Victoria

Here are some pictures from our trip to Victoria. We had a wonderful time, enjoyed some delicious seafood and great weather.

We visited Beacon Hill park and saw Franklin's cousins enjoying the sun

But you're not allowed to feed the ducks anymore...what's up with that?

Lorri and a banana tree

We took a trip to fisherman's wharf (with the house boats) to pick up crab and halibut for dinner

Eileen and Matt took me to Butchart Gardens for my birthday - what a great gift!

One day my yard will look like this. Oh wait, maybe we would have to live on the coast to have a yard like this

The Bellagio has nothing on this place

Lorri, Eileen and Matt enjoying the merry go round...note what Lorri is riding Jessi

Cadboro Bay and a sandcastle contest

Ah, when it is sunny in Victoria, there's no finer place on earth

Thanks Nana for being a wonderful host!

Portland

Here are some of our pictures from our Portland trip. We visited with Diana and Grayson for 5 days. The weather was great and the donuts even better. (Ask Lorri about the size of her donut. She said she gained 4 pounds on the trip, I'm sure it was the donut).

We (minus the baby mom) hiked up to the top of Multnomah falls. This is the third highest year round waterfall in the U.S.

Resting at the top, after 1.25 miles, 11 switchbacks and 620feet -  kinda like the Bear's Hump.

We took in the 25th anniversary tour of Les Miserables. It was amazing!

Diana took us to Edgefield, an old "poor farm" converted into a hotel, restaurant, entertainment and golf destination. Adele was playing the one night, but the event was sold out.

We tried to visit the Portland temple, but sadly it was undergoing renovations, so we were not allowed on the grounds.

We visited the world famous Rose Gardens.

And, of course, a visit to Portland would not be complete without a visit to Powell's Books. We went twice!

All in all a fun trip. Thanks Grayson and Diana.

Mt. Hood

Calgary Stampede

On friday Lorri and I travelled to Calgary to attend the Sugarland concert at the Saddledome. Our concert ticket also included an entry to the Stampede grounds. I haven't been to the Stampede since I was a child. We arrived a little early so we could get something to eat before the concert. Our choices were unlimited. Large hot dogs, polish dogs, elephant ears, deep fried oreos, deep fried cheese, deep fried onions, (lots of deep fried stuff) corn dogs, candied apples, chicken on a stick, pizza on a stick (lots of things on sticks). We settled for pizza and jugo juices.

We then realized we were over-dressed. The appropriate attire for the stampede was obviously cowboy boots, booty shorts or mini skirts and cowboy hats (even better with flashing lights!)

The concert was great. Sugarland is a country duo consisting of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush. They performed for about 1 1/2 hours and we really enjoyed it. There was about 9000 people in attendance and they played songs from their new album "Incredible Machine" such as Stuck Like Glue, Tonight, etc., as well as some of their previous hits (Baby Girl, Something More, Stay, All I Want To Do, and more.) They were opened by Casey James of American Idol fame.

After the concert, we walked the midway for a bit and then toured the exhibits. We realized we didn't leave ourselves enough time to see everything. Next year...

Canada Day

Last Fall I had the thought that, before Angie and Dylan leave Ottawa, we should spend Canada day on Parliament Hill. I mean, as a Canadian, there couldn't be anything more patriotic. So we booked our tickets and waited for the day to come.

Then I heard another couple had the same idea - Will and Kate. Great, I thought, now we'll never get anywhere near Parliament Hill because of all the Royal watchers. In fact when I looked at our schedule and compared it to Will and Kate's, I discovered that we were scheduled to arrive at the Ottawa airport on Thursday June 30th at the same time. I had visions of getting trapped at the airport.

Luckily when we arrived in Ottawa, the situation was calm. Angie and Dylan picked us up and we went back to their apartment and then off to the Civilization museum for some fun displays.

The next day, Canada Day, we awoke early, dressed in our red and white, and headed across the street (literally) to Jacques Carter park to begin our Canada Day celebrations.

This was one Park's Canada's beavers that was in the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

We looked at the displays and then decided to see if we could get near Parliament Hill. We walked across the Alexandra bridge, through Major's Hill Park (which had more displays and activities) and we made it across the Rideau canal to almost the East Block building. But after that point, the the police had blocked the entry to Parliament Hill because there were too many people. I read later that the crowd was probably near 300,000. So we turned around, walked back to the east side of the Chateau Laurier Hotel and waited on the street for the royal couple to come by (we waited about 1/2 hour).

The royal couple in a landau. Amazing RCMP horses!

We then went back to Major's Hill park and watched the program from the "jumbo tron".

Will gave a speach.

Catherine watched, and then the snowbirds flew over.

We enjoyed the activities, purchased a huge polish dog from a street vendor (delicious) and hung out until the amazing fireworks that evening.

Okay, so maybe the royals didn't spoil my fun as much as I thought they would...and it was kinda cool to see them (did I admit that?).

Exercise

I'm reading this new book called "Younger next year."

It's written by an internist from Columbia University in New York, Dr. Henry Lodge and a patient of his Chris Crowley. It talks about, among other things, the importance of exercise in maintaining good health, especially for those of us who are a little older than the rest of you.

As most of you know, my exercise of choice is my recumbent bike. I have been fairly regular over the past couple of years and I certainly notice a difference. I'm trying to ride my bike 4 days a week (aerobic workout) and use the Bowflex (resistance training) another 2 days as Dr. Hodge recommends.

Recently, I was setting new personal bests in distance and speed during a given time frame. I was feeling pretty smug until I looked down at the resistance setting. Somehow it had been reset to level 1 from my usual level 2 setting (?Sara). No wonder I was doing so well.

Oh well, back to the grind at level 2.

Hawaii

I thought I would post some pictures from Hawaii. We had a wonderful time, the weather was good and the medical conference was informative, at least the sessions I attended. It was hard to balance the pull of the meeting and the attraction of the beach.

Here is the view from our hotel room. We stayed in a one bedroom suite which had a full kitchen. It was probably one the best accommodations that we have ever enjoyed. HBO comes in handy when you are having trouble adjusting to the time change.

Here is a view inside the Hawaiian convention Centre.

We watched the annual "Battle of the Paddle" competition.

I was inspired to try it my self. I definitely could have done well in my age group!

We kayaked, snorkelled, and even hiked to Manoa Falls.

All in all another good time was had.