Monday, August 2, 2010

We were packed up and on the road by 8:30 this morning. We zigzagged our way over to Hwy 2 via some secondary roads. It was cloudy again this morning with light sprinkles of rain here and there as we headed north to Edmonton. We stopped in Red Deer at a Flying J to fuel up...diesel was the cheapest we had seen it in Canada...80.9 cents per litre. I picked up a couple of sandwiches in the store and we had a quick lunch before continuing on the road.

We arrived at our destination in southwest Edmonton around 1:30. We had reservations for a couple of nights at Whitemud Creek Golf & RV Park. The roads leading into this rural spot are very bumpy and there was fresh oil on the road...this did not impress Steve. The RV Park is basically a large field with RV spots but it is close to Steve’s Uncle and Aunt’s place and we were going there this afternoon for a family gathering to celebrate Uncle Gord’s 69th birthday. It has full hook-ups but without cable...sheesh! At least the roof top antenna gets us a few local channels.

We took Uncle Gord up on his offer to come pick us up and he arrived just after 3 p.m. It was really a fairly short, direct drive back to their place, taking about 20 minutes. Esther had been working hard in the kitchen all afternoon...yum....but she said Doug (her son visiting from Vancouver) had helped. Soon the rest of the clan arrived including Shirley as well as another couple who are close friends with Gord and Esther.

We had a great time visiting with everyone and playing ‘Red Neck Golf’ and Croquet.

Before we knew it, Uncle Gord was cooking up chicken on the barbeque and it was time for dinner. What a lovely spread of great food!

And then birthday cake to finish off.

After a great evening, we were chauffeured home by Gord and Esther and after big hugs, we said good-night. We will see them again tomorrow night for a quiet dinner together.