A visit to my brother's place

For the last 10 days we have been visiting my brother who lives on Vancouver Island. We only get there once a year but always enjoy the time we spend together. He has recently bought a new house which he is remodelling so we stayed in a cottage owned by some people about a mile from his place. That turned out to be a great decision because the place was fantastic. Very secluded, surrounded by trees, a beautiful garden, lots of birds, gracious hosts and a very reasonable price. I put out a hummingbird feeder and very quickly had little guys coming to drink. The cottage had a living room, kitchen, bedroom and large bathroom, a porch outside with a big grill plus a new computer with high speed internet. They had equipped the place with everything you could possibly need/want including coffee beans and a grinder. I cooked the meals and everything I needed was in the kitchen. It was amazing and we really enjoyed it.

One of my favorite things to do while in that part of the country is eat fresh salmon. We drove to the next town [about 30 miles] and bought fish that had just been caught...delicious. I also bought LOTS of just picked blueberries which were delicious, and only $1.40 a pound. I always buy fresh in the store but they don't compare to "picked the same day and bought on the farm". If it sounds like my main motivation on our trip was food, you are absolutely right. My brother is just an after thought....just kidding.

While we were there Dan had his 70th birthday. He got calls from several friends the day we left who knew that he would be away for his birthday and then on the actual day, he got lots of emails with greetings. Then we had a dinner of filet mignon, fresh vegetables, baked potatoes as well as cake and ice cream. All in all a great day.

One of my brother and my favorite things to do is go to garage sales. Dan is not crazy about this but goes along anyway and often finds goodies. But he has to go with us because last time George and I left him at home while we went to the sales he fell off a ladder and broke his wrist. He is now not allowed to stay home by himself!! When planning our trip we made sure we were there for 2 weekends and a week so that we could get to the maximum number of garage sales.

Since George has moved from the mainland to Vancouver Island, our trip to visit entails a 2 hr trip on a ferry. We have been going by one route for a couple of years and this year decided to try something different. The trip up was great and the departure site was much more convenient than in previous years. Our trip home was another matter and resulted in "the day from hell". I am an interstate driver and dislike slow traffic and stop lights when trying to get somewhere. To go home the way we came involved slow roads. I thought we should get to an interstate ASAP then our 700 mile trip home would go a little faster. The one hesitation I had was that the border crossing on the interstate would be busier than the one getting off the ferry. But I thought "how bad can it be?" I sure found out when it was WAY too late to change my mind. The lineup at the border was 1 1/2 hours long. When we got up to the check point the line branched into 3 lines. As usual, just like the grocery store, I picked the wrong lane. The guy we had pulled us over for an "agriculture inspection". I told him we just had salmon and blueberries but that was not good enough for him. We had to park the car, leave the keys, surrender our passports and go in a building that was crawling with people....both inspectors and "criminals" like us. A woman came and asked us questions then made us stay in the building while she went out to inspect. After a while she came in, entered something in the computer [we are probably now on the "do not fly list"] then came and told us we could leave. After living on the border and crossing at the same location all my life that is only the second time I have been inspected. I don't much look forward to having to do that again. Next time we will go home on the other ferry. We had gotten up at 6am to make sure we had an early start but by the time we got through customs and on my favorite interstate it was afternoon.

We made good time...for a while... then we got caught in the rush hour traffic in Seattle which is a nightmare. Almost any time you drive through that city the traffic is heavy. I told Dan that if I had to live there and drive to and from work in that traffic every day I would just quit work and go on welfare! I guess I have lived in small towns for too long.

But wait....the day from hell is not over yet. We only got as far as Ellensburg Washington and stopped at a motel. We were relaxing and watching TV when we noticed that the air conditioning was getting louder and louder. Dan tried what he could to get the noise to stop but to no avail....and of course the maintenance people had gone home for the day. In the end they moved us to another room and at 10pm we were hauling our junk down the hall....but it was quieter. Thank goodness that day was over.

We made it home the next day with no further "adventures". It was good to be here, even though the grass had grown like mad...a situation that Dan remedied this morning. The bird feeders and the water feature were also empty so the little critters were mad at me. However, all is now back to normal.

I have had trouble posting photos so will post some of our trip and the cabin where we stayed as well as a butterfly and orchid garden in a different posting.