| Tue., June 18 The best advice anyone can give about vacations is to take the days off before and after a trip. Those bookends are absolutely essential. Monday (June 18) gave us a chance to do the final loads of laundry and zip up our suitcases for good. Although everyone knew we were getting up at 3:30am, no one made it to bed overly early. But the alarm didn’t bring anxiety. Everyone was eager for their travels to begin. We used Art and Laura’s minivan to haul ourselves to McDonalds for a 4:45 departure. We met up with the rest of our group in Eau Claire and had a quiet bus ride to Twin Cities International. The mid-June early sunrise helped everyone to meet each other along the way. There were 48 of us. Factor in Chelsea, Samantha and their young parents and the average age of the group was still 64! After a pleasant welcoming reception at the Embassy Suites in Seattle, we waited in the lobby for our old college friends, Rick and Jane, to arrive with their little daughter Sadie. Like us, they don’t look 21 anymore! But we’re all still recognizeable! Sadie was overtired from a nap that was cut short. We had a wonderful time catching up over dinner at a Red Robin restaurant. Later, in the hotel room, Sadie was finally wide awake and loved showing off to the girls! Then, it was off to bed for an early ferry ride. |
| Wed., June 19 We take a short ride to Kingston, then a short bus ride to Port Angeles for some shopping and lunch while we wait for the Victoria ferry. Victoria is even more beautiful than we remember. So many shops. Clean streets, friendly people. At the hotel, the girls are tickled over the bed that emerges from the wall! We quickly change because we have an appointment for “high tea” at the Empress Hotel, a throwback to the grand hotels of the early 20th century. We enjoy finger sandwiches, Muzak-worthy piano covers of Disney and Celine Dion, and the buzz that comes from adding four lumps of sugar to each small cup of tea! When we walk back through the area later that evening, we take in street artists and entertainers. We sat and watched a very good juggler for about an hour. Chelsea was especially entertained and was likely considering a change in career plans. We put the girls to bed and enjoyed a lovely sidewalk table downstairs, taking in the twilight before calling it a night. |
| Thr., June 20 We take a morning bus tour with a polite step-on tour guide who recently retired after years of government service as a protocol director. We see wonderful homes and take in a great scene from a high hill in the center of town. One of the best moments of the entire vacation is an unplanned one that occurs at the end of the city tour. We stop at a point that includes a restaurant and pier where coincidentally we will be returning that evening for dinner. The guide happens to know that a pair of seals lives in the marina, knowing that diners and tourists will pay for a bucket of fish heads from the nearby bait shop. Sam and Chelsea are out of the bus like a rifle shot. Sure enough, one black seal and one spotted white seal are ready to take in whatever the girls can throw at them. It makes for great pictures and the kind of excitement that parents feel as deeply as the children, but only the children can get away with squealing! After the tour, the four of us spend a couple of hours at the B.C. Museum of Natural History. Noisy schoolkids notwithstanding, we enjoy the exhibits and an Imax presentation of life aboard the Intl. Space Station. More walking/shopping follows. And in the evening, back to the pier restaurant for dinner, then a short walk from our hotel back to Parliament Square for photos. Across the street from our hotel is a tavern that includes rooftop seating and a rooftop volleyball court. A banner advertises World Cup telecasts. This would be our first brush with international soccer. At about 2am, we hear wild cheering from that direction as England wins its match. More to come. |
| Fri., June 21 We didn’t enjoy the early hour required to set out our suitcases and board the bus for Butchart Gardens, especially given the late-night interruption. But once we saw that we were the first to arrive at what would surely be a crowded tourist destination, we understood and were pleased. The garden filled quickly on an unusually humid morning. Would we ever need those sweaters and heavier shirts that we packed? The gardens were even more splendid than ’86. We’re so glad we could show it to the girls. So many colors and so many varieties. It seems to be so much more effective at promoting a love of gardens compared to the claustrophobic confines of the old Como Park Conservatory. This also turned out to be our Christmas ornament stop for the year. By midday, it was back to the bus for the ferry ride to Vancouver. The ferry ride was very nice. It wound through (and very close to) several small islands before crossing a large stretch of water and bringing us into the place where we spent our honeymoon. The ride also marked the first time Sharry would provide an introductory lesson to the girls on how to play Sheepshead. We arrived at Vancouver during the start of the Friday afternoon rush hour. It was a long bus ride into a city that seemed only a little familiar. There were many more skyscrapers, and many more were going up. And they all seemed to be very narrow and densely packed. The place seemed noisier, dirtier. We caught only a glilmpse of the orb that served as the icon for Expo 86. It seemed so small compared to our visits to Disney Epcot. Our hotel was right on Robson Street, the main drag through downtown and out to Stanley Park. This would provide great people watching, but there were so many people! Vancouver has undergone a tremendous increase in its Asian population, but it was only the Koreans that would be noticed during our nighttime walk. They were everywhere, and all in red T-shirts and honking car horns. Their Cinderella World Cup team was playing later that night. |
| How I Spent My Summer Vacation! by Pat Kreitlow Page 1 of 3 |