I Hate Goodbyes!

The day arrived that I always dread.  I dislike saying goodbye.  We enjoyed being with Stephen and Kylie so much. We started the day off with going for breakfast at the Cafe Bella.

 I ordered the Eggs Benedict with salmon.  Everything about the meal was done right.  The hash browns were a little different and very tasty.  The hollandaise sauce had a bit of a tangy flavour and I was glad that I had the full order.  My red rose tea complimented my meal perfectly.  

The views all around made the breakfast special and being there with Stephen and Kylie made it a perfect morning.

You might think that the house would be quieter because we were flying today but that was not the case at all.  They had been asked to dog sit two dogs for the next three weeks.

Stephen also received an email from relocation and things are being put into play for their next move.  It was fun to be there for that and remember the feeling of the process.  They will have a phone meeting on Monday morning to discuss the next steps.  We are so happy that we got to visit Bella Coola twice.  Next year, we will be headed to Haida Gwaii.

Kylie said goodbye to us at the house because she had to take a work call.  Stephen drove us to the airport.  We said our goodbyes through tears.  As Stephen drove away, my heart hurt.  After we checked our luggage we went for a walk through the woods.  The trees are so huge.

We found our way to the end of the little runway and watched the plane arrive.

We boarded the tiny plane and found our way to our seats.  

We flew up over the mountains.  It is so beautiful.  Ron spotted a fire on the ground as we got close to Anaheim Lake.  

Stephen is on standby to go to the fires once he is done with his holidays.  Thankfully, we didn’t have the smoke in the valley and hopefully rain will soon give those fighting the fires some relief.  We landed at the little airport at Anaheim Lake.  We had a short stay and then boarded again, headed to Vancouver.  

There was a little bit of entertainment on the plane.  A couple of kids were acting out quite a bit.  A fellow passenger came up behind Ron when we were walking on the tarmac.  He told Ron that he must be a saint to have sat ahead of one of the kids.  Apparently, she was kicking his seat for a lot of the trip.  

We caught the bus back to the main terminal.  We had a coffee while we waited for the hotel shuttle.  We went for walk after we checked into the hotel.  We ordered pizza for supper and had a restful evening.

Thank you Stephen and Kylie for a wonderful vacation.  It was exactly what we needed!

 Love you both!!

Final Moments…Holding onto the Memories

This morning was a mixed kind of day.  Ron and Stephen got up early and headed out on the boat.

Kylie was back to work today.  She is currently working from home for Rio Tinto.  She was hired recently to help with some of their files.  Rio Tinto is located in Kitimat, where they last lived.  She also continues to pick up shifts in emergency at the hospital in Bella Coola.  I had a quiet morning…doing a little packing and checking in for our first flight.

The guys got back early afternoon. They had a beautiful morning on the ocean.  

They were pulling up their traps that they had dropped yesterday.

They were looking for prawns and crabs.  They were successful with the prawns but the crabs were a little too smart for these fishermen.  They pulled in a salmon along the way.  

Stephen cooked the prawns and we had them in a rice bowl.  So fresh and so tasty!

Kylie had to go to the post office for work and she brought home frappes.  It was our farewell treat.

Stephen barbequed hot dogs for supper.  We went through some camping gear and Kylie and Stephen gave us some extra items to take home.  We are thinking we might add camping to our next adventure. 

Tomorrow, or if you are reading this on Wednesday..that would be today, we will be starting the first leg of our trip home.

We hate goodbyes but we are already planning our next trip!

Animals, Pickleball and Salmon

Ron has created a monster since we have been here.  There is a Steller’s Jay that is very insistent on his morning peanut.  He will come to the front window and look in and then when Ron shows him a peanut, he will fly to the back and wait to take the peanut from Ron’s hand.  Throughout the day, he will look in the windows, hop on the rail, call and peck at something to get attention for more.  He does not like the dogs and is not fond of the cat but he will sit on Ron’s knee waiting for his next treat.

At the front of the house, two neighborhood dogs wait for the door to be opened to come in and visit.  This is an happening place with birds and dogs.

We didn’t have any big plans for the day and so Ron came up with our agenda.  Now, for those that know Ron you will be surprised at his first idea.  Since his hamstring was still bothering him, he couldn’t play tennis but he suggested pickleball.  I was sure he was joking.  

He has always said that he would never play pickleball. Well, today that never changed.  Ron and Kylie were against Stephen and I.  The rules were different from tennis and the scoring took a little bit to get use to but we played.  Finally, after about a hour and a half, Ron and Kylie won a game.  Stephen and I had won all the others to that point.  It was really quite fun and even Ron reluctantly agreed that he had a good time pickling.

It was lunch time and the pink salmon caught last night had been ground in preparation for burgers.  Kylie mixed up the spices and added an egg and some bread crumbs.  Stephen made the burgers and barbequed them.  They were delicious!

After lunch, Stephen prepared come cages to catch crabs and prawns.  

Ron and him left for the afternoon to drop the cages in the ocean.  They will sit there overnight and then the guys will go and see if they were able to attract anything.

They fished for a while but didn’t catch anything.  It was a bit wavy.

Kylie and I had tea and chatted.  It was a relaxing afternoon.  

When Stephen and Ron got back, supper prep began.  This time we had coho salmon with a red sauce.  Another great meal!  There is nothing like fresh salmon cooked to perfection. 

As we wrapped up our evening, Ron put some YouTube videos on the tv of some dogs.  Beemer and Murphy were quite interested.

It was a different kind of day with an interesting twist.  The miracle of pickle ball happened.  We thought it never would but it did.  What could possibly happen next?  Will Murphy win Ron’s heart?

Another Good Day!

We have been having such amazing weather and since yesterday was a bit of a tiring day, we took an extremely slow start. Finally, we decided that we should do a hike.  I was working up to the Burnt Bridge Loop Trail.

The reason for the trepidation was that a suspension bridge was part of the loop.  Suspension bridges and I don’t really like each other.  We started up the trail and Ron had to stop.  

He was suffering from an old fishing injury.  Perhaps, it wasn’t that old.  I didn’t tell the story yesterday because I didn’t really think it would play into any of our future plans.  So, let me digress…while we were on the fishing boat, Stephen caught a fish.  He quickly handed the rod to his dad.  Ron did an awkward turn and twisted his leg and fell to his knee.  When he straightened, Stephen had the rod back in his hands and had the fish in the boat.  Meanwhile, Ron was in pain.  He had pulled a muscle in his hamstring.  I guess the suspension bridge and I will have to wait.

We came home and Ron rested his leg.  Stephen, Kylie and I took Murphy and Beemer for a walk.

Koda came across the road to join us.  Around the corner, Princess became a part of our caravan.  Another dog tried to come along but Princess and Koda wouldn’t have anything to do with it.  We walked to the river and the dogs played in the water. Koda is very interested in the squirrels and salmon.

When we got back, Ron decided to get his licence to do some river fishing. We drove to a spot where Stephen and Kylie had fished before.  

We walked down through the path with huge trees all around us.  We had to walk through the water to get to the area to fish.  

The quota is 2 salmon each.  Kylie grabbed her rod and said that she was going to show them how to catch a pink salmon.  Just like that, she had one on her line.

 It was so easy that she let it go.  She repeated it again.  The boys kept snagging the fish along their backs or tails.  If they are snagged, they need to be let go.

Kylie got her two and then Stephen got his.  

Ron had one and then he kept snagging them and having to release them.  The sun was setting when finally a fish decided to bite the lure.  

We cheered and the people across the river smiled at our excitement.  The fish were gathered and we made our way back through the trail, across the water and by the big trees.

Once again, the work began.  Stephen cleaned the fish.  Kylie pulled the bones and Stephen skinned them.  They were preparing the fish to be ground to be turned into salmon burgers.

So Kylie may have been the fishing instructor but I was the foreman…

Another good day!