Slip Away

One of the highlights of our cruising life has been the people we've met along the way and the friendships we've forged.  This year, two of our closest cruising friends, Bob & Kay Finlay on Kay II celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  We spent lots of time cruising Pacific Mexico with Bob & Kay, and although we eventually separated due to different cruising plans, we keep in touch regularly.  When Bob & Kay told us that they were planning an anniversary celebration in Edmonton in August, we immediately told them to count us in.  (Although their actual anniversary was in February, we were pleased they planned the party in summer!) 

The two of us have never spent time in Canada, and neither of us really knew where Edmonton was - all we knew was that it was somewhere up north.  When we looked at a map, we noticed it wasn't far from Banff and Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies.  For several years, we've talked about wanting to see those sights, so this appeared to be a good opportunity to do that, too.  The idea of visiting the Rockies got even better when our cruising friends Aly & Iain from Loon III (Canadians from Calgary) offered to join us on the trip with their camper van and show us around.  (We also met Aly & Iain in Pacific Mexico, cruised through most of Central America with them, and they line handled on Slip Away when we transited the Panama Canal.)

We had two weeks scheduled for our trip to Canada, and we spent the first five days visiting with the Finlay family and celebrating Bob & Kay's anniversary.  

Bob & Kay are like family to us - we've spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and a few birthdays together.  They have five daughters and fondly refer to Jan as their sixth.  The other five daughters welcomed us in their homes and showed us some true Canadian hospitality.  When we flew into Calgary, Lori and Nicki (daughters #3 and #4), met us at the airport.  That night, we stayed at the home of Lori and her husband Arne (who live in Calgary), and the next day they drove us to Edmonton for the party.   

We spent the next couple of nights at the hotel where the party was held.  Two other cruising couples we knew from Mexico, John & Mary from Java and Alan & Mac from Effie, also came to the party, and it was great to see them again.  The party was set for Saturday evening, and since we had no big plans for Saturday afternoon, Java & Effie invited us to go to West Edmonton Mall with them.  The West Edmonton Mall isn't just any old mall - it's the "world's largest entertainment and shopping center."  It boasts over 800 stores, as well as an indoor wave pool and amusement park, a hotel with 350 rooms, 19 movie theaters and lots more.  This seems to be an ideal place to spend time during Edmonton's long, cold winters! 

The party on Saturday night was great fun.  About 100 people attended, and with Bob & Kay's five daughters, five sons-in-law, and something like 17 grandchildren (ranging in age from 12 to late 20's) and their dates, most of the attendees were from their immediate family.  The evening started with cocktails and then dinner.  After dinner, Charlene (the oldest daughter) shared a touching history of Bob & Kay's lives - from their meeting at age 18, marriage and five daughters, a job assignment in Saudi Arabia, cruising the Mediterranean in the 1980's on their first sailboat, a return to Canada and various business ventures and jobs (including Bob's stint as a cowboy), and a return to cruising in Mexico on Kay II .  We enjoyed a wonderful slide show, raised our glasses in a toast given by Kay's brother Joe, and then the dancing got started, went on for hours and got a little wild at times. 

Bob & Kay - celebrating 50 years of marriage

Canadian Rockies (August 21-30)

Aly & Iain were waiting for us in Jasper, and we spent the next nine days visiting Jasper, Banff, and Yoho National Parks and Kananaskis Country's Provincial Parks.  We took in a few of the touristy sights, but mostly we did a lot of hiking and enjoyed the natural beauty of the area.  (Our legs were tired and a little sore the first few days, but we were feeling pretty strong toward the end.)  Although Aly & Iain had previously spent time in this area, we went to some places they'd never been before.  In a previous life, Iain was a park ranger in Kananaskis Country, so he was a great guide and definitely the best at sighting and identifying wildlife. 

We traveled, cooked and slept in their camper van, which allowed us to see the area at a fraction of the cost than if we had we stayed in hotels.  (Cheap hotel rooms in that area were over $200/night, and dinner at the least expensive restaurants ran about $25/person.)  Iain & Aly graciously gave us the beds in the camper van, and they slept in a tent.  Traveling with four adults in the campervan was a little bit of a squeeze, but since we all live on boats, we're used to small spaces, and it was no problem at all. 

The weather was a fair bit cooler than normal (most afternoon highs in the 50's instead of the normal 70's), but we packed fleece, long underwear, hats and gloves, so we were prepared.  We didn't get much rain, which would have been a bigger issue, but we did have a snow shower one afternoon.  We're sure this is the first time we've ever been snowed on in August!   Nights were quite chilly, but we had good warm blankets.  Jan slept next to the heater controls in the camper van, and when she woke up in the morning, her first order of business was to turn on the heater, and shortly thereafter it was warm enough to climb out from under the blankets to put the kettle on the stove to heat up water for coffee and tea.