Whistler/Vancouver/Vancouver Island

Our trip from Kamloops to Lillooet, BC and on to Whistler was a bit twisty and turn-y, especially after we left Lillooet.

I was surprised, as we neared the end of this leg of the trip, to meet travelers headed in the opposite direction. It would soon grow dark, and there was virtually no place to stop for the night between Lillooet and Whistler.

It's a pretty drive, though.

Here is a section of fairly "straight" highway.

We used an accommodations service at Whistler's Information Building and soon had good rooms at a nearby hotel. After settling in, we went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant.

The next morning we browsed the shops. Here Lynn and I, veteran shoppers for sure, stopped long enough to have our picture taken.

The next morning we drove about two hours to reach North Vancouver. We booked our hotel rooms and drove immediately to Granville Island.

And then the next day, one of the biggest highlights of our trip: Vancouver Island and The Butchart Gardens! 

I chuckle when I think how I'd worried, before the trip, that the gardens not be particularly "showy" in September.

Boy, was I wrong!

I knew Lynn would absolutely love this place, and she surely did.

This is always my favorite spot in the gardens, where one can stand on a overlook to see the stunning Sunken Garden in what was formerly a limestone quarry.

I have a Japanese friend on FaceBook who has visited The Butchart Gardens at Christmastime. She says it's a beautiful place then, too, because of all the Christmas lights.

I guess any time of year is a good time to visit The Butchart Gardens.

I've been on the lam

Well, not really on the lam, but I've been away for a couple of weeks. So has my husband. So have our good friends, Jim and Lynn.

The four of us flew to Seattle on September 8, rented a car, and headed for Canada.

Ken and I have been to the Canadian Rockies several times, and also to Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

 Jim and Lynn, though, had never been that far west, nor that far north.

When they asked us in August if we'd be interested in traveling with them to the Canadian Rockies, which Jim has dreamed of seeing for decades, we immediately said yes.

Ken did all the driving, simply because he wanted to. Also, he said he wanted to let Jim sit back and enjoy the scenery, since Jim was seeing it all for the first time. We drove into British Columbia then headed east to Kamloops and on to Banff and Jasper in Alberta.

Here we are with our first glimpse of snow-capped  mountains behind us.

 

Lake Louise is always beautiful. On this particular day, though, it was crowded. I don't remember dealing with large crowds when we used to drive out to BC from Maine in the '70's and 80's.

We'd thought, naively, that the crowds would not be too bad in September. Wrong! We circled the parking lots several times before giving up and parking at a distance and walking to the lake.

Actually we visited Lake Moraine first, although I have it out of order here.

This is probably my very favorite photo taken in the Rockies, and I don't even remember the name of this lake. It's between Banff and Jasper, closer to the former than the latter. As you can see, we visited it on a crystal-clear morning when the reflection in the lake was stunning. We spent a lot of time here, taking in the scenery.

I got a chuckle out of this photo. Actually it's one of fourteen identical photos. I asked a stranger at this spot if she would mind taking a picture of the four of us with my iPad.

She seemed a bit hesitant, as if she didn't know how to take a photo with an iPad, but she kindly agreed to give it a try.

When she handed the iPad back to me, I discovered she's managed to take fourteen shots all in a space of a couple of seconds. So I have thirteen more of this photo, in case you'd like to buy one!

More to come: Jasper, Whistler, Vancouver, and Victoria. Wait'll you see the Butchart Gardens!

Mushroom City

Several years ago, thirty, to be exact, our best friends' little boy, Karl, sat in the living room  watching his dad clip hair balls off the family's long-haired cat.

After Karl, aged three, had had enough of watching this chore, he ran into the kitchen where his mother was preparing dinner.

"Mom!" Karl announced. "It's Hairball City in there!"

I thought of little Karl yesterday as I wandered around our yard, spotting mushrooms. I've never before seen so many of them, and so many types.

I wish I knew something about mushrooms because I'd like to know if any of these are edible. Or perhaps I don't want to know anything about mushrooms, because I'd then worry that I might have eaten one that would kill me.

A few years ago, here in Maine, a couple of young men were walking in a field, spotted some mushrooms, and thought for certain they were edible. One died within hours after consuming a raw mushroom. The other man became gravely ill, but I don't remember if he died.

I got a  kick out of this one by Violet's fairy house in my rock garden. It had the audacity to make itself at home in the walkway Violet created.

I'm sure if I do more wandering outside today, I'll see that some of these mushrooms have disappeared with barely a trace and others have taken their place.

I love mushrooms in many recipes. I'll stick with the store-bought ones, though.

Early September

I finished the shawl that I was knitting with the Uluru yarn "infested" with knots. When all was said and done, I believe I encountered a grand total of ten knots in that one skein of otherwise lovely yarn.

I sent an email to Knitting Fever, the company which makes Uluru, and complained about the yarn. I pointed out that encountering ONE knot in a skein of yarn is disappointing, but TEN knots??? Inexcusable.

I received a nice reply from a company rep saying she was surprised to hear of knots in their Uluru yarn, but they'd like to compensate for that skein by sending me a "gift." I've yet to see it arrive in my mailbox, but perhaps it'll show up one day soon.

The shawl itself is quite beautiful, I think, with its various autumn colors. The pattern I used was Multnomah, one of my favorite shawl patterns.

I didn't make this "Mistletoes" picture. I came across it somewhere and thought it was a clever idea for new parents. I'm sure grandparents would enjoy receiving a framed picture like this as a Christmas gift. All you need is a pair of teeny, tiny feet, some paint, some ribbon, and perhaps some small red bulbs.

My garden is giving its last gasps before tucking it in for the coming winter. I've got tomatoes galore. I've frozen several pints and have now moved on to canning. I hope to finish the canning this weekend.

I also have several green peppers yet to be picked. Ken's cucumbers are still producing like crazy. He hasn't yet dug the potatoes, but it looks as if we'll have plenty to do us this coming year. Last year's potato crop kept us fed through April or May, and he planted more potatoes this year.

So that's that.