Monday afternoon (July 21st) Peter and I drove to The Reach and spent the night visiting with Bev and Kate and enjoyed the company of Georgia and Molly as well. In the morning we left and headed for Dover. We stopped a few times along the way for food and to change drivers. We breezed through the border crossing at Saint Stephen's with only a 10 minute wait, we must not be the type of people they are going to search.
It was so nice to have Peter with me for the drive, we were able to keep each other entertained for the entire 26 hours we spent in the car together on the drive there and back. We listened to Pete's music on his ipod with the help of his new FM transmitter.
We arrived in Dover around 4 in the afternoon and Chris was waiting for us. We made ourselves comfortable and relaxed after the long drive. Chris and John have a beautiful home in Dover which is in a quiet neighborhood as can be seen in this picture.
John got home from work around 7:30 and we then had a lovely supper of bar-b-qued hamburgers. Chris makes a fine burger. After a couple of bottles of wine and some catching up we headed to bed to face another long day.
Chris and I drove Peter to the bus station in Dover were he caught the bus to South Boston. He was to meet his friend Omar there and stay with him for the week while I was in Vancouver. He had a great stay with him but found Boston to be very hot and muggy.
The two of us then took a bus to the Boston airport and caught our flight to Seattle via Cincinnati. After 2 uneventful flights we picked up our bags in Seattle and called the rental car company to come and pick us up. The E-Z car rental was where we picked up our rental for the week and drove it to Vancouver, a yellow PT Cruiser...go figure. Chris drove the 3 1/2 hours to Vancouver and we got to Janet and Billy's around 11:30 pm. It was so nice to get there and relax. Janet and Christine were still up to greet us and we chatted for a while as Chris and I unwound. After a beer and great conversation I was asleep by 1:00 am.
I awoke to the sounds of Bill puttering around the kitchen and finally got up around eight. I called Colin and told him I was going to pick him up and then going to McDonald's to pick up breakfast for everyone.
After breakfast and getting re-packed, Colin and I left for his place and to embark on a walk around downtown. Chris, Janet and Bill drove to Whistler to prepare for there part in the wedding celebrations.
Colin and I took a bus and then walked for a few hours taking in the sites of the city. We walked by the building he will be moving into at the end of the month.
We continued to find our way around for another hour or so and then stopped for a cup of tea. While enjoying watching the sites and sounds a friend of mine from RCS came over and said hi. Ralph Lutes is working in the city and just happened by while we were there. It is truly a small world. It was nice to see Ralph again, he is a very fine person.
After walking around part of the seawall, we headed back through town and grabbed a bus back to Colin's area of the city. We spent a few minutes cleaning up and chatting before we left for supper at Boston Pizza. After a great meal, we drove to Angela and Dave's place to pay them a visit. Bev was also there after having arrived that afternoon. Her luggage, however, did not arrive with her. (She got it the next day in time to take to the wedding) Angela and Dave have a condo in a very nice part of the city and it was so nice to see them again. We talked for about two hours and took our leave around 10:30 and drove back to Colin's. We checked in with all our contacts via e-mail and skype and let everyone know Chris and I made it safely to Vancouver. Off to Whistler tomorrow.