A log about those Silly Folks and their Escapades

On Sunday morning we met Dean and Judy near the airport and then drove towards an area called Lorient to have a lunch and then buy some supplies/groceries for our move to Villa Apiano for the next 2 weeks.

In the early afternoon we met the Villa Company representative at the Villa and he showed us our accommodations for the next 2 weeks. WOW! Dean and Judy have stayed here before and often talk about how beautiful it is; very private yet lots of open areas and it is a large 4 bedroom villa.

We were given first choice of rooms and we selected one of the bedrooms on the main living area.

After emptying our suitcases and loading the fridge with food and the cupboards with the necessary supplies it was later into the afternoon so instead of the beach we opted for an afternoon and early evening around the pool. Pretty hard to take:)

Dean and Judy served a delicious dinner this evening with the proper wine pairings and followed it up with chilled Vanilla Rum…… yummy!

However, this is where our St Bart’s adventure takes a bit of a turn. Prior to flying out to the Caribbean Judy’s mom Betty had a medical incident and was hospitalized. All through the early part of their vacation the daily calls back home said she seemed to be getting better one day and then she would have a relapse the next day. Well about day #2 at Villa Apiano Betty really took a turn for the worse and it was then that Judy and Dean decided to fly back to Kamloops to be there for her mom. It was a very tough decision and we certainly missed them when they left.

Unfortunately Betty passed away around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday January 18th and Judy and Dean never arrived till 2:30 p.m. that afternoon. So, sad:( Betty was such a good person with a kind heart and a gentle soul. We all miss her.

Wednesday morning we headed back to St. Maarten airport to meet up with Dean and Judy and to fly over to the French island of St Bart’s.

The flight into St Bart’s is sooooo much fun. We flew with Winair which uses Twin Otter Aircraft. 

You generally approach from the west with the Capital of Gustavia off to your righthand side. Then as you near the airport there is a hill that the pilot aims for and then when the plane flys over the traffic circle at the top the pilot dives the plane downwards and lands on a very short runway! Yahoo!

Once we landed, cleared immigration and picked up our luggage we got our rental car.

Dean and Judy headed for the hotel they were staying at called L’Petit Morne located at the top of Colombier.

Meanwhile we headed for our accommodation in Corrosol for the next four days at L’Etoile du Marin. We have stayed here in the past and really enjoy the location and especially the view from the deck. The property is owned by Marie-Flore and Arnaud Questel. Arnaud built the addition to their main house about 10 years ago. It is absolutely perfect for  few days in St Bart’s.

We started each morning with a walk and when you live in St Bart’s there are very few flat spots. So, you are either climbing a hill or going down a hill which means you have to climb to get back home. Fortunately the steepest climb and walk we took peaked  near a local bakery that had chocolate croissants. After a morning walk, breakfast, etc our days were mostly spent at the beach or touring around the island and discovering many changes since our last visit.

After four nights we said goodbye to Marie-Flore and Arnaud. When we checked out they informed us that they were no longer going to be renting out “L’Etoile du Marin as they were both retiring and planning on traveling to see their families in France.

So, it was off to Villa Apiano with Dean and Judy

After leaving the airport Dean and Judy drove us to our accommodations at The Turquoise Shell Inn. We have stayed here on other visits and it’s an old time 2 level motel; certainly not the fanciest, but it’s clean and in a convenient location. The Turquoise Shell Inn is under new ownership and they are modernizing the rooms, so even though it is looking a little “travel weary” we are hopeful on our next visit to get one of the newly renovated rooms.

Once we signed in and dropped off our luggage we headed to a local bar for a drink and some appetizers. We arrived at the bar that is right next to where the main road bridge lifts to allow the sailboats and luxury private yachts enter Simpson Bay Lagoon. The bridge is only open at set times in the day and with all the boats coming and going it’s St Maarten’s version of the 5 o’clock rush traffic jam. Also while we were at the bar a small flotilla of a sailing school went by being pulled by a Zodiac.

Dean and Judy headed back to their hotel and we made plans to meet in a couple days for a trip to Phillipsburg.

The next morning we woke up to wonderful warm sunshine and went for a long beach walk.

Our first day we just chilled out, acclimatized and didn’t do a lot of anything except enjoy the beach and the warmth… Oh and the occasional cool beverage. 

The day before we headed to St Bart’s Dean and Judy picked us up in the morning and we headed to Phillipsburg for lunch and some shopping.

Phillipsburg was very busy as there were 5 cruise ships in port. So, lots going on with all the duty free shops, beach activities, tours, etc. After walking the boardwalk for a while and stopping in at a Holland Cheese Shop we found a great restaurant on the water to have lunch.

Then we headed back to Simpson Bay via the causeway bridge and over to the Summit Hotel to see Dean and Judy’s accommodations. They had a great view from their room of Simpson Bay Lagoon with the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean in the distance.

Tomorrow we are all off to St. Bart’s.

Wow! 2017 has arrived.

That must mean it is time for us to head to a warmer climate. So, that’s what we did and in early January we headed for St Maarten and then over to St. Bart’s.

Since we were flying out of Vancouver and the weather was looking good for driving to the coast we headed down a day early and spent a night in downtown Vancouver, prior to heading to our airport hotel.

From Vancouver we flew to Sea-Tac and then on to Atlanta. The flight to Atlanta was delayed about 2 1/2 hrs as it was delayed getting out of Atlanta due to winter conditions. It was -11C when we landed in Atlanta and only -5C in Kamloops. Plus there is no way that City or Airport are equipped to handle winter conditions like that. Anyway we made it to Atlanta, spent about 4 hrs at our Atlanta airport hotel and then it was back to the airport to catch the flight to St Maarten.

If you have never flown through Atlanta Airport you need to do it once in your life so you can experience it. Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world, but having said that, they are very efficient at moving travellers as long as you get there well ahead of your flight time. For example to get from the International Terminal to the Main Terminal is either a 15 minute bus ride or a long walk and a 10 minute underground train ride with stops at 6 other terminals.

Anyway, even though we were slightly delayed on our departure due to crew scheduling the pilot made the time up in the air and once out of customs/immigration at the airport Dean and Judy were there to meet us:)

So, our St Maarten and St Bart’s adventure started.

Where did November go……… Who Knows. But it went and that’s – that.

What about December? Same story only faster.

The highlight of December was spending Christmas in Kelowna with Jeff, Lindsay, Zac and Oliver. Plus what even made it more special was the Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad came over from Princeton. So that made 10 of us and then along with Lindsay’s Mom, Jackie and her step-dad Doug we had a full house of fun, laughs and love. Christmas is pretty great when everyone is together.

Unfortunately I cannot load anymore photos since I am doing this on Brenda’s iPad and there are not any Christmas photos loaded in the directory. Oh! and we are doing this update from St Bart’s

So, we guarantee January will be exciting.

Yikes……… where did September and October go?

September arrived and that meant it was time to get back driving the school bus.

Brenda was back exercising at the YWCA on an even more regular schedule with all her gal friends! This exercising also includes at least one special dance occasion followed by a party. So, this September they did a dance routine with drums sticks to Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” at the Kamloops version of Dancing With The Stars. The whole group did really well and helped fill the time right after the mid-way intermission.

The Kamloops City Strummers got together for our regular Thursday night practises and also entertained at  Kamloops Seniors Village.

Brenda and I also are back ushering with Western Canada Theatre and in addition to taking the mandatory training session we also ushered a couple shows in September.

We also got a visit in to Princeton where we helped get a bit more yard work done for Kevin and Tamara, cleaning up after they had the big yellow pines in their yard removed…….. toppled. It is hard to believe the amount of needles, branches and wood from just two big trees.

October is here and early on we had all the kids and grand-kids here for Thanksgiving weekend… what a lot of fun. We had a big Thanksgiving dinner and had GGPa and GGMa over for dinner. The house was filled with laughter and love……. it does not get any better that this 🙂

The rest of October just happened!

However, take a look at these cuties on Halloween 🙂

So, after recovering from 4 1/2 hour time zone change and getting caught up on stuff around home August arrived and it was busy.

At the very start of August we headed to Princeton to spend a couple nights with Kevin, Tamara, Sage and Conrad. They have a very busy life and there is always lots going on in Princeton and it was good to spend time with them all. We had some fun times with the grand-kids, but somehow we forgot to take a picture of Sage. However, Conrad was really happy to show us the Robot that he had made.

Then on the first weekend of August it was Kamloops Rib Fest and Jeff, Lindsay, Zach and Oliver came to town for a visit. Lots of fun stuff going on for the kids with Rib Fest and the activities in the park. Plus it was the Car Show “Hot Night in the City” and Brenda’s Zumba/Exercise ladies did a street flash mob dance. Check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNWD3C7bm_U

Early in August at Music in the Park we danced and sang along with the Derina Harvey Band http://www.derinaharvey.com/  This was the band that played the opening set for The Fables when we were in St. John’s NFLD.

Then on the weekend of August 12th to 14th, we were up at Sun Peaks for the annual Retro Weekend. Friday night was Johnny Cash. Saturday was Pat Benatar, Heart, The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith. Sunday morning was John Foggerty and Bob Seeger. The music was pretty good but overall it was not as good as last year.

The weekend of August 18th through to August 21st we were at Horne Lake for our annual friends reunion. It included a steam train ride up to the McLean Steam Sawmill, lots of very warm weather, a few dips in the lake and a few cool beverages. Fun times as always. Unfortunately Rick and Gayle could not make it this year as Gayle had just finished 2 rounds of surgery on her back.

August 23rd we had George and Eva (Brenda’s Cousin from Gabriola) stay with us so we hosted a large family dinner with GGMA, GGPA, George, Eva, Dean, Judy and Judy’s Mom. It was a great evening, George and I played the Ukulele and took turns singing a song while the other accompanied.

The weekend of August 27th to 29th we headed to Calgary (Airdrie) for Brenda’s Aunty Lou’s 90th birthday celebration.

Somewhere in the middle of all this we had all the other stuff going on like picking blackberries every other day during their peak production. It has been a record crop this year. Brenda’s keeps fit by spending her exercise time at the YWCA, I am golfing almost every day we are at home and then of course the Kamloops City Strummers have been busy practising and performing twice in August.

Whew……. that’s enough for this month.

July 14th and we are headed from Rocky Harbour to Deer Lake.
This morning we started with a walk along the water front and stopped in at a couple craft shops. One last chance to add money to the Newfoundland economy.

After leaving Rocky Harbour we took a side excursion down to Norris Point. It is a very picturesque area where the Bonne Bay Tours go out of. In fact as we were there a morning tour was just coming back in and the some of the crew on the tour boat were performers at last nights concert. The Captain of the boat played the accordion and two of the deck hands played guitar and one played the drums.

Also while at Norris Point we started on a hike to Burnt Hill, but turned back as there were reports of an aggressive moose in the area.

We then drove to Deer Lake.
Once in Deer Lake we found a hiking trail around the lake and so went for about an 1 1/2hr, after that we went out for dinner and then it was to bed early as we had a 4:15 a.m. wake up call to catch our flight home.
Well after being in bed asleep for about 2 hrs the fire alarm went off in the hotel at at about 11:45 p.m.. Deer Lake has a volunteer fire brigade so it took them about 15 minutes to arrive and 20 minutes to assess the problem, which was a false alarm. So, it was back to bed by 12:30 a.m. and try to catch some sleep before the alarm at 4:15 a.m…… Oh the joys of travel.

The long trek home starts tomorrow! But stay tuned for more adventures in August.

July 13th we are off from Plum Point to Rocky Harbour.
On the way down to Rocky Harbour we stopped again at the Thrombolite viewing area to see these very interesting rock structures. For lunch we stopped in Cowhead at The Shallow Bay Motel, where we met Brenda’s friend Nora and her husband Roger for lunch. They are from Kamloops and have been traveling across the Maritimes for 6 weeks.
We also took the time to take a hike out to Big Hill and the Lighthouse at Cowhead which gave us a great view of the bay and out towards the St. Lawrence Seaway. The lighthouse was closed down in 1979, it was restored in 2002, but now the trees are taller than the structure and it is no longer in use. 
Tonight we are staying at The Ocean View Hotel….. luxury accommodations, view of the bay and entertainment this evening.
Tonight’s entertainment was a local group called Anchors Aweigh and they were fantastic. Lots of sing-a-long, hand clapping and fun music and songs. The surprise here was that the show did not start until 8:00 p.m., however we ended up going to the lounge/bar where the show was at 5:30 p.m. so we could get a good seat. Here is an older You Tube clip of Anchors Aweigh to give you an idea of the entertainment we enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCouZiogZLk

This evening was as much fun as the night we arrived in St. John’s and saw The Fables.

July 12th and we are headed from St. Anthony to Plum Point.
Before we left St. Anthony we decided to do a hike up to the top of a lookout point. Well the sign says it is 476 steps to the top. We’ll have to take their word for it as we did not count them all, trust it’s lots of steps and a good hike. However once you are at the top the view is amazing out to the sea, back towards the land and especially of the small town of St. Anthony.    

However, the wind was howling and so it made it a bit cool once at the top.
Coming down from the hike we could see a very small iceberg near the shore and some even smaller chunks at the shore. So, I hiked down to the rocky waters edge and was lucky enough to grab a chunk of iceberg. The ice is very dense and the local owner of the Tim Horton’s told us that if you put a chunk in a drink that it is so dense it will last though two drinks without melting.
From St. Anthony we headed to Plum Point. We arrived into Plum Point after a side trip to St. Barbe to see the ferry leaving for Labrador. Tonight we stayed at the Plum Point Motel, which is also a Tour Bus stop, so they are very busy and the Tour Bus folks get the better rooms. We ended up with a small cabin that would fit very well at a remote fishing lake….. Oh Well, it’s just one night.