Wednesday, 18 November 2020

Catch up #1

 

Here I sit, on November 13, 2020, hoping to resurrect our blog. We started this blogging project in September 2012, just after we both retired & had planned a winter adventure. It seems quite a shame to not continue, if for no other reason than to keep putting our life on “paper” (I’m old school), since we are still “Living the Dream”.

 

It has been over a year & a half since we have penned a post – our 100th, our cruise to Hawaii. First I will attempt to catch up on our lives before getting to the present. As always, I take too many pictures of “everything”, so brace yourselves as I share them!

After our “vacation” to Hawaii we returned to Quartzsite to enjoy some warm weather, more Happy Hour’s with neighbors & another rock trip or two.

 



rock trip to Burro Creek


Arizona storm clouds

We left Quartzsite March 31, 2019 after ensuring that we had a spot reserved there for next season. We spent a few days in Laughlin, Nevada in the Riverside RV Park with a view of “The Strip”. From there we day tripped to Oatman (can’t miss the cute burros) & to Grapevine Canyon for some hiking.



racoons in Laughlin

view of the Laughlin strip from our RV site



Grapevine Canyon petroglyphs


Unfortunately we had a minor accident with the motorhome on our trip home, which will require a bit of body work, but we were happy to get settled at our summer home – Elk Island Retreat campground on April 10, 2019.

 



We were busy catching up with our kids & grandkids after our winter away. Our boys are a bit scattered geographically & work different schedules so getting all 3 together is a bit tricky but we managed it in April.





We were lucky to be able to see Emma & Ty perform in a play during a trip to see Adam & Jen.

 




We resumed our regular supper dates with Scott & our visits with Rosemary, Shane & Sarah.





Robin's 63rd birthday


In June, while the RV was getting patched up, we took a mini vacation to southern Alberta that included Dinosaur Provincial Park, Drumheller & Medicine Hat. We took in some other worldly scenery, looked for & found dinosaur fossils, did some strenuous hiking & enjoyed several nights of hotel hospitality.

 

Royal Tyrell Museum, Drunheller



Hoodoos

Bleriot ferry


Horseshoe Canyon -yes we hiked to the bottom!

Cypress Hills



huge petrified tree


fossilized dinosaur bones






Throughout the summer we participated in several markets – weekly we could be found at both Ft Saskatchewan & Ardrossan Farmers Markets which we enjoyed, more so on days with good weather! 

 

Ardrossan Farmers Market

Ft Saskatchewan Farmers Market

Robin busy making birdhouses


Robin's first fairy house!

a few of Robin's knives

We tried something new & became vendors at the Hinton Wild Mountain Music Festival & the Vegreville Country Fair. We took the RV to both, which made the long days easier, & put us very close to the great music in Hinton. In Vegreville we got to catch up with old friends, neighbors, school classmates, old babysitters of our kids, and co-workers from our time living in the area – all wonderful experiences.

 

Terry, a friend from high school

remembering the old days when I was foolish enough to ride the Zipper

Vegreville fair market

old friends


Hinton Wild Mountain Music Festival

our RV & a performer's stretch limo

One of my favorite gemstones to wire-wrap is Alberta Ammolite (a 70 million year old seashell fossil found only in Alberta), so we usually head to the yearly open house at Ammolite World.

 

Ammolite, all ready to wire wrap



I have 3 siblings & we try to get together at least once a year – a picnic at our campsite was a good time!

 




Visiting with the kids, markets, hiking, taking in a few summer festivals, enjoying living in a campground & the summer drew to an end. We turned south as usual to continue our Snowbird adventures on October 13 after celebrating Thanksgiving at Scott’s, along with Adam, Jen, Emma & Ty.








Karen's 62nd birthday



And the story will continue in Catch-up #2, still Living the Dream!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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