guess where I was...again?

I just learned after six years of blogging...

that there is an unspoken rule that you never blog about the same place twice.

Well...since the rule has been broken time and again over here...

let me break it again!

I was at Minter Gardens...

 ...again!

By now you know there are a few things I never tire of.

Friends and flowers! 

And so I returned to Minter Gardens on Monday...

to meet a new/old friend.

 Guess who?

Pamela...

a blogging friend from New Brunswick...

who happens to be in my corner of the world visiting family.

She hardly seemed a stranger to me!

We had a wonderful afternoon...

strolling the gardens and chatting about...

this, that and everything. 

Like old friends do. 

 And playing with our cameras...

of course.

Pam's blog is called 

'Playing With My Camera'...

where she shares her life on the east coast...

in techni-colour! 

Check it out...

you won't be disappointed.

I'm so glad it worked out for us to meet up that way!

 

As we left the gardens...

and passed through the gift shop...

this sign caught my eye.

I like that!

So true.

On this Wednesday I am thankful for flowers and friends.

In particular...
I am most thankful for my best friend...
who is celebrating his 42nd wedding anniversary today.

With me,
of course!

our chilliwack lake provincial park adventure...

Nestled in the majestic Coast Mountains south of Vancouver, Chilliwack Lake Park protects a rare patch of old-growth forest. Besides its main attraction, Chilliwack Lake, this 9,122 hectare park also encompasses several pristine lakes and rugged mountain peaks. 

How does that sound?

Those words are taken from a 'tourism Chilliwack' brochure...

and of course they would make it sound good.

It really is quite a jewel of a park though...

and just a one hour drive from 'my front porch'.

We decided to take a Sunday afternoon drive to the lake...

and brought along chairs and books...

and had visions of finding a quiet spot beside the lake.

The paved road ends at the north end of the lake...

at the public beach and boat launch.

But we noticed a gravel road continued on around the lake...

and thought maybe we should go further.

After all...

we were in the pick-up truck.

We shared the road with horses...

...and it got narrower and more full of potholes as we carried on.

We stopped at a viewpoint half-way down the lake...

...and then carried on down the very bumpy single-lane road.

We decided to turn back at the next opportunity.

There was none...

and I got out to hold up branches that were hanging over the road.

Did I mention that we were in a brand new pick-up truck...

one that we did not want scratched?

Eventually we found a spot where we could turn around and head back. 

We don't actually know what lies at the very end of the road...

though we were almost there...

I'm sure.

Apparently there is a trail that leads to the Canada-US border from the south end of the lake.

We'll never know for sure!

Late in the afternoon...

we finally parked our chairs next to the lake...

at the public beach we had passed by much earlier.

We watched people...

and opened our books for a short read...

and then it was time to head home.

Next time...

we'll go straight to the park at the lake...

and leave the exploring to those who like back-roading or riding a horse!

memorable moments at minter gardens....

We were so sorry to hear that our local show garden will be closing this fall.

For good!

It has been a favorite destination of ours through the years...

and we have so many memories connected with gardens.

We went a few days ago...

...and the three grands from next door joined us for a walk-about in the gardens. 

They too have many good memories of the gardens... 

...as they have been there with us many times over the years.

It seems we took a photo at the very same spot on a July visit in 2008.

They always seem to find ways to amuse themselves in a garden...

and rolled down the hills on that long ago summer day.

Things haven't changed a whole lot over the years.

Now they amused themselves by running through sprinklers.

 I have many photos of the lovely 'church in the wildwood' in my files.

Now I have one of kids frolicking on the lawns where the wedding parties usually pose.

I told them it would likely be their last visit to the gardens...

 

...and so they had their last dance.

Emme and Spencer have fond memories of getting lost in the maze which was once a garden feature...
and of visiting Snow White at the gardens long ago.

Ryder joined me for a garden tour in 2009...

and took a break on a park bench.

This week he sat on the same bench...

for the last time.

Back then he found a dwarf in a wee cottage.

This week...

he found he same cottage...

with the dwarf standing guard.

We had a wee surprise as we strolled the paths the other day.

A gardener warned us of a bear...

that had gone up a nearby tree.

We looked up...

and there he was high above us.

That is the first time we have encountered a bear in the gardens.

And the last...
I'm sure.

So many memories!

As we left the gardens...

the grands visited the phone booth.  

They were most intrigued with the phone...

and that one would put in coins to make a phone call.

It had never occurred to me that phone booths are almost a thing of the past.

This one will likely not be around much longer either.

Sometime this fall I will do a 'tribute to Minter Gardens' post...
going back through my photos from the past three decades.
But let me just leave you with one of my most touching memories today...
and that would be my visit to the vintage car show at the gardens in July, 2000.

My dad had a few of his cars at the show...
and we as a family all went to enjoy the day.
My mom was there.
Little did we know that it would be her last outing.

Here she is on that day...
pictured with two of her grandsons.
Several days later she was gone.

That was thirteen years ago...

tomorrow.

She loved flowers and gardens...

and so it was most appropriate that her last outing was to Minter Gardens.

And that is a memory of Minter Gardens that I will always treasure.

Oh, the memories!

 

gramping 2013 ~ part 2

For the final segment of our 2013 gramping experience...

we changed locations.

We loaded up the bikes...

and our two oldest grands...

 

...and headed to Fort Camping at Brae Island Regional Park in Fort Langley.

What a great place to camp with the girls...

other than the mosquitoes!

Emerson and Spencer are eleven years old...

and exploring by bicycle was much more appealing to them than the playground.

Fort Langley is a quaint historic village with shops, restaurants and museums...

and is surrounded by the Fraser River and lush agricultural countryside.

We were camped next to the river and right near the village...

so after setting up camp we went exploring.

 

It is a clean and tidy town...

with lots of neat places to visit.

 

One of my favorite stops is always Wendel's Bookstore where they claim to have a great selection of

only the best and most interesting titles. 

We checked to see if they had two particular cookbooks that might fall into that category.

Bingo!

They were somewhat hidden on the shelves though...

so we made sure they were a little more visible!

Today Fort Langley is a small village of 3,400 people.

But it is also known as the birthplace of British Columbia...

and is home to the Fort Langley National Historic Site...

a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Somehow I have managed to live nearby all my life and never paid a visit to the old fort.

 We decided it was time!

If you ever visit Fort Langley...

be sure to include a tour of the Fort Langley National Historic Site.

It is not often that one walks through a museum where everything is out in the open...

rather than behind glass.

Adjacent to our campground was a trail which runs for miles along the river.

Posted signs advised us to watch for bear.

We watched...but never saw.

The river...once the hub of the fur traders...

now serves as a playground in the summertime.

 

Though we saw swimmers swimming...

and jumpers jumping (off of bridges)...

we stuck to biking and observing.

Across the river was another gravel trail that we checked out.

It is called the fort-to-fort trail...

and connects Fort Langley to Derby Reach...

some 7 kilometers away.

Biking is fun.

But food is funner...

so it seems.

One of the girls' favorite camping foods are the campfire cinnamon snakes.

You don a Pillsbury Doughboy apron (optional)...

and open the can of Pillsbury crescent rolls.

It seems they find opening the package as much fun as making the treats!

The crescent rolls are wrapped around a roasting stick...

over a layer of foil...

and roasted over the open fire.

Once they are golden and cooked to perfection...

they are brushed with butter and rolled in a cinnamon/sugar mixture.

So good!

Now let me end with one of our camping-food-fiascos.

The girls remembered that we popped Jiffy popcorn over the campfire one year...

and wondered if we might try that again.

So off we went to buy some Jiffy popcorn.

We could not remember how we did it last time...

but soon figured out that the wee handles on the Jiffy package were too short.

So we attached the popcorn to a roasting stick with Duct tape.

Duct tape may be good for many things...

but not near a fire!

It soon melted away.

Next we used the longest tongs we could find.

The girls were very patient in holding the popcorn above the flames...

but after half an hour with no popping happening...

Grandpa took over.

So ended our popcorn experience...

in a ball of flames.

After all that waiting...

we had no popcorn.

I had popcorn twists in the RV...

but they declined the offer saying that was just not the same.

Maybe we will perfect our campfire popcorn method for next year!

We are back from camping...

and on to new things this week.

Though we never saw a bear along the biking trail...

we spotted one this week...

in a most unlikely spot...

a few feet from where we were strolling.

Next post!

 

 

gramping...

Camping with grandchildren...

or gramping.

And that is what we were up to last week. 

It used to be a simple matter when we only had two grands.

Two girls the same age...

who liked to share a bed and everything else.

We took them with us in our RV for a night or two every summer.

Then there were more...

and they all wanted their turn.

So now they come in shifts.

We set up camp close to home...

Bridal Falls Camperland.

The youngest ones came first.

 

Since we have a 'no diaper policy'...

it was a day camp only for Lucy.

Let's just say that she was not a happy camper when she left with her parents that night!

As for Micah and Maggie...

they spent some quality cousin time together.

We hiked through the woods.

They pointed out things I had never seen before.

 

They found centipedes...

made fern salads and moss soup...

...and jumped from boulder to boulder.

Though there were playgrounds and a swimming pool...

...the hill was more fun than anything!

All too soon their 'gramping trip 2013' came to an end...

and the next two arrived to find their beds in the RV.

Ryder and Ranen are both seven.

There was not a dull moment with those two!

We played ladder golf and Bocce...

swam and hiked...

ate hot dogs, s'mores and walking tacos.

We even tried making camping ice-cream...

but that required more patience than we they had!

And we all slept well.

And what's a camping trip without a trip to the candy store?

We had a good time at Camperland.

They weren't too eager to leave.

But there were two more campers waiting to take their spots.

Gramping 2013...to be cont'd.