LONG HAUL

Just back today from a return trip to Vancouver to drop my kids off at the airport. Their last full day in Canada was spent doing some shopping in Penticton. My daughter Kellie was particularly impressed with Wal-Mart and considered the makeup a steal. They also bought last minute gifts for home as well as a few odds and ends for themselves.

My son David stood out as he wore shorts and a Cronulla Sharks shirt. No one in Canada wears shorts and short sleeves at this time of year. They all looked at him as if he was crazy and he continually proved it by opening his mouth. Jessie was a little better though she couldn't abandon her penchant for wearing thongs.

We had a really nice farewell dinner on the Monday night and the big winner was the dog who scored a nice piece of steak and assorted vegies when Cameo dropped her plate on the kitchen floor.

Final farewells were spoken on Tuesday morning and we headed off for the four hour trip to Vancouver around lunchtime.

The weather was pretty miserable for the first part of the trip and we encountered dense fog on the first part of the journey over the Rocky Mountains. Not that the kidds really cared asa they were watching Lord of the Rings on the on-board DVD player and I had to drive along listening to Gandolf and battles with Orc's.

We encountered sunshine for about 80k's and then as we drew closer to Vancouver the fog and rain set in again. I have been to Vancouver 7 times now and on all but one occasion it has been raining. It maybe a pretty city but the weather is abysmal.

We checked into a hotel near the airport and had 6 hours to kill. I gave the kids their choice of dinner venue and not unsuprisingly they chose fast food. A & W to be exact. This Canadian chain is an institution here and pride themselves on their family of burgers. Hence they name their burgers Mama Burger, Papa Burger, Uncle Burger, well you get the drift. They also serve root beer in huge frosted steins. I have to admit A&W are my favourites as well.

Afterwards we went to the movies, a huge cinema complex near the airport that houses 18 cinema's. I have never seen so many people at the movies before and there was a Burger King as well as several other food outlets inside the cinema. We saw The Blind Side which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

It was back to the hotel time for a quick shower and off to the airport. There was a huge line up for the China Airlines flight to Taipei. The flight from Vancouver is a brutal 13 hours and then they have a ridiculous stopover of 17 hours stopover in Taipei before a 9 hour flight to Brisbane. Whoever came up with this schedule needs to give themselves a good, swift uppercut.

I couldn't stand seeing them waiting around the airport for that amount of time so I had to book a hotel for 2 nights to give them somewhere to put their feet up.

As always the fearwells were hard, I halways have a degree of guilt when I leave my children or they leave me. That said I was happy in the knowledge that all three said that they had the time of their lives whilst in the USA and Canada and I think at least one of them will be back fairly soon. It was a bit of a sad haul as I drove back to the hotel alone at 2330.

The trip back to OK Falls was much quieter today, no distractions or fights. Just traffic and miserable rain for the first part of the drive and thick fog over the Rockies. I arrived back at OK early in the afternoon to spend the rest of my birthday with Tammie.

So the house is so much quieter now and I have to start planning my next adveture. At the moment the only thing on the radar is the Vancouver Olympics in mid-February.

Stay tuned.