Life of Dave: The 'Peg

We did something completely out of character for us this past weekend; we flew halfway across the country for only a weekend! It was Shauna's Uncle and Aunt's 50th wedding anniversary, plus Uncle Jack's (rapidly approaching) 80th birthday. Brian and Dan (the sons) were going to be there with their families and it just seemed like far too good of a reunion to potentially miss due to something as insignificant as money (i.e., airfares). Flights within Canada are rarely as inexpensive as one would prefer, but...as they say...it's only money.

Our outbound connection was just taxi-ing in, and the snow was just winding
up again. We eventually lifted off at 9:50 pm for an originally scheduled
5:30 departure.

And as usual, we had a great trip! It actually felt longer than a mere 24 hours too. It began a bit sketchy in terms of weather, because, wouldn'tcha know it, a big snow dump was predicted on the eve of our after-work flight. We'd worked out all the logistics of leaving work at just the right times to get ourselves to YVR from opposite corners of Metro Vancouver, but the storm really threw a spanner in the works, for Shauna at least. I had the luxury of working from home that day, but Shauna had to traverse from Vancouver to West Van, then to Richmond after work. In the end she abandoned her car in the school parking lot and got a ride from a colleague downtown where she hopped on the Canada Line. Ironically she arrived at YVR hours before I did. It was also ironic for the fact that the flight ended up leaving about 4-1/2 hours late, which led us to a Winnipeg bedtime of 3:30 a.m.!

Fortunately saner minds prevailed in the planning department as we killed time at YVR. Original Saturday breakfast plans were intended to feature Clementine's at 8:00 a.m., but who are we kidding? How were we to function on four hours sleep, especially after a full work week? Shauna texted her friend Michele to re-schedule for 10:00, but we feared the wait by that time would be too long, as we had an early afternoon appointment for a Come-and-Go celebration at Jack and Gwen's church for their 50th. I don't claim to know how these things so often seem to turn out just right, but the estimated 20 minute wait for a table at Clem's turned out to be 10; plenty of time for a memorable breakfast including several appetizers. Wow, that place is good! And by the time we left there must have been at least 15 people waiting in the foyer.

All smiles post-Clementine's.

Outside Jack and Gwen's church in Winnipeg.

It's been a few years, since Brian and Brandy's wedding (the two bracketing
the group), that we've visited with the whole group in one place.

I think it's safe to say that Shauna was very happy to see everyone again (and
vice versa).

The next day, after another early morning breakfast (it really was 8 a.m. this time as Dan and Lisa had an early flight to catch) we went to see Michele's new condo on the bank of the Red River. We'd hadn't seen her new place yet and were very impressed with the 6th floor view.

A walking trail flanked by an ice skating path goes for miles and miles along
the river system. We walked north (I think) from here to the Forks and the
Museum of Human Rights. The Provencher Bridge is also visible, but on this
day it was only visible from this distance when the sun's rays hit it.

A design competition was held in Winnipeg this year to take submissions for designs of warming huts. On the day we walked on the river it was only about -5 C, but every once in a while the wind blew strong enough to make you remember that it's really the wind-chill that matters. On a windy day those warming huts would definitely live up to their name. I don't know which hut won the contest, but in my opinion it was definitely the golden Bison. Come to think of it, where else would one find a Golden Bison but in Winnipeg?

From a distance this one kinda reminds me of the Digital Orca gracing Olympic
Plaza in Vancouver, designed by Douglas Coupland. Or a mega-scale Lego kit.