Sad to say ...it's good bye to Vancouver

OFF TO THE FARM AND SHOPPING FOR VALUE

Saturday dawned absolutely beautiful. One of the things I wanted to do on this trip was to take my friend of 30 years, Kathleen, off to lunch, for some ‘just us’ time.
So early afternoon we headed to the Richmond area of Vancouver to London Farm which is a restored old farmhouse and gardens run by volunteers. It has tea rooms set in what would have once been the drawing room and a small shop selling teas and hand made soaps etc. We had afternoon tea and then went out to the garden. Saturday was their annual plant sale day that they use to raise money for the restoration of the house. There was an old barn in the traditional red painted style and angled roof, plus a working Victorian garden. Richmond is very flat and in fact the land is below sea level and so the area is criss-crossed with dykes in case of floods. But it was a lovely area and with the chocolate box houses I’ve mentioned before it was very quaint and calm.
Family and friends came by Saturday night and it was great catching up. Wine and roast pork and lots of laughs. It was a real celebration of 30 years of friendship, and how that friendship has become a true family.
Sunday, another gorgeous day and we really didn’t want to do much. It was so nice just to sit rather than play tourist, so out came the wine and the visitors arrived and we did some more chatting. But we did hike it over to Value Village, a second hand shop that sells everything. Fun to browse. Even got myself a ‘leather’ style jacket for $10.00.
Monday was in fact Victoria Day and not BC’s Anniversary day as I thought earlier. Apparently this is due to Canada being part of the commonwealth, but I’m not sure if in fact Quebec celebrates this day.
All in all we have had a wonderful time in Vancouver, doing some touristy things, but generally just kicking back and relaxing after our long drive north. Now, tomorrow we head off east along the bottom of British Columbia and then into Alberta which will take us about 2 days to drive, and then down in to Montana.
Weather reports are at worst -3 and at best about 31, so it’ll be an interesting drive.

Happy days everyone.
Catch u tomorrow when we find our bed for the night.
Jane and gang