Road Trip, Part 1

The following two entries are full of pictures from the road trip Roger and I took to Edmonton, Alberta, in July. There are no pictures, unfortunately, of the afternoon we spent in Edmonton, having lunch at a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant, spending time at a stationery store (pens and paper and cards, oh my!), talking to the new owner of a 1986 VW Westfalia, picking out fabulous truffles from a store Roger was determined to take me to.

On the first day of our trip, we were stuck in a traffic kerfuffle for four hours (in the hot, hot sun) that was mostly caused by drivers rubbernecking an accident that was nearly cleaned up by the time we passed it. We had a supply of bottled water with us, and because traffic was often at a near-standstill, we decided to start passing water to people in the next lane if they looked hot and/or aggravated. Most people turned us down, but three or four people gratefully accepted a bottle. One guy called, "Are you serious?" when I gestured that we'd pass him a water, and when our windows aligned again a few minutes after he'd taken the water, he told me that I was the nicest person in the world.

We stopped to eat one night at Theos, a Greek restaurant Roger had been to once and had told me about more than once. The oysters melted in our mouths. Actually, after the whole meal was over, we rather thought that if we could go back and do it again, we would've had another order of the oysters and each made it a meal, and picked a different appetizer.

And those are just a few of the stories.

I can't forget to mention that we did the whole road trip in Roger's convertible. Imagine that--my first trip through the Rockies and no car roof to obstruct my view. (Roger says it's every man's dream to drive through the Rockies with his love in a convertible.)


This is a view from the ferry to Egmont on our first day off.

These are coast mountains and later, there will be the Rockies, both gorgeous.



I was surprised by the amount of snow on many of the mountains.

And I love the way the clouds cast shadows on the mountainsides.




This is the Summerhill Winery in Kelowna (in the Okanagan Valley). Lake Okanagan allegedly houses a sea monster called Ogopogo.

Roger used to work at Summerhill tending the irrigation, planting grapes, building arbors. While he was there he got to pick grapes for an ice wine crush in the middle of a freezing night.

The vineyards, the lake... (yes, it was that blue)

Roger and I, standing on the deck outside the Summerhill shop. (This picture was taken before Roger cut his hair.)

May I suggest that if you are wine lovers, touring the Okanagan wine region might be a vacation you'd like to take. Stunning scenery, lots of wineries. In the middle of summer, you couldn't go wrong.

This is Banff, a city in the oldest national park in Canada. Very touristy--lots of shops, lots of people all year round. Roger and I spent a short rainstorm browsing through a bookstore. Very pretty scenery.


This is Cows, a famous ice cream shop. This is the only Canadian Cows shop other than the original shop in Charlottetown. You will not find Cows in the states. (Roger thinks you may find one in Japan, though.)

Yummy, yummy ice cream.

Roger's friend Jon lives just outside Edmonton. Jon and Lisa invited us to stay a few nights with their family. This double rainbow showed up outside Jon and Lisa's place, shortly after we arrived to settle in for our stay. Their kids--the three of four who were home--were amazed when they spotted the second, lighter rainbow over the bold one.