Chilliwack, BC, Canada

Chilliwack Visit

Minter Garden

We have had a very quiet summer so far, so not much to write. However, on Sunday, we left home early and headed north for Chilliwack, BC, to visit our friends, Marianne and Wayne. After a beautiful drive through Washington, we arrived about 2:30 in the afternoon to a wonderful welcome from our friends. We had a good visit for the rest of the afternoon, followed by a great dinner with some of their friends. They were so brave to introduce their friends to Tom! On Monday after a leisurely breakfast, we headed out to Hell's Gate. It's an area of the Fraser River that is narrowed and has a very fast rapids. Right now it's also very deep - 174 feet. It's normally between 90 and 100 feet. It's a great place to watch salmon going upriver to spawn, but the water was too muddy and deep to see any. We had a good time riding the aerial tram over the river to the other side and learning about the area. After we left there, we stopped for a nice picnic, then headed back home. Another delightful dinner awaited us and because we had stayed up so late the night before, we all turned in early. On Tuesday, we went to Mitner Gardens - a beautiful garden right in Chilliwack. We spent a couple of hours walking around and drinking in all the beauty. We don't know the names of most of the flowers, trees and bushes, but they were so pretty, we didn't care. Tom took lots of pictures. After a nice ride to Harrison Lake, we went to lunch at a good Chinese restaurant to give Marianne a rest from cooking. We spent another very enjoyable evening visiting and of course, eating again. On Wednesday morning, after another wonderful breakfast, we headed back home to Portland. We took our time and arrived home early evening. We both felt rested and replete with all that wonderful food. I'm afraid our Weight Watchers plan kind of suffered for a few days. We're back on track now though.

On Sunday, Donna is heading out to North Dakota to meet with her sister, cousin and friend for a few days of girl time and lots of games and laughs. After a few days of that, she's heading to Reno, NV, for a visit with her favorite knitting buddy. Yarn stores are on the list for fun things to do. The last visit will be with Beth and family (daughter) for a week or so before heading back to Portland. Tom will stay home and hold down the fort. He has to work anyway. Both of us are looking forward to the time and will have lots to talk about when Donna returns.

The summer is flying by. We've been here two months tomorrow and we only have another two months to go. It has been a cooler than normal summer, but I don't mind. We are still doing water aerobics unless it's raining so we feel like we are accomplishing something there. The park has been quite busy this year, so Tom is kept hopping on his work nights. He really enjoys it though.

We have both had all of our doctor appointments and are doing quite well - yay. Life is good.