Christmas holidays

We went to the Fraser Valley for a week and a bit for Christmas. (Sorry Bulkley Valleyites, no trip north this time... though the thought of a white Christmas was appealing.)

We flew out Saturday evening, with a stop in Toronto. There we got on a flight ultimately bound for Australia; it was ridiculously cramped and the seats were very close together, even for economy class. However, certain tiny passengers whose owners should have kept them in their crates had plenty of space.


We seemed to hang out with family a little more than usual, although we did hang out with friends a day or two. One couple from Ottawa had a Vancouver layover on their way home from Hawaii, so we headed over to the city with other friends--a family of former Ottawans--to entertain them for several hours.

We headed to the Vancouver Aquarium. There we saw all sorts of marine life, from turtles and eels to sharks and anacondas. There was also a 4D show which, it turned out, was geared toward kids and had nothing to do with anything marine.

Fortunately most of the sights could be seen from indoors, although we had to step out to take in some short shows of the dolphins and belugas.

Beauties.



Belugas.



Dolphins. Maybe hard to see, but in the second picture 3 dolphins are jumping to impressive heights.



Former temporary Hawaiians.


Former (we like to think future) Ottawans taking in a 4D show.



We had a couple of other former Ottawans to see who live in Washington, so we drove down to Seattle one night and stayed in a hotel on the waterfront. We spent the next day with our friends at the Museum of Flight. The guys probably had a better time there, but I consider it partial payback for the scads of art galleries that dot my past.

There was Wright brothers-era stuff, a WWI gallery, a WWII gallery, modern jets, and everything in between. Even a couple of simulators, one of which us guys went in.





An early stealth fighter. I'm a perfect fit! ...unless of course the cockpit needs to be closed while flying, in which I'd have to slouch a lot while flying.



We got to walk through a Concorde, which I found to be a surprisingly small plane up close.





There was also an old presidential plane first used 50 years ago. As an Air Force One, it served four presidents including Kennedy and Nixon. Not nearly as big as today's presidential jets, it was a neat step back in time.






Christmas gift-giving this year was affected mightily by Carrie's knitting hobby. She's been busy for a few months making things for each one of her family members, so that set the bar pretty high this year. Here's but a sample...


One day we went to Vancouver with the in-laws and hung out on Granville Island. We also cruised through the Olympic village, which is rather deserted; lots and lots of housing, hardly a soul residing there. Care to invest in a pretty summer spot on the west coast?




We flew back home yesterday, fortunately avoiding all the delay issues plaguing various airports. Of course that would have been too fortuitous, so our luggage decided to hole up somewhere rather than join us in Ottawa. Well, better at the end of the holidays than at the start. The luggage was delivered to our doorstep this morning, so all's well once more.

the single life... again

Nearly two weeks ago, on a Monday, I brought Carrie to the airport for another trip to Geneva; this was to be another nine-day excursion for her. She got as far as Montreal that day, where windy weather kept her trans-Atlantic flight grounded. So she spent a full day hanging out in her hotel room mere kilometres from home. She eventually made it to Geneva, where I'm confident she wowed the crowds with elegant arguments way over my head.

I headed south that weekend (well, on Thursday) to hang out with family. It was likely my last chance to go there before spring so I stayed there for a few days. I sort of hoped I would be snowed in and prevented from returning home Monday, but all we got there was a ton of rain. Oh London, why must thou get all the good weather(3+ feet of snow)?!! Anyway, the family enjoyed the dog's (and presumably my) visit, and I got back home Monday afternoon.

Carrie was expected to fly back home Wednesday, but she made it only to Zurich (which is technically the wrong way -- northeast). There, a couple inches of snow delayed some flights, causing her to miss her connecting flight to Montreal. Several hours of standing-in-line-looking-for-alternatives later, she was told she'd be flying out the next day via Frankfurt. So, another unexpected hotel stay. (For what it's worth, when you fly business class, they at least treat you to decent hotels and food when you do have delays like this.)

So Carrie got home a day late on Thursday, having to adjust to a 6-hour time change, only to prepare for our BC vacation two days later, which added 3 more hours of time change.

Anywho... we're in Langley now, with all our luggage, and thankful for an uneventful flight west.

Merry Christmas everyone!