A Trip to Japan - Tokyo Day One

Our flight left at 12:50p which is different snice we  usually are up at 3:00a for a 6:00a flight. We checked one bag and other than picking the worst line for getting on the flight where we ended up being the last to board, our boarding was uneventful. The flight itself was a bit more exciting. About halfway through they announced they were looking for a doctor on board. They paged a generic message and then for a specific passenger. For a moment we thought it was a heart attack but after they moved them to the front of the plane we figure it was likely a diabetic issue as the patient was walking around and we didn't have to divert or wait for ambulances when we landed.

We had a small hiccup at customs. Kerry knew that we had to download an app and get a QR code but she missed where it said you need a QR code for every passenger. Usually it's just one per family. We were stuck at the front of the line looking embarrassed as Carter saved the day. He reacted quickly, redid the questionnaire and we got our QR codes. It took a bit to get through the passport check as they do a very deliberate check of your documents, capture finger prints and facial recognition. After that we had to do a check in after our bags and we got pulled out of line for looking slow. Customs agent was very helpful though. 

Japan has special plugs. People said that you could use your North American plugs which is true for iPhone chargers but if you have three prongs you need an adaptor. I'm a bit slow getting to blogging as I had no way to charge my laptop and it only holds a couple hour charge. Problem solved by a nice Japanese hotel concierge where I got to use Aragato one-on-one for the first time. Still trying to sort out the second part of that phrase to make it a formal "Thank You very Much". Our rooms are normal size so lots of room to get around. Beds are a bit firm and the family is starting to try out the fancy toilet. 

We arrived at our hotel around 4:00p so we had time to check out the mall that is attached to our hotel. The weather is some of the hottest on record right now and it's very high humidity so it's nice to be able to walk through conditioned spaces. We weren't feeling very adventurous for our first night so we stopped in at the Outback Steakhouse. Prices are cheap after the conversion and they don't like tipping  which makes it even better. We got four full meals for $90 Canadian. Tomorrow we tour downtown Tokyo before we do a three day sting at Disneyland and Disney Seas.

Summer in Prince George

Historically my family has taken a trip to Prince George every summer and typically in the first week of July. This year Carter had summer school and Callie was finishing up her summer semester so there wasn't really a good time to go up so rather than driving I took the plane up myself. I don't think I have flown to Prince George since my wedding and at that time I took the RCMP plane. Despite the fact that its a propeller plane, it's a quick trip. Just over an hour and once I'm in Prince George it's only a 15 minute ride to my parents place. Certainly beats the 8 to 10 hour drive that it takes us most years. It's not cheap though so only makes sense when it's one person.

For the first full day there I went out to west lake where my family has property. Usually I spend some time cleaning things up or getting rocks to secure the beach but this year there was legitimately very little for me to do. The rock wall to protect the shore is now complete and all the leaves and branches were already cleaned. My brother Eric has even cleared out most of the underbrush. This year's project will have to be some headstones for the various pets we have buried there. 

The highlight of the trip was being able to prove my brother wrong despite him being 110% sure he was correct. At Christmas he gave me a blue cooler like the one on the left which confused me. He said he had found a duplicate to replace the one I had lost. This made no sense to me because I knew my parents still had the cooler and I was certain the one that had been left behind at a hotel during one of our vacations was very different. He insisted though so I had to wait until this visit to go out to the shed and show him the cooler. I even showed him a picture of the type I had actually been responsible for getting into the vehicle. He's still skeptical but the parents back up my version of the story.

For another one of the days my brother drove me back to his place in Quesnel after dinner and I stayed the night. We then got up the next day and checked out Barkerville. I think it's the best historic site in BC and people up north know all about it but people down south have often never heard of it. If you are ever in the neighborhood I highly recommend it. We checked out the town and had lunch and took a hike around the outskirts of the town along the ridge. This place was almost impacted by fire this past year which would have been a tragedy. They take fire safety here very seriously. 

Parent's Come to Town

My parents were in town for a few days in July. They try to come down at least once a year and for this weekend it happened to be on Kerry's birthday and she happened to be out of town with Callie. This left Carter and I to find something interesting to do. It turned out that there was a Roughriders game on the Saturday and my Dad is a big fan so we planned the day around that event. We took the Skytrain down to Science World and then got a water taxi to Granville Island. We wandered around and had lunch and then took the water taxi across the way to Yaletown and then walked to BC Place. 

Sometimes it's hard to recognize interesting things in your own town but this excursion would be interesting wherever I were to visit. The water taxi are easy to get tickets for and False Creek is a great view of downtown. There are also marina's with some very expensive vessels. Granville Island is world class and the walk through Yaletown is scenic as well. We got to the game with plenty of time and this time I was able to take my Dad to a game where his team won. I recall taking him to a Montreal Canadians game once and they were down 5-0 in the first period. a

The next day we took a quick trip down to Historic Stewart Farm to show my parents. I think I've taken my Mom there before but possibly not my Dad. They enjoyed the visit and Mom was interested to hear that I had taken her mom's raspberries and propagated them and built a trellis to keep them in check. I've been pretty busy lately but the raspberries are one item I make sure to keep up with. It was fun creating the trellis and then each year I have to make sure to weed them in the spring and then cut out the old canes and ensure everything is tied up in the fall. They are only a few years old and there is 24 feet from just 4 plants. 

Jeremy Helps Deliver Papers

Carter has had a paper route for several years now which I applaud but somehow it's turned into him and Kerry doing the papers every week as a mother daughter bonding moment. He only has to deliver them once a week where as I had to deliver them 6 days a week on my own so I'm not very sympathetic when she's unavailable to assist. This weekend the family was away in Oliver and Jeremy was over doing a project and the papers needed to get done. Rather than doing them myself though I took some pictures of Jeremy as if I had made him do them on his own. There is a picture of him attempting to walk carrying all the papers, trying to climb the fence at a unit with a gate and putting the papers in the recycling bin at the end. I sent these photos to Carter with no explanation for fun. Thanks to Jeremy for being a good sport about it.

Father's Day

It was a sunny Father's Day this year. I was preparing for my cataract surgery and had to wear my glasses all weekend so I wasn't very interested in going anywhere. My glasses have a bad prescription in them so not only do I look funny but I can't see either. We took a quick trip out to Krauss Berry Farms. I really like this farm but I'm finding they are increasing the prices a bit faster than inflation. They were selling honey for almost twice what we could get local honey for elsewhere. We picked up some pies and pastries and we stopped off at the Honey Bee Centre on the way back. Much more reasonable prices.
 

Surrey Historic Rialway

I volunteer at the Historic Stewart Farm and one of the perks is that I often get the opportunity to be a tourist in my own town for free. This time it was at the Surrey Historic Railway. The starting point of the railway is in Cloverdale and they have spent many years restoring some of the original railcars. The one we were in had been shipped away and they found it in the US some place. It was once part of the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER)'s interurban line which operated from 1910 to 1950, connecting communities from Vancouver to Chilliwack. It's interesting to think we had local rail service so long ago only to lose it and to need to resuscitated it later.

If they had kept it going and built all the cities around rail it wouldn't cost us so much to do Skytrain now. The trip itself is fun but not very long. They take you down their private spur and then have permission to use the mainline on Sundays. You then proceed through some industrial and farmland before turning around and coming back. You'd think you would be backwards in one direction but not so. The seats allow you to stand up and switch them to face the opposite direction. They were very proud of those restored seats. 

A Trip to Granville Island

For the first time in a very long time my brother Eric came down to visit me. His wife had planned to come fly down but that was cancelled but then reinstated and he drive down with her. Since he hasn't been to the lower mainland much we took a trip to Granville Island. I think the most interesting part must have been the seagull at our table since that's the only pictures I got from the day. It was very respectful of our presence as it at the garbage next to us. We checked out the market, got bagels and fudge and then drove home. I don't think he enjoyed the traffic getting down. It was admittedly a bit busy getting there.