Warning - You are at the end of a very long blog entry about the three week holiday spent in the company of Deborah, Stephen and Nicky Verber (Richard was sadly missed on this trip)

To get the full benefit of the blog entries please scroll down to the very first item on this entry... (it's a long long way down) and read the block in an upward direction towards the menu bar... I know this is contrary to blogger etiquette but I like to break the mould .

Here are some of the dangers one encounters, when visiting exotic climes such as Alberta and British Columbia, and Deborah dealt with them like a true professional

So to the end of the holiday - should I finish with a sunset.... No no no.

This image is of us having a light lunch at Glenmore Reservoir where this holiday blog began, That is Heritage Park, in the distance. And up above in the sky Deborah and Stephen are aboard their Thomas Cook flight back to Manchester. The day was beautiful, but a storm loomed though never broke on the horizon.

Did I mention that I think I am getting smaller... that is me at the bottom of the tallest totem pole in Canada
This one requires a short explanation. John, Al and I decided to walk to an art trail in Victoria (for once we were in the right place at the right time) Well, we were not expecting the whole of Victoria to be gathered along one street... but they were. London's rush hour - eat your heart out... it's sunny, everyone was happy, and there was art on every conceivable space, shelf, garden fence... pavement... which of course is the sidewalk and road which of course is the pavement and was closed off to traffic.
Posers
So Dan is smiling again as he now knows that he is going to travel back to Nanaimo and his dearest whose family are putting up with him for a few days. He will fly back to Calgary a few days hence, to then travel on with us to Britain for Part 3 of our summer holiday. Did I mention how fortunate our children are?Wall Space
Emporium
China town
Confusing
My Place - The Empress Victoria, a Canadian Pacific Railway hotel originally

Victoria - We missed Victoria off our itinerary in 2003 - And yet I say that we saved the best till last in 2009. What a wonderful place. We had our senses seasoned... here is a taste, glimpse, unfortunately not a sound, sniff or touch of it can I give you on the virtual space I am using, but enjoy.

And these are real!
Margaret - The Butchard gardens are truly unbelievable, we didn't see one dead head or blade of grass out of place. And we didn't see any gardeners... how can it be.
Totem - face

On having to leave Bailey in Nanaimo for the rest of our holiday in Victoria... gloom

Daniel Monkey
Aliya Monkey
On being reunited with Bailey - smiles, just about, we ARE at "Climb in trees like monkeys and forget you are 50' off the ground"

The Pacific Rim National Park - I want to live there.

We all love nature art and Andy Goldsworthy has been a lovely inspiration for Aliya

Wonderfully placed hotel on Vancouver Island... location location location

John gets his own back at Wickanninish
Aliya in her element - a board walk with interpretive trail on the marsh lands - pitcher plants and Sundew .... It was fun.

From Vancouver to Manchester for Nicky

From Vancouver to Vancouver Island for the rest of us. And the enchanted forest... A very big tree and two relatively small sisters

A wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends. Our lucky children had a sleep-over at the Jacob's home in Abbotsford, sadly Michael was not home this time. Then a treat - dinner at the hotel in Vancouver after a day at the aquarium.
Now I know I am getting older and naturally I am shrinking a little but this is getting ridiculous

And at about half way through our holiday we arrived in Vancouver where we had a great time, too many wonderful photos to show you but here is a view from the hotel

I just love this shot thanks, and very well done Al
I just love this shot - thanks John

And the four lads went on a challenging hike whilst the lasses had massages on the lakeside. it was a tough morning, but they reached the snow-line and we improved our Karma

Deborah the intrepid - what balance, what daring.

A rare shot of all of us... on a board-walk through a miraculous wood. Miraculous woods, wondrous lakes, spectacular mountains, I wont bore you with all the shots...

But if one doesn't hold the pan correctly one is in danger of loosing one's finds

There's gold in them there hills... Deborah demonstrates a very laissez-faire attitude to gold panning.

The red pole site of many an activity - here Nicky demonstrates the act of reading a book whilst looking like an advert for Next -coordinates.

Smiling? A rare event - until he met up with Bailey again

Try and explain that without moving your arms, John.

Another great GF - Gluten Free meal for Aliya - The wine was for me.

And just incase you forget that we are in The Americas and not the Med.
The vineyards of The Okanagan valley

But the results are astounding....

So it isn't only john who pulls a face whilst playing photographer

You bet we did.

Did we swim in this?

Deborah should be commended for the number of challenges she faced during the holiday from holding crickets, to fully experiencing the great outdoors, to.... being in Tsunami zones more on that later...

And then there was rain... who has the best rain jacket or Kagool as they still call them in Manchester.

Art Deco - Art New-O

OK so we did see some Victorian buildings. And the architectural details were lovely.

With photo-op.s everywhere you looked. It was quite a day very hot and we were all worn out at the end of it. Plus, the Verbers had emptied the contents of their campervans cupboards whilst turning left... I am sure it had a bearing on the mood of the party.

We went to Nelson to see art and Victoriana and found powerlines.

Mining museum - Number nine

Margaret, I thought you would like to see the lovely homes Canadians create This smoky grey is a very popular colour for the woodwork and reminds me of our 6th form uniform at Stand Grammar which was "airforce blue" and I loved it.

Did I say meat meat meat! This was for Aliya and she can put it away now believe me.

At Halcyon springs after a wonderful meal. The catering here for Celiacs was wonderful, - Dan certainly has grown over the past year and what a wonderfully artistic outline he now presents. Yeh, and Nicky too!

Fruits of John's labour. He has some wonderful shots from our summer holidays

It really is Oman with greenery - as you see in this photo that I call Wadi++

One of the numerous times I shot JA this holiday.

The falls (Takkau?? - spelling) we visited while Nicky climbed The Grand Sentinel - good on yer Nix. John, Dan and Al are the 3 (mini - atures) on the left of the image... it is a v. high waterfall.

Our first look at the colour of the lakes around Alberta - due to the Rock flour from the glaciers. This is John's lovely fish eye shot at Lake Louise but if you want the classic view go to

And here we are with the vans after driving them across town. They are big aren't they?

This one is for Dad (Godfrey) showing the old Snooker Hall at Heritage Park and D&S after one of their big losses on the Table.

Welcome at last to our very very long blog entry for the summer holiday 2009 (and this is just the first part - here are a few images selected from our 200 Zippabyte hard drive they will show you what we have been up to over the summer. I must commend John for his excellent and unrelenting camera work which he only paused to explain geological features, drive the camper van, empty its yuk tanks or create masterpieces on the BBQ. Thank you thank you thank you for a wonderful holiday John.

For the more arty and fantastic shots that John created please be patient, and wait till he has watermarked them, then I will add a blog entry especially to show you some of those.