Sunday, August 1 to Friday, August 6, 2021 (A Road Trip to Alberta! Part 2)

Sunday morning Gord and Esther took us out for more exercise...they are very active and knew that we enjoyed walking, hiking, and biking. We left their place, walking through local neighbourhoods...there is a great network of paths connecting neighbourhoods in Edmonton...eventually making it down to Terwillegar Park and onto one of the many trails...

We walked to the Terwillegar Park Footbridge that crosses the North Saskatchewan River...The 262 metre long footbridge links Terwillegar Park to Oleskiw River Valley Park on the north side of the river. The unique, minimalist profile of the first ‘stressed ribbon’ bridge in Edmonton provides a striking river valley crossing.

The Terwillegar Park Footbridge is the second longest stressed ribbon footbridge in the world. The longest is in Escondido, California at 300 metres. Check out what a "stressed ribbon footbridge" is plus some other interesting facts about the bridge by clicking the link above.

You can see by the sky that it is quite smoky...

There are people out on the distant sandbar...

It is a huge off-leash dog park. Also look at the people in the water down there!

Of course, we had to get a selfie!

A paddleboarder in the strong river current...

Once we crossed the bridge we turned around...

We were back home just under 2 hours later, having clocked 5.75 kms/3.5 miles and 8504 steps...a good morning!

After showers, it was time to relax for the afternoon! Heather and Yolande came by and spent a few hours with us...so good spending time with them!

Steve and Yolande had a game of Bean Bag Toss against Uncle Gord and Heather...

After dinner, we went down the street to pick up a couple of  bikes. One neighbour, in Gord and Esther's bike club, is lending Steve one of his bikes. Thanks Harold! Another neighbour, Donna (who was also on our Africa trip) lent me her bike...awesome! We're all set for a bike ride tomorrow morning!

Monday (August 2) morning we headed out on our bike ride shortly after 9:00. The only "busy street" part of the ride was getting across Terwillegar Drive, a major thoroughfare...but after that, we rode a combination of quiet residential streets and paths (as I mentioned earlier, there is a great network of paths connecting neighbourhoods).

Gord and Steve took a gravel trail with a view of the Whitemud Creek Ravine, while Esther and I took a residential street route...

We met up with them at the other end of the gravel trail...

Beautiful paved walking/biking paths!

We stopped at some Story Boards describing the history of the River Valley

(If interested click on photos to enlarge)

A favourite stop along the way...Waves Coffee House...

We were back home about 3 hours later, and just shy of 23 km/14 miles...what an awesome ride, we thoroughly enjoyed it! 

We all had quick showers and were at the Golden Rice Bowl Chinese Restaurant at 1:00 to meet Yolande and Heather for Dim Sum...something Steve and I had never had. There was a lineup when we arrived and the place must have seating for a couple of hundred! So much food and it was delicious! We'll definitely have to try it more often!

Gordon, Yolande, Heather, Esther, me and Steve...

Missing from this family photo is Gord Jr. who is in Naramata, BC...

Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing...and digesting LOL! We had birthday cake for dinner and played Rummykub....another wonderful day!

Tuesday (August 3)...and Uncle Gord's actual birthday! They took us on another short 10 km/6 mile ride in the morning. It seemed much hotter and smokier...so that was long enough!

Hard to see but the Terwillegar Bridge we crossed a couple of days ago is in the distance...

The rest of the day was spent relaxing under the gazebo outside as Uncle Gord received many birthday phone calls, cards, texts, and visits. Love this card that Donna (neighbour that lent me her bike) made...

And seeing as the Tokyo Olympics were happening Uncle Gord showed off some of his medals. He was a very accomplished swimmer in a seniors division.

The caption in the photo reads "Most improved swimmer of the year 2008 Turtles"

Friends, Don and Gweth, popped by with a card and gift for Gordon and stayed for a drink. We first met them on a trip to Cabo San Lucas/San Jose del Cabo back in late 2011...check out our blog for that trip December 4, 2011. A fun time and great memories!

After they left, it was time to get ready for dinner out. Steve and I took them on an 80th Birthday/40th Wedding Anniversary celebration at The Keg Steakhouse...

A delicious dinner with wonderful company...and a great way to spend our final evening with them!

Wednesday (August 4) we took our time as Dave and Leslie had an appointment and would not be home until later in the afternoon. We are having a final night with them before continuing on our trip home. 

So we had the car packed around 1:30 and after big hugs, we thanked Uncle Gord and Aunt Esther for a wonderful time and we were off. We are so glad we made the trip out to visit them and be here for his 80th (going on 60 😊) birthday...so great spending time with them! Maybe we should try for a fourth trip to Mexico in the next couple of years!

On our way out to Seba Beach, we stopped at a wine supply place to pick up some bladders for bottling our wine in Kamloops...Wine Kitz is apparently out of them and would not have any in until next week. We are stopping on Friday on our way home. 

Our next stop was at Safeway in Stoney Plain to pick up dinner...roast chicken and bagged salad, an easy, no fuss, no muss dinner!

When we arrived at Dave and Leslie's we were surprised to find them already home...I guess they beat us by only minutes! We enjoyed happy hour with them, followed by dinner...our last "cheers" with them for awhile...

Afterwards we went for a nice stroll...

Then sat in the shade enjoying our last visit with them...

Thursday (August 5) morning Dave and Leslie were up early with us and cooked bacon and eggs...a good hearty breakfast to send us on our way! Again, thanks so much you two...it was great seeing you! Good luck with your move next week!

There were smoky skies as we got back onto the Yellowhead highway 16 heading west...

Almost back into the mountains...

We decided to take a drive through the town of Jasper. 

Information Centre...

Jasper Skytram would be fun on a smoke free day...

Yellowhead Lake, BC...

Extremely shallow for a long ways...

We stopped at Mount Robson Provincial Park for a snack. The mountain is completely obscured in smoke...

This is what it looked like on our 2016 visit. If interested in the very scenic hike we did then 

click here...

Moose Lake is much smokier than last week...

A Wildfire near Valemount...

Fraser River...

We stopped for the night in Clearwater again...it seems to be a good almost halfway point. This time we stayed at the Ace Western Motel, a typical clean motel. It was 37C/98.6F and very smoky! So glad the room was air-conditioned! We had planned to walk about 10 minutes to a cool sounding place called Hop "N" Hog Tap and Smokehouse but with the heat and smoke, decided to just walk to the Old Caboose Restaurant that was basically in the same parking lot as the motel. The service and food was only so, so...disappointing.

Friday (August 6) morning rain was in the forecast and they were right! It was pouring as we got back onto highway 5 south shortly after 8:00 a.m. 

It didn't really last long though and it had pretty much stopped about 20 minutes later when we pulled into the High Five Diner in Little Fort for breakfast...a spot Dave and Leslie had recommended.

A popular, very cool little 50's themed diner! We both had excellent breakfasts...thanks for the suggestion!

North Thompson River...

Entering Kamloops...

Once we reached Kamloops, we went through the car wash, stopped for gas at Costco and were still a little early for our 11:30 appointment at Wine Kitz. No problem, though, they took us right away. We were due to bag our wine on July 14th, but due to our evacuation and move to the coast they were good enough to delay us until now...thanks Lindsay and Joey! 

After a quick stop at the Dairy Queen for a Blizzard...yum, good lunch LOL!, we were back on highway 5 (Coquihalla) for the last leg of our trip home.

Clearer air as we near Merritt...

We thought the wildfire near Larson Hill was a separate fire but it's part of the July Mountain wildfire...

The wildfire at  Larson Hill was burning on both sides of the highway...

The western edge of the July Mountain wildfire...

Finally the smoke is clearing as we get closer to the coast!

Nearing the Great Bear Snow Shed...

As we got closer to Abbotsford, the traffic was backing up so I checked on Google Maps...there had been an accident, so I checked for the fastest route home. It may have been faster but it sure took us on a different route! Going all of the way down to 0 Avenue and west...so we were right on the Canada/US border! Those houses are in Washington State...and there's the cement marker that runs along the 49th parallel...

It was about 3:30 when we got home...and we were happy to see all was okay with the trailer. The fridge was still running...whew! We unloaded the car and got everything put away. Such a good trip away but so nice to be back home!