Days with the Schroeders

May 3 we had to wait until 10:30 to disembark the ship in Vancouver. We asked at the port where people would come to pick us up and were sent to the parking garage. We took our luggage down there and waited for over an hour for Bob and Carrie to get us. Finally they called and had been waiting out on the street since before we disembarked. We were both disappointed in the predicament. We packed things into their trunk (we had 6 pieces of luggage plus theirs) and went to Stanley Park. The park had been devastated by a violent winter storm and some parts were still closed. We had lunch in a small but scenic restaurant. We then drove off to Whistler, the site of the 2008 winter Olympics. On the way we saw a black bear on a flat plain off the road. It was very big but was a considerable distance away. We stayed in a Best Western hotel in the center of the ski village. It was a beautiful village and the weather was very crisp. We had beer and pizza for dinner after walking all around the village. We went to bed early.

May 4 we had breakfast at McDonald’s and took a long drive north to Lillioot. We saw many beautiful mountain peaks covered with snow. We stopped and took many pictures. We had lunch at a Subway and then drove back to the states. We stopped in Edison, a small town in Washington, for dinner. Bob knew a couple that lived there. We shared delicious salmon. I fought sleep nearly all day. I was not quite as well as I had thought. We didn’t arrive at their house until 9:30 and were asleep by 10.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We didn’t get up until 8:45. We had breakfast and went for a two mile walk. As we walked their dog flushed another young black bear that ran up the mountain we were walking beside. This is quite a thrill to have seen two bear on one trip. We went to a plant sale and came home for burritos for lunch. We visited their children and their families. We also went to a garage sale where I bought a boot jack and a long shoe horn. I have trouble getting my boots off in Texas. The evening we went to an local art show and had some Mexican food their for dinner. It was a nice community event. We came home and went to bed.

We got up and had wheat pancakes for breakfast. Evelyn and I dressed and went to a small Methodist church in Fall City. We were, as usual, blessed by our worship. We came home for lunch and then went to Carnation, WA, the place where Carnation milk was made for years. It was a lovely site but I forgot to take a picture of it. We came home and Bob cooked salmon on the barbecue. It was delicious. We had eaten that with them the first time we were visiting them in 1978. It was delicious again. We watched a DVD about our trip through the Canal. We were very disappointed in it. We had bought it on the cruise thinking it would have more of the history. We were again in bed by 9.

The 7th we were up early, had breakfast and went for a longer 4 mile walk. Carrie has always walked a great deal but now does it as therapy for recovery from her double knee replacement. We went from there to the waterfront for lunch. There is a famous fish and chips restaurant, Ivars, where we had fish and clams. Many people eat outside but the seagulls were too thick for us. We walked down the waterfront for a while and then went to a new outdoor sculpture park. We had planned to go to an arboretum but it was closed. We came home for our afternoon beer and dinner. Becky, their daughter, had printed off our boarding passes for tomorrow’s flight so we could get on first to get better seats. We packed our bags again and prepared for our flight tomorrow before going to bed.

We arose and put our luggage into the trunk. We didn’t have to be at the airport until 11 so we went for another walk on the way. They dropped us off and we ate the turkey sandwiches Evelyn had made this morning. She used the leftovers from last night’s turkey dinner. We got on the plane and tried to preserve the middle seat but the flight was too full. We had a nice young Christian man sit with us. We played cards most of the way to Phoenix, our first surprise stop. When the people staying in Phoenix deplaned, we were allowed to change seats. We moved to the first row for more leg room on the way to Houston. Both legs of the flight were fairly smooth, but the first leg was exciting in that we flew over Mt. Rainier and the Grand Canyon. We had a short layover in Houston and shared a Wendy’s hamburger before parting for Harlingen. Bonny picked us up and brought us back to our home in the RV park. We thank God for such a great trip.