Vancouver visits

Peace Arch USA Canada Border

Lambert RV Pad

Hard to believe we've already been away from Santa Barbara for over a week! Sunday afternoon we left Portland and drove to Olympia for a nice overnight at our friends' house, a lovely garden setting perfect for a long chat to catch up. Monday we had a very nice drive up to Vancouver, with only about 15 minutes and a few perfunctory questions at the border before picking up some groceries so we could cook dinner with Bill's aunt Helen. We had a nice evening with her, then made our way to her son's house where we've been parked for two days. It was fortunate that Glen & Beth came home from their lake cottage yesterday so we could have a bit of a visit with them, and Glen helped Bill fix a leaky kitchen faucet in our RV (it's always something, I guess!).
Today we'll be on the road again, finally heading eastward on our journey, with an overnight in Kelowna, a beautiful town situated among vineyards and surrounding gorgeous mountains just at the border between BC and Alberta. We'll be with more cousins, then head out tomorrow for Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and Edith Clavell Glacier where we'll do some hiking before arriving in Edmonton sometime this weekend. As you can see from the photos, we're enjoying beautiful spring weather! Daffodils, tulips and magnolias are finished blooming, and peonies are just in bud, but they've had a lot of rain this winter (lucky them) so everything is lush and green. Beth has her vegetable seedlings sprouting near a sunny window, and will get them in the garden soon, between all their travels. They let us pick a couple of rhubarb stalks to bring along, so we'll be looking for strawberries to make a little jam to eat along the way. Life is good!