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2003
May 23 - 24, 2003
Viki and Tim’s 9th anniversary
found us making our bi-annual trip to Point No Point. This was the first
time for a two night stay. We both had the salmon dinner and it’s the
best you can find anywhere. The next day we visited Sand Cut and took
our shoes off to wade up the river, which was numbingly cold. Viki
almost fell in at one point and we both realized how quickly something
simple can go wrong, though this particular river wasn’t deep enough
to cause serious problems. We also walked on the beach at China beach
and it was unusually warm. We had an excellent lunch at a funky
restaurant near Point No Point. That evening, we went to Sooke for roast
beef, mashed potatoes and cheese cake at Ma’s café. It was
entertaining as always.
June 6 - 8, 2003
Our annual trip to Madrona in Parksville
produced the best weather we’ve ever seen there. The first day saw
temperatures in the 90s and the other days were pleasant in the 80s. Stan, Viki,
Kathryn, James and Tim started off the first day. The Mitchells (Kevin, Teresa,
Pam, Robert with Kari, Sierra, Lora and Angie) came up again on the second day
and stayed in their new camper at Rathtrevor. I had a great swim with Robert,
Pam and Kathryn, though James gave up after the long walk to the water at low
tide and didn’t join in. Marika and Drew also came the second day and we had a
great time kite flying. Doing this in about two feet of water gave excellent
protection to the kite from stunt crashes and also made for an interesting
challenge in trying to dip the kite edges in the water without losing control.
The weekend was over all too quickly.
Kari, Robert, Kevin, Teresa, Lora, Stan,
Angie, Marika & Drew, Sierra, Pam, Viki, Kathryn, James, Tim
June 26 – July 13, 2003
Our trip to Wisconsin began with an
evening ferry ride and then camping in the back of the Blazer at Cultus Lake.
Tim Horton’s was the stop of choice throughout the Canadian portion of
our trip. On the morning of the 27th
we headed up through Cache Creek. Viki
was pleasantly surprised when we pulled in to the lodge at 3 Valley Gap that
evening. We had a lovely view of
the lake to the south and the river through the pioneer village to the north.
 
On the morning of the 28th we
phoned Stan from Revelstoke and found out that he was just about to leave to
join us in Shelby. We drove on that
day through Glacier (Canada), Yoho and Banff National Parks to Lake Louise and
found it was overrun with tourists, but the lake was still lovely.
We then went on to Peyto Lake in Jasper National Park and then to Marble
Canyon. We saw our second black
bear along the way. Next we drove south through Kootenay National Park and stayed
at a log cabin at Kootenay Park Lodge. We
had supper served on the deck at the main lodge and took a walk through the
woods, though they did warn us that a black bear regularly was coming by about 2
hours later than our walk time.
 
In the morning of the 29th we
drove through Radium to Fernie. Viki
again had no idea where we would stay - Lizard Creek Lodge on the ski slope.
This was an amazing surprise. The
accommodation was discounted to 20% of the winter rate and they upgraded us at
no charge to their best unit (Room 1205, $447 winter).
It had a king bed, living room, dining room with full kitchen and a
second bedroom in the loft. It
slept 8 people and the balcony overlooked the ski lift and the mountain.
Viki rushed excitedly throughout the unit and was thrilled.
We had dinner served in the lounge.
The steak sandwich was one of the best I’ve ever had.
We shared a pint of draft after dinner and read books while we enjoyed
the view and the atmosphere. It was
hard to leave in the morning.
On the 30th we headed to
Waterton for what was supposed to be the highlight of the Rocky Mountain tour,
but it paled in comparison to Lizard Creek and was quite disappointed,
especially when the room rate was 5 times as much. The very typical strong wind in Waterton was very annoying
and although the view in the room was magnificent it was hard to see through the
small high windows with screens on. The
meal at Waterton was also greatly inferior.
Still we enjoyed the views and on a side trip to MacDonald Lake we saw
two more bears. We were able to get
in touch with Stan that night and found out that he had driven straight through
and was already in Shelby Montana a day early and was waiting for us.
He told us what a wonderful time he had driving over the Going to the Sun
road in Glacier National Park (US)
View from our room at Waterton
On July 1st we headed for
Shelby. Being afraid of heights, I
drove right past the eastern end of the Going to the Sun road, but about 15
minutes later, I did a U turn and asked Viki to drive us over it.
We went from east to west – the opposite direction than Stan had taken
the day before. The views and the
road were spectacular and luckily the entire route left us on the inside.
I don’t know how people, like Stan, drive it the other way on the
outside. We then completed the
circle tour of the park and stopped at Glacier Park Lodge to reminisce over the
enjoyment of our stay there the year before.
We wandered through the magnificent foyer and sat on the benches out
front. Then we drove on to join
Stan in Shelby.
Going to the Sun (road cut visible on the right)
It was warm and dry in Shelby.
Stan gave us the tour of the one block main street about 7 times in his
car and we had great fun joking around that evening.
Later on Viki and I went to see Bruce Almighty at the local theatre.
It has seats for 400 and there were 8 of us there for the show that
night. In the morning we caught the
Amtrak to Portage Wisconsin. We all
enjoyed an excellent meal in the dining car and the train was survivable
sleeping in our seats.
In Portage it was humid with
temperatures in the 90s. Duke
picked us up and took us to his cottage in Tomahawk.
The next morning Stan selected a Jeep Cherokee and I took a Yukon and we
set out for Mark and Myra’s wedding reception at the Cottage on Pine Lake near
Clintonville. There were tons of
relatives there and I didn’t even get to talk to all of my cousins.
We had a great time. We
stayed in Shawano (pronounced Shawno) and returned in the morning for another
round of visiting. In the late
afternoon Viki and I returned to Tomahawk while Stan had already gone on to
visit his brother Jim in Milwaukee.
Mark
& Myrna’s wedding
Our stay of 4 days at Tomahawk was
fairly uneventful as Don does little other than work or visit the Casino. Stan
returned to join Don for 3 nights of gambling and Viki and I joined for one.
Viki and I also had a great time visiting with Jean Schulz, including a trip to
Rhinelander (pronounced Rylander) for a terrible Charlie’s Angels movie.
Evelyn and Don (Duke)
On July 10th we returned with
Don and Donna to Portage without having even had a good thunderstorm.
None of us were looking forward to 25 hours on the train and it was a
disaster. The car was cold.
It smelled of smoke from the smoking compartment below.
The train was full to capacity with obnoxious travellers and it was
impossible to sleep. By the time we
arrived in Shelby, Viki was near to a breakdown and Stan and I weren’t much
better– no more train trips for this crew.
We stayed in Shelby again after the train ride.
On the 12th we headed for
home. Viki and Stan we ready to go
before 7. We went separate routes
and Stan phoned our cell phone when he reached a point where our routes crossed.
I got his call at a restaurant in Missoula and when he described the gas
station he was at, I could see it at the end of the block – amazing.
We didn’t see him again that day until we met up in Moses Lake, which
was 600 miles from Shelby. The next
day Viki and Stan were up early again and Stan left before us at about 6:45
We left about 10 minutes later and about 80 miles down the road I saw a
nice rest area and told Viki I thought it was one the Stan might stop at.
We pulled in and sure enough he was just packing up to head on. It was a very special moment.
We then both drove on nearly 250 miles and ended up finding each other
again as passengers on the ferry to Victoria, as we completed a remarkable
vacation.
Surprise meeting in Washington
October 2003
We celebrated Kathryn’s first
anniversary of moving in to live with us in Victoria.
October 27, 2003
Raya Casey Novakowski arrives.
Daughter of Marika Anderson and Drew Novakowski.
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