Arrived in Anaheim

It was fun to spend a little time with some of our grandchildren and I even to dress baby Rose. She looked so cute, we just had to take her picture. We started the day with a nice breakfast at IHOP with Heidi and Rose, Heather, Ian, and Max. Trying to read the menu at IHOP, I realized that there was a problem with my contact and one eye was real sore. Obviously there was a problem so after Heather tried to find the missing contact in my eye, it was suggested I make a quick stop by Dr. Poulsen's office before heading out across the country. The people who were in his office are so sweet and in no time were able to retrieve the folded up contact hidden underneath my eyelid and I was good to go. We arrived at the Worldmark in Anaheim and decided to check out downtown Disney. So many wonderful memories flooded into our heads. We remembered how we used to camp in a place right across the street from Disneyland and I can still remember coming back to the camp trailer and making chili, we remembered when we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, we remembered the great time we all had when the whole family went even though the ceiling fell in Bruce and Carrie's room, we remembered the great time we had with Ben and Heather when we all stayed in Disneyland's Grand California--------soooo many fun memories. We plan to make some more tomorrow.

We're Off!

We are finally leaving for a long anticipated trip across the United States. Craig loves road trips and has wanted to drive the southern route across the U.S., down the Florida coast, then up the east coast to Canada, etc. Final preparations made, bags packed, house locked down, and we are finally off on our great adventure. Our odometer read 67,290 miles when we left Half Moon Bay and Craig thinks we may add ten thousand more to that figure. I guess we'll see.

We decided to leave a little early and make our first night stop in Clovis to get some hugs and loves from all our kids and grandkids who live there.

Cousins Blessing Day

Max Magleby and Rose Mason were blessed today by their fathers. As I sat in church I realized that 17 of our 20 grandchildren were here in church with us today.

Day 6 Final Day in Victoria

We decided to check out the little houseboat complex right next to the our condo on our morning walk. They are really very cool and each one was unique. I loved the sign on one which read "Boring Women Keep Immaculate Houses".

No trip to Victoria would be complete without touring The Butchart Gardens. We were a bit concerned about going since it is the middle of winter and it did snow yesterday. However the gardens were so beautiful and around every corner was something new and unique. Some of the spring flowers were just beginning to bloom and we could only imagine what the gardens must look like when everything is in full bloom. We even stopped by the historic Butchart home and enjoyed (that may be too strong a word to describe it for Craig) afternoon tea with scones, dainty finger sandwiches and desserts. It was so fun and I loved it! Craig really is such a good sport.

Late this afternoon we walked to town to check out the shops. It is still hat and gloves weather, but definitely warmer than yesterday. Victoria really is a charming place and we had fun wandering through the shops and a downtown mall. Craig's favorite was a very old bookstore called Munro's Books. We treated ourselves to a great dinner of fresh salmon and halibut in town at Nautical Nellie's and then walked back to our condo. Watching a movie in front of the fireplace and eating chocolate was a great end to a wonderful holiday in Canada. Eh!

Day 5 Victoria and Surrounding Areas cont.

Not to let a good day of riding go to waste we decided to turn around and head back to Victoria and then drive to a place that was on Craig's must see list-----Port Renfrew. Port Renfrew is directly across from Neah Bay, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula and between these two areas all the ships coming to Seattle, Vancouver, etc. must pass. The trip started off great, but the wild ride began as the road narrowed sometimes where only one car could pass at a time. There was more and more snow on the sides of the road and we were in the deep, dark, forest. Think Twilight! Actually I kept thinking about the movie and I realized that this was right across from the Olympic Peninsula, where Twilight takes place. I could envision Edward and his family hunting in this area. The road kept going and going--parts had been washed away. Then we saw this this big black plume of smoke and we saw the flames of a car which was obviously burning up. We waited there for quite some time and finally the fire department came and put out the fire and we once again were on our way. It was definitely starting to get dark. Just at sunset, we FINALLY arrived at Port Renfrew! It is pristine country and magnificently beautiful. For Craig it was worth the "Mad Hatter Ride". For me, I'm not so sure.