Tuesday, May 20 to Sunday, May 25, 2014 (Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley, BC)

Another week has flown by! It was fairly uneventful...a little work around the RV mixed in with walks and bike rides.

Tuesday was a work day...Steve decided it was time to test the generator after getting it back from being repaired. All seemed fine, thank goodness. He then continued on with maintenance of the generator...changing the oil and cleaning the air filters and spark arrester.

While he was doing that, I was inside cleaning...vacuuming, and all that fun stuff! I took this picture of the lily plant that Chris and Angela gave me for Mother's Day...it is now in full bloom and just beautiful!

After our work was done, we relaxed outside...it was a beautiful day! Doug and Zanna came over for happy hour after they had finished cleaning their fifth-wheel. Doug and his grandson arrived back yesterday after a guys only getaway, so they came here to clean the trailer before putting it back into storage. Cheers! Good seeing and catching up with you, Zanna and Doug!

Wednesday morning Steve headed off at around 10:00 to run a bunch of errands. He was looking to replace the trailer spare tire with a better used one. Also one of his rear quad tires has had a slow leak. They found that the sidewall had the leak and couldn't be patched so Steve gave them a spare tube he had to install... it was after 2:00 when he finally got home.

While he was gone, I took my time puttering around the trailer and then walked into Fort Langley. On my way I took this picture of the Fraser River from the bridge...the water level has really risen in the past few days!

Thursday was our Wedding Anniversary...32 wonderful years! We got through all those years of work, building our dream home and raising two incredible boys (now grown men)...and are now living the lifestyle that we had only dreamed of throughout all those years! Yes, dreams can come true!

We were actually up and out fairly early for us...it was 9:30 when we headed out to Abbotsford. It may sound strange to drive 23 kilometres to fill the truck with diesel but with the cost over 10 cents/litre lower there than in Langley/Surrey, we decided to make the short trip. We hadn't filled up since March 28th when we stopped in Ferndale, Washington before crossing the border back into Canada. We managed to get over 1100 kilometres on that fill up...the best mileage we have ever gotten...mind you, we weren't towing at all either. According to the news this week we Canadians are now paying 30% more for fuel then our American friends. :-(

After filling up, we thought we would stop at Fraserway RV, just down the road. With nothing else planned, we decided to go wander around their parts/accessory store...we even went and checked out some new fifth-wheels. We're not in the market for a new one...but it's always fun to look. Nothing particularly took our fancy...they all seem so dark inside with dark wood and smokey windows. One of the rigs, a Redwood that the fellow took us into had had the big 55" LED TV stolen out of it the night before. Apparently a few others were broken into recently...hmmm...even though they have security I think they had better step it up!

Today was one of those "long" days, where you look at your watch and it's only 1:30 but feels like it should be at least 3:30! Probably because we were up and out by 9:30 this morning instead of 11:30...LOL!
After lunch we thought we'd get out for some fresh air and exercise and go for a bike ride down to the campground at Derby Reach. This is our favourite bike ride and I know you've seen many pictures already but Steve took a couple just to show how much the river had risen.


We also got some pictures of a new family...


Back home, we sat outside reading for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to walk into town to the Fort Pub for our anniversary dinner.
Happy Anniversary, honey...here's to many, many more!



Rain was the order of the day for Friday...it just poured out all morning! It finally stopped at about 2:00 so we headed out for a long walk across the bridge, and along the river. After that bit of exercise, we sat outside reading for the rest of the afternoon...little bits of sun even managed to poke through for our happy hour...nice!

Saturday was a cloudy day, for the most part...but it didn't rain, so that was a bonus! I went out for a good power walk/run...taking our usual 3.6 mile/5.8 km route. I was back in about 40 minutes to find Steve outside working on the trailer. He replaced a broken latch on the basement door and then tackled the bulb seal on the slide. He's had a heck-of-a-time finding this bulb seal but after much perseverance, he finally got some at an RV place in Langley. He had checked with this company last week giving them a description and was told it would have to be ordered in, so this time he took in a sample and they had 55' left in stock...SOLD!

Old seal is split...

There was a Vintage Fiberglass RV Club rally here this weekend...the BC Glass Eggs Fiberglass Trailer Meet, so once Steve was finished his work, we thought we'd take a walk over and take a look. Our son has a Trillium...so these pics are for you Rob. Vintage cars along with these tiny trailers...Boler, Scamp, Trillium, Caseta, Bigfoot ...to name a few. All very cool!










After lunch, we went for a bike ride on Tavistock Trail, here on the island. We were amazed at how high the river is getting! We couldn't get all the way out to the point...




See the bench...now in the water...

We took two other side trails down to the river and both were blocked off due to the high river...


We sat outside relaxing and reading for the rest of the afternoon...the sun even poked through a bit!

Today (Sunday) was another very rainy day. It was a stay inside day with Steve watching "his" documentaries on TV and me reading and working on this blog post. At 3:00 I decided to walk into town to the market...rain or no rain! The rain wasn't too bad...it wasn't pouring, just a steady shower. I was only gone about 45 minutes, but it felt good getting out for a bit of a walk and some fresh air.

Well, that's it for now. We are heading back over to the island on Wednesday afternoon. I have an appointment with my "knee doctor" and Steve another dentist appointment. Best of all, we'll get to see Conner (and Rob and Angie, too, of course)! Chris and Angela are also going over for the weekend, so it will be a family get together...and perhaps a little early birthday celebration for Rob!


Friday, May 16 to Monday, May 19, 2014 (Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley, BC)

Friday morning I did laundry, puttered around the trailer and worked on the blog while Steve went to ITB (Intercontinental Truck Body), the company that built our toy hauler truck. There was a rivet missing that he wanted replaced. After that was all taken care of, he stopped to pick up his chainsaw that was in getting repaired, before heading home.

While I was finishing up with the laundry, Steve flushed the black water tank...okay, that's enough work for today, time to go for a bike ride! So after lunch, we headed out on our favourite ride on the Fort to Fort Trail down to Edgewater campground at Derby Reach Regional Park. 
We stopped in the day-use area for a break before heading back...


This is on our way home...the countryside is so green!

We decided to treat ourselves to a coffee at Lelum Arts & Cultural Cafe. After a great ride, we relaxed and watched all of the RV's coming in for the May Long Weekend...it's going to be a very busy place, apparently the campground is fully booked!



I understand that a bus (or 2) dropped off these kids...heading down to the group campsite area.

We had a pretty lazy morning Saturday and then decided to get out for a walk along Tavistock trail. We made sure we took our umbrellas with us...the forecast for this weekend wasn't very good, so far no rain but you never know! The river is really high at the tip of the island...
Dragon Boats out practicing...



We managed our walk without encountering any rain and it actually cleared up a bit, allowing some rays of sunshine to poke through later in the afternoon. We were sitting outside with our late afternoon cocktails when the hay-ride went by...a popular event for the kids (of all ages!)...

Sunday morning the sun was actually popping through the broken clouds...wow, this long weekend is turning out much nicer than the forecast! Chris (our son) was coming out from Burnaby for a visit (solo this time since Angela was away on a shopping trip in Washington State), so we asked him if he'd like to go for a drive out to Harrison Hot Springs. He and Steve had never been there and I had only been there once very briefly years ago. So once he arrived, we had a short visit and then hit the road in his car...it was about 12:15. We decided to take a scenic route, starting off along the river and then following a route through some beautiful countryside to the Mission Bridge over the Fraser River to Mission and then east along Highway 7.

A field of fresh marshmallows!

The Mission Bridge that we had just crossed...

Beautiful views from highway 7 as we head east...


We arrived at Harrison Hot Springs about an hour later...and of course, had to get pictures with the Sasquatch!

 Quite amazing...some people are so talented!

We were all hungry, so after a drive along a very, very busy main street, we decided on The Settlers Pub, which we had passed a block back. We love the building...the interior was really cool.





We sat out on the deck...

...overlook a lovely garden and small river...

After a delicious lunch, we were ready to do a little sightseeing...too bad it wasn't sunny; it must be quite spectacular with clear blue skies and sunshine.
 Harrison Lake...









Only $28.85 per day to play at the Water Park!

We walked past the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel (those are the hotel's tennis courts) and took the path that goes along the west side of the lake...


...to the source of the hot springs...



There's a spot right beside it where you can soak your feet in the hot water...

One of the many restaurants along the main strip across from the beach...

It was going on 3:30 by the time we had finished our walk...time to head back to Fort Langley! Harrison Hot Springs is definitely a resort area and must be very busy during the summer months. We really enjoyed our little day trip...thanks for taking us Chris!

Back home, we relaxed outside for a bit and then decided to go inside...with no sunshine to sit in, it was getting a little chilly. I made burgers, Steve grilled them and after dinner, Chris and I sat chatting while Steve walked across to the park where Elvis was playing! This seems to be a regular gig for the May long weekend here at Fort Camping...an Elvis impersonator entertains the campers! Elvis on stage with his pink Cadillac parked beside him...

It was going on 8:00 when Chris decided it was time to head back into Burnaby...what a great day we had had!

This morning (Monday), we watched as all of the campers packed up in the pouring rain...yes, the rain had finally arrived! We had planned on walking into town to watch the Victoria Day Parade but....not in the rain! So we had a rather lazy morning. 

After lunch the rain had stopped so we went for a walk into town. This paddle-wheeler was at the dock...
...and this cool car was parked along Glover Road...

After a nice walk along the very busy Glover Road (Fort Langley is a very popular spot), we stopped at the grocery store for milk and then continued home. We just chilled the rest of the afternoon...Steve reading his RV forum websites and me, working on our blog.

Late afternoon we received a Skype call from Rob (our son), Angie and Conner. Oh my, Conner is changing so much...we can hardly wait to see him again. We'll be making another trip over to the island on May 28 for some appointments...and be there for about 4 days. Chris and Angela plan on coming over for the weekend too...so we're looking forward to a family get together!

And that pretty well brings us up-to-date. I am trying to update our blog a little more often...when we are actually doing stuff. Once we hit the road again, I plan on getting back to daily posts.