signs, like, ‘Box Canyon’, avalanche area critical accident spot, Falls Lake, Britton Creek and Larson Hill. We have been told to get our cameras ready to see wildlife but so far we had been unlucky. We saw a sign that said, Welcome to Nicola Valley and I thought about my family, I have two lovely Nicolas in my family, I am very lucky.

On and on, the drive should be around five and a half hours we guessed, but we were making good time and hoped to arrive sooner. We laughed about our times in Vancouver and the escapade on the ferry. We giggled about family stories which I could tell Robyn about Uncle and she could tell me, stories about silly things that families share and that bring back memories…..special times that give you a sense of belonging. Past the sign for Princeton, Osoyoos, Peachland and Penticton and we had a laughing fit about a song on the country channel, Brad Paisley singing a song about, getting some woman naked and checking for ticks?…what’s that all about?

At one point I glanced in the wing mirror and spotted my hair, or what used to be my hair, it now looks like a Busby on one of those Guards at Buckingham Palace! It has grown so much since I left home. I can’t do anything with it, it is true holiday hair, sort of surfer meets the Lion King! Shit, I almost look like Don King!

As we drop down into Kelowna we get our first sight of the Okanagan Lake, it is another one of those lakes that looks like an Ocean, with beaches on all sides and motor boats, people on jet skis and a sort of seaside feel to the whole area. As we travelled further towards Kelowna, the scenery changed from green to yellow as we entered the wine growing region. Dry fields, with parched grass and yellow dusty soil. It had a real cowboy country feel. This is where Dave Crosby and Diana Coulthard live and we were planning to meet up with them at some point, fingers crossed that we could get it together.

We arrived at our Hotel, The Marriot Fairfield Inn, we are going to be here for two nights, it is a little expensive but this is a Bank holiday weekend in Canada, so we are lucky to get anything. The rooms are really nice, the staff are helpful and there is a pool and breakfast. We arranged to take a two hour break in our rooms and then shower and get an early supper. This is vineyard country, it is Martin’s birthday tomorrow and we are going to head off on a wine tour in the morning. So we thought, early night and be fresh in the morning. We left the hotel to cross to Joey’s restaurant on the other side of the road. At home this would have been a 30 second walk across the road. Here, we had to walk 100 yards to the crossing, then cross 8 lanes using a light controlled crossing, then cross another lane and then another. The restaurant was then another 50 yards away. It was right opposite our hotel but it took us ten minutes to walk! No wonder everyone drives everywhere here.

We had beautiful food, we tried some cocktails, a Caesar, A Bellini and some cherry, vodka coke thing that Robyn ordered. She is a cocktail Queen and never gets the same thing twice! Robyn and me got a half rack of ribs, Martin got some Basa, which is a white fish and as we started to eat, the clouds gathered. We were eating outside, although the table was under a canopy but when the heavens opened, the huge drips started to rain down through the canopy and onto our table, we ducked and dived and the waitresses ran around trying to move people. The shower lasted around ten minutes but boy, did it rain! When it stopped, we moved our seats a bit, got more drinks and sat there just putting up with the huge drops of water dripping from the overhead heater. We had a really good night, when we left, we a little worse for wear to say the least and as we walked the ten minutes back the other way, we all decided to go to Walmart and then the liquor store, funny how you think things are a good idea when you’re inebriated eh? We bought, teabags, ginger biscuits, milk and salted peanuts at Walmart (don’t ask) and then I bought a small bottle of brandy and a small bottle of Canadian Rye at the liquor store. You would think from looking at us all that it was way after midnight, but actually we were back in our room by 10 and I got ice from the ice machine in our hotel and Martin and me watched crap TV, drank brandy and coffee and fell asleep with the air conditioning rattling like a cat peeing on a tin roof! We sure know how to live it up! Wine tour tomorrow, so goodnight from Granny…….to be continued

Friday we decided, would be a little more relaxing, not so much driving, a later start and a laundry day. You know the type of day you have when you go camping and you’ve run out of clean clothes. I was up by 8 and managed to type up two days worth of the Granny Rant while everyone was still sleeping. Carmen got home from her night shift at 07.30 and went to bed and Steve had to work for one hour between 12 and 1pm at the swimming pool. So the four of us went to IHOP (international House of Pancakes) for brunch at around 12.30. We had pancakes with butter, Martin and Adam had omelettes and I had steak tips with shredded potato, mushroom and onion. Robyn and Adam’s pancakes were supposed to be chocolate chip, they came back all chocolate, with hundreds of chocolate chips and looking like ‘Death by chocolate’! There was maple, blueberry and strawberry syrup. Jesus, how can we eat meat and sweet pancakes on the same plate? Robyn dipped her sausages in blueberry syrup, you gotta love this girl’s style. As we left, we were all stretching to try and get the food to sink a bit lower, too full to walk, al four of us!

We called into Walmart, then went back to the house and picked up Carmen and Steve to go into downtown Vancouver, we all piled into the van, all 6 of us, like the Ant Hill Mob. For the Canadians reading this blog (and I know who you are) the Ant Hill Mob are cartoon gangsters who travel around in an old Al Capone type car. We travelled downtown, first to the Farmers Market on Granville we ate Gelato, which for the Brits is a homemade sort of ice-cream/sorbet, absolutely delicious. Outside in the sun, there were street entertainers and people selling all sorts of wild and wonderful things. Smell of Chinese food and donuts filled the air and music floated along on the warm breeze. We saw a place where they make totem poles, with huge whole tree trunks waiting to be carved, amazing. In a yard, there was a concrete mixer lorry, which was actually painted as a strawberry, strange but kind of quirky, I have this vision of a six foot six muscle bound man driving a huge strawberry around Canada?

We all piled back into the van and drove the extra few miles into the city, the buildings got taller and taller and they made for a really amazing sky-line. We parked in the underground car-park and walked up the ramp to the waterside restaurant. Adam wanted to try some fish as we were so near the sea and it should be really fresh and Steve led the way to Cardero’s Restaurant, which had been recommended to him. It was good advice, this place was really busy and as we were seated the waiter buzzed around us like a fly, attending to our drinks order and we all studied the menu. Martin, Robyn and Adam had Halibut, Steve ordered seared Lingcod and Carmen had Wok chicken in a sweet glaze. I had a juicy chicken breast, which came with roasted potato and fresh vegetables. There were chocolate brownie’s, baked Alaska and Irish coffee to follow and the men had port and brandy. The whole meal was really good and we had a great time. We left the restaurant and strolled along in the evening sun looking at all the expensive boats and the marina with the smell of the sea wafting in the breeze.

Along the marina and up the steps, is the place where the Olympic torch was lit in Vancouver, there were lots of people milling about taking pictures and enjoying the evening. I like Vancouver, it’s a lovely city, very clean and it feels ‘safe’. The kind of place you could spend a whole night in without seeing anything untoward and then watch the sun come up. Glorious! Carmen drove home, she is 16 weeks pregnant and is the only person who hasn’t had alcohol. We all dozed in the car, like 5 nodding dogs, the ones you see on the back parcel shelves of cars.

On Saturday, we were all up early. I tried to catch up on my blog and we took turns for the shower, 6 people sharing one bathroom is difficult and there always seems to be someone waiting to get in when you’re not ready to get out! We laughed about it and made the best of the situation.

We drove through the mountains to Whistler, Carmen is really excited about the trip as are Martin and I. We have to plan this trip carefully according to the availability of bathrooms, as when Carmen needs to go, she needs to go now! The views on the way are fantastic, high roads, overlooking enormous expanses of water and waterfalls, Native American place names which are unpronounceable to a Welsh woman! The only one I can remember is Squamish? I wasn’t quick enough to write them all down and gave up in the end. As we drove into Whistler, the Niukshiuk stone man, the Indian symbol of friendship and safe travel welcomes us on Whistler Boulevard.

We parked the van and walked up the stairs to the village, on the way, we found the bathroom for Carmen. When we got to the village square, I thought it would be a good idea to make a plan to meet somewhere later in case we lost each other. It’s not easy to see what you want to see when you’re all together and Martin and I needed to find the bank and he had to phone home, we didn’t want anyone else to be held up. I am also conscious that the others are almost 30 years younger than us and we don’t want them to feel limited to doing everything we want to do. I felt bad afterwards as I thought they may have felt that we didn’t want to spend time with them, which wasn’t the intention at all.

We wandered around the shops, ate a toasted sandwich and generally people watched. We saw the gondola rides to go up to the top of the mountain, the peak to peak was about £40 each and way to high for me with my fear of height, that one was a few feet too far, so we decided against it. I wonder if the others went up, that was one of the things ~I didn’t want them not to do, just because I wouldn’t do it.

I found a pair of clip-on sun glasses to go with my only surviving pair of specs, my prescription sunnies are at the bottom of the river. As we sat trying to fit them, Robyn came across the square to say that they were at the bar having a drink. We joined them in a beer and I asked what they had done, they had done exactly the same as us, so we could have stayed with them after all, we wouldn’t have cramped their style. We headed back to the Ant Hill Van and out of Whistler, on the way, I realised that we were looking for a sign, the Olympic village which was used for the Winter Olympics 2010 and we were going to see it. The weather had other ideas and the clouds gathered for what looked like a storm. As we approached, the heavens opened and the guy in the little booth, steeped out into the rain and said “there’s the ski run and the cross country to see” and he gave us a map. He laughed as he looked up at the sky. It poured and poured and pored some more. We saw the ski run and the ski jump, through the van window as the thunder rumbled and the lightening lit up the sky. Then Carmen said “Sorry guys, I need the bathroom again” we all laughed out loud as she got excited when one came into sight “Yaaaaay Bathroom!” I have never seen anyone so excited, how cool is it to pee in the Olympic bathroom! She ran across the tiles at break-neck speed, which worried me a bit, with her being pregnant, she’s certainly a fit mum-to-be! As we left the Olympic park (which was more of a clump of trees with a bathroom and a ski jump, we all laughed and said “imagine if you had to pay to go in there! Would’ve been an expensive trip to the bathroom!”

Robyn and me chatted on the way back to the house, the weather got brighter as we travelled and the others all napped. At home Steve cooked us fish, rice and vegetables and we looked at pictures, stuffed ourselves with food and drink and got to bed by 11. Goodnight people, we are off the Kelowna tomorrow I the Okanagan Valley…..Granny….to be continued

Good Morning Granny calling..…I am getting behind now, I am actually writing days 20 & 21 0n day 22. Hopefully I will catch up today, we have been so busy during the day that I have been too exhausted to write up in the evening. So here we go with next instalment.

On Wednesday, we got up pretty early but we were awake before 7 as there was no air conditioning in our room and we left the window wide open all night, therefore the city noise woke us. I love to be awake before everyone else and just have the time to pootle about doing my own thing and waking up slowly. I made a pot of coffee, the tea bags we bought were shite and we can’t get any milk, there is only coffee whitener. I miss my four cups of tea in the mornings. So, coffee it is then!

By the time Martin got up and we both showered it was almost time to meet the others in Starbucks. We had a dark roast coffee, which is far better than the latte I had before and we sat and planned the best way to go to Pike Place. While we were talking, a man came up twice and took coffee cups which still had coffee in them out of the bin and drank them, must be sad to need to do that. He didn’t seem bothered by it though and after he had finished, he just walked off up the stairs and out to the street.

We spoke to ‘Alex’ at the reception desk of the hotel, who kindly drew us directions of how we could get to Pike place either by car, bus or mono-rail. We decided to drive and park, as we would be heading for Vancouver later that day. It was also cheaper to park, than for all four of us to take the bus both ways. We have a plan!

As we walked to the Market, I thought, this as not as busy as imagined it would be, but we were at the back and had to go up a few floors. After going up and down a couple of times and even out of the building, we asked a workman how to get there, “Floor Six” he said and up we went! As the lift doors opened, the sounds, smells and sights hit you like a steam train, so much going on and lots of stalls with people shouting for you to buy their goods, what a fabulous place!

I wanted to see the fish market stalls as I have watched a film about it, during some motivational training I have been on in the past. We found it pretty quickly and when we got there, there were a few people standing around waiting for the fun to start. Before long a man came over and told people, get your cameras ready, hold them at this height and click away…”Black cod” he shouted and all of the men behind the counter shouted “hhhheeeeeeeyyyy” as they threw the fish from one end of the counter to the other and the man our side of the caught it and shouted for some snapper. “Hhheeeyyyyy” they said again…and continued until they had thrown half dozen fish or so. “you’ve seen us throw, now would anyone like to buy one”? he said Jokingly. Seems like a great place to work and although they are busy, filleting fish etc they make jokes and answer questions for people willingly.
We wandered around the market for a bit and then decided that we would go back to the fish and see if we could buy something to eat now. We stopped near the counter to the left of the stall and a smiley man came and asked how he could help. “We are looking for something we can eat now” we all said in unison. “Ok, what about we have a tasting session” he replied. Sounded good to us and he let us taste the crab meat and two different types of smoked salmon. We decided on the salmon that was smoked with black pepper, garlic and brown sugar . We bought a pound of salmon and some crab meat. We went and bought some bread rolls from another stall. We found a table in the seating area and proceeded to have a fish picnic right there, amongst the old men reading newspapers and the families stopping to take pictures of a wooden statue of a Neanderthal man, Martin said he thought they were taking pictures of us, like the monkeys feeding at the zoo. It was a feast worthy of Royalty and we all really enjoyed it.

We wandered around for a further half an hour, I bought some cookies, I couldn’t walk by them, 12 cookies for $5 and they were huge. I also bought a framed photograph of the fish market as a souvenir and the man told me about his website where I could view and buy more. I am going to check it out as some of his photographs were really good. Robyn and Adam spotted a lady with a ‘Hard Rock Café’ bag and asked her where they could find the restaurant, we left the indoor market and spilled out into the street, being carried along by the crowd. Past the golden pig, which was of high interest to the oriental people, I must found out why, must be some sort of luck attached to it I think. Robyn bought a beer glass (for her collection) and we then worked our way through the crowds again to the car park, we would be heading for Vancouver to stay with Carmen and Steve for a few days. As we drove past the sights and sounds of Seattle, I went over the whistle stop tour in my mind, all the sights, the sounds and the buzz of this diverse city, happy times.

Out of the city, over the huge bridge and back into open countryside, I uploaded the photographs to the hard drive as we travelled. I tried to write up some of the blog, but it’s difficult with the movement of the car and I didn’t want to miss and of the scenery. We whizzed past small villages, shopping malls and fields. Two hours later, we were at the border. The Canadian guard, was about 25 years old in my estimation and spoke in monotone, “Where in the US did you go? How much did you spend? Who’s car is this? Why are you driving it? How do you know these people? Jesus H. Christ it’s like an inquisition. It makes you wonder why people want to enter countries where the first person you see is a man that seems like he had lemons for breakfast! I suppose that’s the point though, they need to be security conscious and probably reel off the same questions a million times a day. The border was very pretty, with the Canadian flag mapped out in petunias and lovely trees and water features everywhere, much prettier than the border at Idaho on the way into the states.

We arrived at Carmen and Steve’s house at around 4pm. They live in a basement suite and are busy packing to move into their own condo in the next couple of weeks, so it’s really good of them to put themselves out for us. As all first meetings are, it was all a little formal and awkward to begin with, but pretty soon, we were all chatting away and talking about our trip and where we had been, what we had seen and generally getting along fine, I thought. Carmen has found a place near her house, where I can go and have my acrylic nails in-filled, they have been through a lot these nails. Swollen fingers through some sort of insect bite, getting caught on a Gondola door at Banff and bending one back (ouch!) and a near death experience falling of a raft in the Bow river! So these nails are looking pretty sad. I can’t get them off because the glue the Vietnamese lady at my nail salon uses is like concrete and I would need a Jack Hammer, so I either need to get them soaked off with acetone or get them repaired, I would prefer to repair them.

They dropped me at ‘Pro-Nails’ at 5pm, we had called in earlier and they were expecting me, so I waited, and waited, for over 35 minutes. Robyn and Carmen were coming back for me in 25 minutes and I hadn’t even been started yet! They came for me just as I had sat down and I had to ask them to leave and come back in an hour. Shit! How long will this take? The lady, who was very nice said, I will have to take them off (in broken English) I said ok as I was expecting her to get the acetone set up and leave me with a leisurely ‘soak-off’ but she had other ideas. She came at me, with what can only be described as a ‘scalpel’! I’m sure she could detect the horror on my face, but I thought, maybe this is how they do it here? She scraped, and pulled and placed the knife between my own nail and the acrylic overlay until they were all off. It hurt like hell and I was sweating by the time she had finished. She kept saying “you ok lady?” and I just half-smiled. What else can you do in that position? After another hour the girls came back to get me but I was only about half way through having the replacement set, so they waited. We left the salon at 7.30 pm, two and a half hours after I had arrived. The nails look great now though, a sort of cherry red with sparkly bits, like a saloon tart! What an experience, the lovely Mai, who normally does my nails would be horrified!

When we got back to the house, Steve had cooked us pasta and chicken, he did a veggie version for Martin. We had coffee, beer and wine We relaxed and watched TV, chillaxin, is what I like to call it. We booked our ferry to Vancouver Island for the next day as we have been told that the ferry gets booked up quickly in the summertime. We decided to get an early night, Robyn was exhausted from all the driving, as Adam still couldn’t drive due to his broken toe. What an exhausting day…..zzzzzzzzzzz

On Thursday morning, we were up by 7, we left the house at 8.10 to get the 9am boat. We arrived at the port at 08.45 only to be told that our reservations didn’t stand as we should have arrived by 08.30 to take up our booking time. The lady said “it’s in the fine print” Yes it was, but you would need a magnifying glass to see it! We lined up to take our chance with everyone else but we weren’t lucky and had to wait in line for the 10am ferry. This has already seriously cut our ‘Island’ time but c’est la vie, what could we do about it now. As usual when we don’t know what to do, we eat, so we went Into the port café and had some breakfast muffins and coffee.

When we finally got on the boat, Martin and I went straight up onto the ‘sun-deck’. There was a chance that we may see some blue whales or even an orka, we didn’t want to miss the chance. It was freezing on the top deck, but we were determined to stay out there for the whole journey. Us British are hard as nails (bbbrrrrrrr)! We arrived on the island at 11.45 and as we drove off the boat, we immediately hit road-works, this resulted in an hour journey to Victoria and we finally arrived outside the Empress hotel on the sea front at 12.40pm. We planned to go off separately in case we lost each other and Robyn gave Martin and me her phone so that we could contact them when it was time to leave.

Martin and me wandered along the front, it was hot and sunny but there was fog on the water, it made for a pretty picture. We ate shrimp and chicken in honey at a waterfront restaurant and sat and watched the world go by. It was lovely, the street sellers, a fire-eater, a funny man doing a show using a unicycle and artists selling all sorts of crafts and wares. I bought three pictures as souvenirs. The artist told me the meaning of them and they were all based on themes of life, diversity and the coming together of all the people’s of the world. He was a very interesting man, I could have listened for hours and he was very grateful for the sale. Far too quickly, we were sat at the front of the Empress Hotel waiting for Robyn and Adam. We had to be back at the port for 5pm for the 6pm ferry. We didn’t want to miss our reservation again.

When we approached at the ferry port, there was a traffic lady flagging down all the cars, she said “what time is your reservation” Robyn said “we are on the 6 o clock boat” she said “you will have to turn around, go somewhere else and come back, otherwise they will think you are in line for the 5 o clock!” Robyn’s face was so funny, she “Where should we go, we have to be back here in 15 minutes!” she said “one minute” and got on the radio, she came back to us and said “ ok you can move forward”. Phew! That was close. The lady at the booth took our print outs of our reservations and said “you’re lucky, we have somewhere to put you, line one please”. So, you may ask yourselves, why did we reserve a place, I have no idea and neither did anyone else. The boat didn’t board until 6pm and we sailed away from the island at 6.20.

No Whales on the way back either, but the crew of the ship were watching a lady with a huge rucksack and were watching her from a distance. Martin and I could hear the radio conversations throughout the journey and we wondered what kind of trouble she was in, or had she sneaked on the boat somehow. We decided that she must have a whole suitcase full of marijuana bound for Vancouver and beyond. I suppose we will never find out the truth. The last we saw of her was two crew members following down the starboard deck as she looked over the side and a lady crew member putting on surgical gloves!

When we got back to the house Carmen was at work, she is working a 12 hour nightshift at the hospital . Steve had ordered pizza as arranged and we ate, drank more beer and wine and played scrabble. We turned at 11,30. The end of another whirlwind day, goodnight people…….Granny….to be continued.

Good morning, Granny calling……This morning we will leave CouerD’Alane to head for Seattle, we are all really excited as it’s somewhere all four of us want to see. First though, Robyn has to find out where we can get an oil change on the van and a replacement key for the one lost in the river. We can’t expect Uncle to pay for that, so Robyn will ring around. We found somewhere for the oil change, which needs to be done at 5,000 km for the warranty as the van is new. The key though, is half the price in Saskatoon as it is in the States, so we will get it done there. The oil change was quick and we got a free premium carwash thrown in….. perfect.

We took an hour out and visited the lake before we left CouerD’Alane, the lake is huge, like and ocean and you can take pleasure flight s in a plane that lands on the sea. There are jet-skis, lovely boats and allsorts of water activities going on. Adam found the walk difficult with his swollen foot, so sat on a bench and Martin, Robyn and me went across the bridge to a viewing point to take pictures. We have lots of pictures already, I reckon we have taken over 2,000 in the first two weeks. We took a picture of a hotel we thought of booking, overlooking the lake. It was very expensive, so we decided on a cheaper option. The lake was lovely but we needed to go as we had a long drive ahead.

The decision for the day was that we buy supermarket sandwiches and eat on the road, Robyn was driving as Adam’s foot was like a balloon again, it would take around 5 hours to get to Seattle so it will be a long day. At Safeway, you can ‘build your own sandwich‘. We had Focaccia bread, with a pile of meat (cheese for the veggie), ham, turkey etc and salad. This sandwich was a ‘beast’! Robyn and Adam had 12 inch baguettes with ham, salad and avocado, they were huge and it took the lady 25 minutes to build 4 sandwiches! We bought a fruit platter with strawberries, melons etc and some bags of crisps and cold drinks and headed out of town at midday. By 12.20 pm we had entered Washington State, what a place of contrast, from high mountainous areas with snow topped peaks, through areas of sparse vegetation and desert heat and then lush green fields, lakes and rivers in other areas. Stunning scenery, was followed by long straight roads, with nothing but flat fields, wind farms and endless skies. We drove through a short rain shower, but the temperature outside was climbing steadily and it was now up over 30 degrees, thankfully we had air conditioning in the van.

Adam needed to raise his swollen foot and I thought if I was sat behind him with my short legs, he could put his foot up on the dash. I said to Martin “let’s swap seats” Adam said “that would be good if you don’t mind”. So I undid my seatbelt and Martin undid his, I sat on his lap and he shuffled from underneath me to sit on the opposite side as we were travelling along, we puffed and panted and climbed over each other like a game of Twister and when we were re-seated in our new places Adam proceeded to slide his seat back. We were all in fits of laughter, because after all the struggle, I swear the seat only moved 1cm, all that effort for such a small gain!

We drove through Spokane Valley, West towards Seattle, we passed Medical Lake and a small place called Tyler in Cheney…hhmmmm Tyler, where have I heard that name before? I miss my little princess. We passed a sign that said, ‘leaving apple maggot quarantine area’ sounds gross to me. The names of some of the places are quaint, like Steptoe-Edwell and Sprague-Hamilton. There are ranches dotted all over, with huge expanses of land, just like you see in old Western Films, their nearest neighbours must be 10 miles away.

We passed grain fields, potato farms and all sorts of crops. At one point Robyn asked Adam, “what do you think’s growing in that field?” Immediately Adam said “Field grain” and then he named the next crop and I thought, boy this man is super-intelligent and really knows his crops. He named some more and then Robyn realised, he was reading it on signs at the roadside, there was a sign earlier that had said, crop signs for the next 15 miles. We laughed like hell as we all started reading, peas, alfalfa, sweet corn amongst other things.

We drove on, Hiawatha road, Adam road….wait a minute, Adam has his own road? Eventually we came to a place called George, yes George, in Washington state, George- Washington and on every sign there was a silhouette of the man himself, very apt I thought. We drove through what can only be described as desert, for miles and entered Wanapum National Park. As we rounded a bend high up and started to head down a hill, the sign said, scenic viewpoint in 1 mile. What an understatement as the Columbian River came into view, this was a river of epic dimensions and it stretched as far as the eye could see, it was surrounded by scrub land and small lizards ran around the scorched rocks. The sign said ‘watch for rattle snakes’ and we took pictures in the searing heat. It was 35 degrees outside but felt much hotter and my Pandora bracelet go so hot it burned my wrist. What a sight, Martin and me never thought we would see sights like this, it’s amazing. As we drove away we took pictures from the bridge as we drove across the entire width of this huge waterway.

Further on, as we drove over the Yakima River, Robyn had to brake hard as all the cars in front stopped really suddenly, a lorry had lost some hay bales on the road and a little man was trying to move them in between the traffic. We drove on towards Seattle, through the Wenatchee National Forest with it’s huge trees and greenery and by stampede pass lake and Snoqualmie Pass and entered Seattle at 4.07pm, it was still about 20 minutes before we saw anything that resembled a city though.

We found the Mediterranean Hotel after a short while and having taken a couple of wrong turns, it’s was ok, the staff were pleasant, the beds and bathrooms clean and there was an in-house Starbucks coffee shop…bonus! We arranged to have an hour in our rooms and finish our humungous sandwiches and meet at 6.30 to go for a walk, we didn’t want to waste any daylight and wanted to see the Seattle Centre Fountain and take a trip up the Space Needle. We walked a few blocks until we found the fountains in the Seattle Centre, which is a huge square with stadiums, a fairground, the fountains and the Space Needle. We sat and took photographs at the fountains and I filmed some children playing in the water. The atmosphere was lovely, the weather pleasant, evening sun and a soft breeze and a smell of donuts that makes you feel hungry. We rushed along as fast Adam could manage with his foot until we got to the Space Needle, $18 each to go up and well worth it. I am afraid of heights but was determined to go up and I’m so glad I did. After the initial lift ride in a glass fronted lift which travels 520ft in 43 seconds, seems faster it felt like we went up like a bullet. The Space needle sways 1 inch for every 10 mph of wind speed, but I was surprisingly calm and proud of the fact that I got to the top without having a panic attack!

At the top, the view over Seattle was amazing, the city, the skyline, the sea, was breathtaking. We wandered outside for about half an hour and then went in for a drink, Robyn and me had a glass of wine, the men got beer and we sat and watched the sun go down. What an amazing experience and one I never imagined I would see in this lifetime. Martin and me fell so lucky. The kids are doing us proud! When we went back down we walked a couple of blocks to the Irish bar and had some supper before strolling back to the Hotel in the coolness of the evening and falling into bed.

Before we said goodnight, we made a plan the get up at 8am and meet at 9am for coffee in the Starbucks at the hotel. From there we were off to Pike road Market, but especially to see the world famous fish market….but that’s another day and another blog…..Granny….to be continued

Good evening, Granny Calling…..Day 16 is the first day of our road trip. Robyn and Adam have been planning where they would take us for months. They are two of the best, a great couple who have kindly given up their holiday time to drive us to some special destinations and we only found out a few days before we left the UK that we would be going into the USA for a couple of nights. How exciting, and how lucky are we to have such special people looking after us.

Due to us losing all our stuff on the raft escapade, we have to sort a few things out before we leave. Robyn said “There is no way I am going on a road trip without a cell phone”, I have to agree, sometimes you are driving for over an hour here without seeing a house, farm, or Service station. Adam’s phone was also water damaged so he was going to get a Blackberry which he has wanted for some time. I think falling in the river did him a favour as his old phone was a bit of a Dinosaur!

I was up a 6am as I had to call the UK to report my phone missing, my debit cards and find out how to sort out money, I lost all my money and my cards to the Bow River. 6am here is 1pm UK, so that seemed to be a good time to ring as I didn’t get held up on hold as you usually do. They said I could get an emergency money fund but it would cost. I decided to go to my online banking page, transfer money to Martin and he could access it from his account. No extra cost…simples ttch!

Blackberry were great, it’s insured they said, ring us when you are back across the pond and we’ll send you a new one within 48 hours, doesn’t it just make your day when something is sorted easily, hassle free…..we didn’t need anymore hassle after yesterday.

We went to a Mall and bought a new camera. Robyn and Adam are going to share it for now, I am going to keep the camera when we go home. Martin has Nikon insurance so he should be able to get his replaced easily. Phew…so much to think about. We got some crutches for Adam from the pharmacy, got a huge filled pita for lunch and piled into van and left Calgary. We were heading south towards the Rocky mountains.

It was a gorgeous day, clear blue sky, warm breeze and around 25 degrees. Everything looks so nice in the sun and we were all in good spirits as we headed out of town. We drove through Banff National Park and into Kootenay National Park and Adam and Robyn described points of interest as we travelled. In the mountain, the roads start to twist and turn, a change from the mile after mile of straight roads in the cities and on the outskirts. We climbed up and down hills as we went further into Kootenay, Robyn driving as Adam’s foot was painful. As we drove along we got our first sight of some wildlife, four deer, two standing and two young ones laid down in the grass, they are really pretty and we all oohed and aahed at the sight. A little further on the road split into two lanes our side and Robyn managed to overtake some slow vehicles as we climbed a hill, she squeezed the van back in between two cars and suddenly, the vehicles ahead started braking and slowing down. What’s going on now we wondered, more road-works maybe? As we slowly rounded the bend a Female Black Bear and cub, were casually crossing the road, I struggled to get the camera, still wanted to look at this amazing sight but by the time I switched the camera on and pressed the button, the delay meant that they had gone over the bank and disappeared into the trees. I am disappointed that we never got a picture, but I still have goose bumps thinking of how close we were to them, I’m not good at distance, but I reckon we were about 4 car lengths away…amazing. Some people I have spoken to have lived here all their lives and never seen a Bear and Adam said it was the closest he has been to one. We were really lucky. Further on we saw some wild Canadian Mountain goats, just lurking in a parking space, like they owned the place. What a great way to start a road trip and there was more great stuff to come.

We drove on towards Moose Lake and Radium and as we turned left into the mountain road (well dirt track really), Robyn swapped seats with Adam for the drive up the mountain. Wow! What a scary drive, Gravel road, very high and narrow in places. I am not happy at height and I hate height and movement, makes me feel nauseous but if you want to see things you just have to grit your teeth and go for it. On the way up to Moose Lake we saw, black squirrels, chipmunks and cows! Yes cows, now that is really wild! At the lake, which is really pretty, we stopped and ate the watermelon we had in the cool box and finished off the ham, salami and cucumbers that we brought from the fridge. We didn’t stay too long as the flies are like bumble bees and they BITE! Martin got bitten and so did I, these bugs like British flesh.

On the way down the mountain, we stopped at a natural hot spring, we paddled in water that was hotter than bath water, the smell of the sulphur wafting all around. Martin tried the cold pool too, not for me though, I have had my fill of cold water for a while. We decided not to get right into the water as we had to go on further and didn’t want to get the van wet or our clothes. What a great day and we have some brilliant pictures.

We got back to the van and drove on to Kimberley, our hotel was fantastic, in fact it was more than that. Kimberley is quiet in Summer as it’s a Ski resort, so we got a great suite, 2 en suite bedrooms, balcony, fantastic living room complete with cooking facilities and the beds were so big, it felt like I was sleeping on my own! You can view the resort at www.mountainspirit.ca What a great place. We ate supper across the road at Kelsey’s which is similar to Brewer’s Fayre at home and the waiter (David) was kind enough to sell us a bottle of wine to take back to our room and he even loaned us a corkscrew, even though it was officially against the rules. When we went back to the hotel, we sat at the high table in our suite, drank the wine, took pictures with our new camera with the self-timer and had high jinks taking pictures, even one of Robyn, fully clothed in the bath-tub! We all fell into bed exhausted, what a day, I love holidays …..

Monday morning and we woke in the huge bed which could easily sleep 8. I was first up, I usually am, I think I’ve been second up twice……. What a woman! I switched on the net-book, we have complimentary wi-fi here and I wanted to message people on Face book, I am now without my usual way of contact (my deceased Blackberry). I messaged Joanne, transferred money to Martin’s account and phaffed about, I also made a pot of coffee, there is no kettle for tea. Adam and Robyn got up and hobbled around sorting out their sore feet and got straight down to finding us a Hotel in CouerD’Alane IDAHO we were going to be in America today, earlier than we expected.

We wound our way through mountain roads, past huge green fields and ranches, over railway bridges and through small towns with just a few houses. The scenery is stunning in this part of the World with huge lakes and rivers that wind through the valleys like big blue veins. We counted down the Kilometres to the border and got passports ready. We all laughed at our passport photos and Robyn and Adam thought it was funny that I said Martin looked like an escaped convict in his!

We passed through Cranberra and we all agreed that it looked a bit dodgy, one of those places you didn’t really want to stop at. Maybe it’s a nice place, but it looked dirty and run down. We passed by Elizabeth lake, went through Moyie, where the lake is enormous and the deepest blue and a little place called Yahk, the saloon there was called ‘The Horny Owl’ I’m curious to know where that came from.

We arrived at the border at 1.15pm local time and we had to put our watches back one hour. When you live in little old GB it seems strange to go through time zones while your still in the same country! The Border Policeman was really surly and snapped off questions really quickly. Have you been convicted of anything are you carrying any firearms, drugs, food and so on. I had difficulty understanding him and he instructed Robyn to take off her sunglasses as he checked the passports. Some people just have such an attitude, welcome to America! He told us to park around the corner, go inside and sign up for our I-94 permits to enter the US. We had to fill in paper work, get our fingerprints taken and get mug shots done. It cost us $12 and he asked for it in America, thank God Robyn had the sense to pick up some dollars at the bank and she could lend us some. By the time we got back to the Dodge we felt like criminals. I’m sure we don’t cause the Americans so much stress when they visit the UK, maybe we’re too soft!

About 3 miles over the border in Idaho, we stopped on a hill to take in the view, our first real look at the US, the expanse of land in front of us is immense and you just can’t quite describe the feeling you get. The way you feel like a dot, in a huge world, insignificant and tiny, as they say in America…Awesome! We drove on and passed small towns, with lovely place names like, Songbird lane, Dusty Lane and Silhouette Drive, stirs the imagination and you start to wonder where the names came from? As we drove on, we came to a huge lake in a place called Sandpoint. This was almost a small ocean and there were boats and jet-skis screaming up and down at break-neck speed. Near Sandpoint Lodge, there is a small ‘beach’ with sun beds, chairs and tables, just like the seaside at Blackpool, but with a lake where the sea should be. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The temperature outside was 32 degrees, so the people on the sun beds must be frying!

We finally arrived at CouerD’Alane at around 3.15pm and found the hotel, it’s not as nice as yesterdays ‘suite’ but the room is pleasant and clean. It has a microwave, fridge and coffee maker and a huge Queen size bed. The air conditioning is really cranky and hums constantly but it’s a muggy 32 degrees outside, so you need it on.

We chilled out for a couple of hours and then went out to ‘The Olive Tree’ restaurant for supper. I had Parmesan sirloin with garlic mash, Martin and Adam had a seafood dish with scallops and shrimp and Robyn had Chicken Marsala, with fried potatoes. They brought us hot bread, coated in garlic butter and a huge bowl of salad before we started and I sampled their signature wine, a Rose blush which was gorgeous. Robyn ordered a cocktail, Long Island Ice tea, but she didn’t like it, so Adam drank it, along with his beer and was just a bit squiffy! He and Martin also had 2 pints of Budweiser and Robyn had a strawberry Dachari which looked like a milk shake with whipped cream! At the end of it we were stuffed and made our way back to book a Hotel for tomorrow night.

We have just left the ‘young people’. Hotel booked for tomorrow, we will be staying in Seattle, but that’s day 18 and another blog post, so for now goodnight….Granny….to be continued………..

Good evening…Granny calling…I am going to write two days at once again as it’s sometimes difficult to get time to write when there is so much to do and see. On Friday (day 14), we got up at around 09.30, Robyn and Adam were already at work and we decided to have an easy day after the trip from Edmonton which had worn us all out, especially Uncle who did all the driving. We ate toast and drank tea and Uncle went out to Tim Horton’s for the first fix of the day. We sat around and decided eventually to take a trip to IKEA as Robyn needed some door mats and tugs for her new house. We wandered around there for around 2 hours, ate lunch in the restaurant and when we left the store the day had warmed up to around 26 degrees. Aunty bought minced beef and vegetables to go with spaghetti for supper and got some veggie meatballs for Martin, she also got 2 sauces to mix as there was no garlic in the one jar.
By the time we had got lost again (because there are road works and diversions all over) it was 5.20 pm and we had to get supper soon, we were going to ‘Aussie Rules’ Piano Bar and had to leave by 7.30 to get there for 8pm. We all piled into the van like the ‘AntHill’ mob and off we went. Robyn chose the venue and Boy, were we in for a treat. As we went in we had to get a boomerang stamped on our hands to show that we had paid and we were shown to our table, in front of the bar, not far from the toilets, or ‘Blokes and Sheila’s’ as they were called and just off to the side of the stage where the 2 pianists would be performing. The waitress came and told us how it works, you choose a song/artiste write it down and also whether you were celebrating anything and if you put a tip (few dollars) you have more chance of getting your request played. She said “you can dance anywhere you like, on the floor, on the chairs, but the tables are not safe. It’s intended to be interactive so clap, scream and sing as loud as possible, this sounded like my kind of place!
We wrote down about 6 songs and said we were on holiday from the UK, threw a few dollars on top and Robyn handed them in. As soon as Bob and Keith started singing the place erupted, the singing raised the roof and every now and then they shouted out “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” we shouted “Oy, Oy,Oy” all a bit Welsh if you ask me? Someone asked for Justin Beiber and when Bob went off for his break, he downloaded the tune and tried to learn it, it was hysterical when he kept singing oohh baby, baby and the crowd were in fits of laughter.
We sang old songs, new songs, rock songs, country songs and some very naughty songs including a version of Mony Mony which included more ‘F’ words than you could shake a stick at. When he sang Summer of 69 he read out Mine and Martin’s name and said we were from the UK …well chuffed!! We had a real raucous night; we met Darlene and her husband, had lots to drink and really enjoyed it. Robyn chose well and there was lots of praise for her choice on the way home, especially as she was kind enough to drive!! We carried on talking about the night at home and eventually got to bed at around 2am….Exhausted…..
Saturday morning (day 15) started slowly as we all woke one by one, Martin and I woke at around 8am but the house was quiet so we decided to try and get another hour of sleep. When we finally got up, Robyn was already on the phone trying in vain to find me an appointment to get some in-fills for my acrylic nails, there was nothing available so we concentrated on trying to organise our raft trip down the river. Robyn and uncle went off to hire the raft and Adam went to the store for eggs for breakfast. When they got back Robyn said that they were out of 6 man rafts, (we were going to have a larger one for more space) so we had one of the last two 4 man rafts available. Then we realised that we only had one vehicle and we needed to park one at the end of the journey at ‘the bridge’ while driving another on to the start with the raft. Uncle and Aunty said they would take us on their way back to Saskatoon. Sounds like a plan and we loaded the cool-bag with a few beers, some sandwiches and snacks. We piled everything else into a bag, putting mobile phones and cameras in plastic re-sealable bags to keep them dry, ‘just in case’. We took towels, dry tee shirts and lots of sun-screen; we were going to be on the river for around 4 hours. Martin and I were excited and really looking forward to doing something different.
When we arrived at Cochrane, we pumped up the raft, we said long, emotional ‘goodbyes’ to Uncle and Aunty and thanked them for their hospitality and the lovely trips they took us on and for giving us the opportunity to see some of Canada, especially Saskatchewan which we have heard about over the years but never thought we would see. With a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat, I grabbed one of the handles on the raft and we marched briskly down the steep hill to the river. I hate Goodbyes.
When we got to the river, we pushed the raft in and Adam told me, Martin and Robyn to get in and he would push us out into the water before climbing in. We immediately got stuck on a rock and had to push with the paddle and bounce up and down on the raft until we got going.
After a few minutes, we settled into the raft and moved around a bit to even out the weight, Adam and Roby at either end with a paddle each and us two in the middle, we were going great, it would be a stroll in the park and any worries Martin and I had were quickly dispelled as the sounds of traffic disappeared and all we could hear was the water, the birds and other people in rafts….bliss!
We floated down the river for about 30 minutes, when we came to a small island in the river, we decided to go to the right but we were laughing as Robyn was having trouble paddling and I was saying that it was because of me and Martin being too heavy in the middle. We soon came to a patch of faster water and although it was probably only waist deep, it was quite fast and we were being dragged toward the bank, Robyn and Adam tried in vain to paddle away from the side and then we came around a bend and saw a huge overhanging rock jutting out into the river, we had nowhere to go, Robyn shouted “oh shit, we going to hit it” and we braced ourselves. The raft hit the point of the rock side on and I was sat in the middle straddling the seat so was facing the rock head on, I leaned back, the raft crashed into the rock and a huge surge of water hit me straight in the face as the raft shot out of the water, tipped upside down and we all went into the river.
We tried in vain to save our stuff but it was floating away from us at great speed in the flow of the water, I lost my glasses and couldn’t see, Martin was in over his head and Adam was out of sight, I panicked for a second or two as my life jacket lifted up and covered my face, the water went over my head, I hit my leg and couldn’t get my head out, I think I swallowed a pint of water as I was spluttering and trying to get my head out, then I heard Robyn shout “JULIE!” and the next thing I knew, she had hold of my life jacket and lifted me out of the water. I shot into the air like a dolphin! “I’m ok I said, I can swim across now. Where are Martin and Adam?”
I could see Martin now, even though without my glasses everything was blurred and the glare of the sun on the water didn’t help. God, I felt so helpless as we are both asthma sufferers and immediately hyper-ventilated when we hit the coldness of the water. He was ok though and had made it to the side further upstream. Robyn tried to swim after Adam and some of our belongings, but all we rescued was one paddle, 3 odd sandals a plastic bag with cucumbers for out picnic and 2 hats. Adam caught the raft and the paddle, which incidentally would have cost us $2000 if we had lost it.
When I got my breath I called to the others and although there were some minor injuries and we were all in shock and out of breath, we were ok. I waited for Martin who joined me and we stood for a minute, taking stock, we hugged for almost a minute I reckon and said how lucky we were that no-one was seriously injured or worse. I called to Robyn and asked them if they we ok “not really” said Robyn. Martin and I gingerly walked down the shoreline on the sharp stones, feet bleeding and with no shoes, it took us ages to walk 100 metres or so. We all counted our blessings and then realised that Martin and Adam both had mobile phones in their pockets…no use though they were both waterlogged. We had lost 3 cameras, my purse with $250 dollars in and my debit cards, 2 pairs of my prescription glasses and one pair of Martins and my blackberry phone. Then we realised that the keys to Uncle’s new Dodge Van were in the bag with Robyn’s camera! There were a few choice swear words from us all, until I said, “look, we can replace all these things”…no-one died. I t could have been so much worse.
We sat on the raft, which was now seriously deflated and not safe to float the rest of the way down, we shouted to a few people on the other side of the river to see if they had mobile phones to call for help but they were all too far away and couldn’t hear us. Then a couple in a small dinghy passed by and Robyn asked them if they had a cell phone, they paddled across to us and they very kindly phoned 911 and told the emergency services where we were. They offered to stay with us but we told them we were ok and that we would be fine now that we knew that the fire service would be on their way…there are some wonderful people in this world and today really restored my faith in human nature.
We were getting cold, the river was freezing and we were probably shocked, we kept hearing what we thought were motor boat engines but they were down-river, the after around 45 minutes (seemed like a hell of a lot longer) the Fire and Rescue Service arrived, I have never been so pleased to see someone in my life! They asked what happened, they were really nice and made no fuss, they said they had been called out a few times already, the river is high and fast at the moment because of all the unseasonal rain recently, we shouldn’t worry about it.
They tethered the deflated raft on the back of the boat, sat us all in and tried to pull away, the boat was grounded and difficult to get going. When we spun around in the river and headed down-stream I grabbed Robyn’s hand and we just smiled at each other, what can you say? Suddenly, one of the crew said, is that your paddle? Someone had pulled it out of the river and stood it up on the bank with our empty cool bag. Adam said, “That saved us another $20”. Those Firemen had no need to do that and went out of their way to pick it up, makes you feel humble when people are so helpful.
It took around 20 minutes to get back to ‘The Bridge’ where we were to pick up the Van and when we got there, there was an ambulance, a fire truck and a local news reporter waiting, embarrassing, but we decided, better embarrassed than drowned!
The breakdown truck came to break into the Van (Uncle had left spare keys inside, ours had sunk to the bottom of the river) Robyn and Martin went up to drive it down, we had no shoes, Adam had a broken toe and was having difficulty walking and we all had cuts and bruises and were all shaken by the experience.
I am now writing this at the kitchen table, Robyn just rang to say that she was having X .Rays and Adam was waiting to see a Dr. Martin and I have cuts and bruises and we are aching all over, we can treat those at home though. What a day! Well we did say it would be an adventure, that’s me finished for river rafting, I will stick to walking from now on! I just hope that Robyn and Adam don’t blame themselves, it was no-one’s fault and as I said earlier, all’s well that ends well……glass of red anyone?
To be continued…Granny