Monday was an easy day and we spent the morning lounging with breakfast in bed and another trip to the pool and hot tub. We had made previous plans with Carrie and Carol as well as Carrie’s friend, Jennifer, to cross the Canadian/US border and do some shopping. Carrie and Carol had it down to a science and knew exactly how many "pounds" they had available in their luggage allowance. After shopping we returned to the hotel and once again said our goodbyes. We had been invited over to friends Diane and Rob Taylor. They live in a lovely area of Abbotsford and welcomed us into their home with a wonderful meal of roast pork with all the fixings. It was delicious and a welcome change from hotel food. We had a great time with them and were reluctant to leave but had early morning plans. We promised to visit again soon.

On Tuesday morning it was planned for us to go sailing on Merlin Vandekinder’s 34 foot C&C sailboat. Unfortunately, the weather of the day did not agree but we went on the boat anyway and spent time with Van admiring his boat and looking at his sail log in which he has kept impeccable records from when he first bought the boat. We were astounded to see that they sail all year round in Vancouver and Van even had an entry of sailing on Christmas Day!

After our visit, we headed on our journey to the Island of Vancouver. We had been asked to do another seminar for the Vancouver Island Judges Study Group that evening and would be spending the night in Victoria. The ferry ride was a quick hour and a half and we were shortly at our hotel. We spent the afternoon browsing the downtown area which surrounds the harbor. It is a very pretty city, full of historical and lovely buildings. Days could have been spent poking around the many shops.

The evening seminar was a great success and followed by camaraderie with the judges…….

The next morning, we began our drive to Campbell River, on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island to visit Richard’s brother Alfio and family. Before leaving Victoria we stopped at a beautiful park that was suggested to us as a ‘must see’. Butchart Gardens is a National Historical Site and was started in 1904 in an old limestone quarry. Through successive generations of the Butchart family, The Gardens has retained much of its original design, and continues the Victorian tradition of seasonally changing the outstanding floral displays. Breathtaking!

Then it was off for the beautiful drive along roads that wound their way through mountains and along river beds. We were surprised to find that our timing had coincided with the salmon spawning and we pulled over to the side of the road to see literally thousands of salmon swimming their way upriver. It left us awestruck to see how nature had molded the lifecycle of this species of fish and left them at the end of their spawning, too exhausted to make their way back to sea, to end their lives in the river beds.

Once we arrived at Alfio’s, we received a warm welcome and shortly after were joined by his wife Sheila and two children Vanna and John. We spent an enjoyable few days with them sightseeing in their new home (and putting on a new batch of wine!) and celebrated an early birthday for Richard with his family. It was over much too quickly and we promised again to come back soon……and made them promise there would still be some of the wine harvest left!

We left Friday morning and took the Nanaimo ferry back to Vancouver. We stayed in the downtown entertainment district of Vancouver, called Yaletown, which reminded us both of New York. It is a bustling area full of restaurants, pubs, nightclubs and boutique stores. We had a great time looking around and spent the night reveling in the hopping nightlife until the wee hours, when we crawled back to the hotel. Saturday was spent in a fabulous area called Granville Island. It is located underneath the Granville bridge and is a myriad of local craftsmen and artisans as well as an exhaustive market of the freshest fruits, vegetables, fish and meat. It is located on the harbor front and can be reached from the other shore of Yaletown by mini water taxis. Easily, days could have been spent there looking through all the shops and we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the rooftop restaurant the SandBar overlooking it all. We hit the downtown nightlife again Saturday night, determined to squeeze every last minute out of this fabulous city.

Our last day, Sunday was spent winding our way around the beautiful Stanley Park. It was made protected parkland by the City Council in 1886 and covers 1000 acres. It boasts beautiful scenery with massive trees, beaches and trails that wind their way in and around the park. It is a wonderful and romantic way to spend the afternoon and when stopping a passerby to ask if he would take a picture of us, were very surprised to find out he was also from Newfoundland! (Although, he reminded us both of Michael Douglas!)

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Vancouver. People were wonderful and very welcoming. The preparation into making the National was outstanding and all should be commended. We were glad to put faces to names and make new friends in the ‘West’. We were happy to have been able to come and be a part of the 2008 National and hope to see all again soon!

Wendy and Richard