Bowen Island ~ an excellent adventure...

Bowen Island is located 12 miles northwest of Vancouver...at the entrance to Howe Sound.  It is just a short, relaxing twenty minute ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver.

We heard that it was a great destination for a day trip...and had been planning for several years to check it out.

The forecast was for sunshine on Wednesday.  We found some friends who were more than willing to join us on our jaunt...and we packed our bikes onto their truck and struck out on our adventure!

We rode the ferry as walk-on passengers...and paid $1.50 extra to bring our bikes...a really good deal for our friends since they manage to share a bike! 

What wasn't entirely clear before our arrival at Bowen Island...was that it would be somewhat like pedaling a bike in San Francisco.  Think hills!

And a map would have been helpful...since we did a few unnecessary hills while we were at it.  We ran out of gears a few times...and did a little pushing on occasion!

Oh...and then there were even a few optional hills...that those on a tandem bike just had to try!

We had a leisurely ride around Killarney Lake...where the leaves were falling as we cycled...and where the hills were few and far between.  Whew! 

Bowen Island contains 13,000 acres of treed land...mostly Cedar, Hemlock, Arbutus, and Douglas Fir.  We found the perfect spot for a picnic...but had somehow failed to pack a picnic lunch.

No worries...a few more hills to climb and we found ourselves at the perfect little place for lunch...a place where the locals suggested we go.  It was a good call.

Quaint shops...another hill or two...an ice-cream cone for the road...and we were back on B.C. Ferries bound for the mainland.

It may be mid-October, but felt like summer out on the top deck.   

We picked the best of days...for our most excellent adventure!  Oh...and the best of company as well. 

 

Have a great day...

a cultural experience...

We have been hearing about it for a long time...

and a few weeks ago a new cultural centre in our community opened it's doors for the very first time. 

It seemed that if I wanted to see the inside of the building...

I would need tickets to an event.  

Why not?

On Friday night...we joined a sold-out crowd to hear the Fabulous Fourever.  

Do they look vaguely familiar? 

They sounded almost exactly like a similar looking group did on eight-track tapes...

in the car stereo...so many decades ago.

They were good!

And since the 'John' of the group was celebrating an important birthday on the weekend...

there was birthday cake for all during the intermission.

 

We passed on the cake...

...and chatted with the friendly usher instead.  

He is usually seen at sports events...

in shorts and a golf shirt...

but was willing to don a white shirt in order to hear a good concert...

for free.

Oh...he happens to be my BIL!

We enjoyed our first 'cultural experience' at our new facility...

and look forward to taking in more art, theatre and musical productions in the future...

without having to drive a great distance.

Enough about culture. 

Today's plans are more about exploration and exercise! 

the bread from the journey...

So it seems you all want to hear the story...about these two gals...and their loaf of bread!  Well...here it is.

It was August 31st...and for some time we had been looking forward to our first ever 'Mennonite Girls Can Cook' get-together. It was the first time we would all be meeting in person. Marg and Kathy were our social coordinators for the event...and everything was planned for the entire summit. We were all to meet at the airport...where we would greet Charlotte and Betty...who were flying in from the prairies. As the time approached for the plane to arrive...we all realized our social coordinators were missing. We figured they must be up to something! It seems they had decided to come to the meet-and-greet party incognito.

Those two old gals sitting in the arrivals section...knitting, chatting and reading a German paper...were none other than Marg and Kathy.  They had a loaf of bread with them...bread for their journey, we supposed...and we noticed after a time that there was a bite missing from one end of the loaf.  We had a good laugh at their expense...as did a few others at the airport that day! 

Marg and Kathy did a fabulous job of organizing our 'summit'...and we are all left with so many good memories.  They also gave us many reasons to laugh...and just before we said our farewells, those two old ladies with their loaf of bread made another appearance   They must have thought they could make the journey home without their bread...because I spotted it in the garbage can after they left.

Thinking it would serve a purpose one day, I retrieved the loaf from the trash...and it has been drying out in my pantry since that time. 

On Saturday I received an e-mail from Marg...who was away on vacation for a few days.  She suddenly realized that the turkey in her freezer would not be ready for roasting on Monday...and was wondering if I could go to her place and remove it for her.  Breaking into her garage proved to be quite simple, armed with the necessary information.

Oh...and just in case she hadn't thought of bread for the stuffing...I left her a well-dried loaf next to the turkey.  I'm thinking we have now seen the last of that loaf of bread!