Ok, I'm stealing some time out for a post because I realize tomorrow will never come if I leave it for then. Now for a family reunion recap...I should say part 1.

The reunion for us began a day early when the Soles from FN stopped in on their way down. We had a pleasant evening of tea, and conversation followed by a day of us packing all of and our belongings into the van. We crammed ourselves in, and left at around 7 am on Wednesday, after waving good-bye to Mark who was unable to come, intending to catch a 5:20 or 7:30 pm Ferry to the Island. All in all, an estimated 13 hour trip, which includes ferry time, but not pit stops. It was a good drive down, I've always taken some sort of pleasure in highway driving, and 97 south is a new road for me. This was my first time driving to/in Vancouver, as I've only flown in before, and that only for connecting flights to the States. The drive was nearly uneventful, excepting a wrong turn at Albakerky (Albuquerque?). We turned towards Lillooet, instead of stay on highway 97, until we ran into highway 1. The road signs in the southern half of this province are very lacking, and I suppose my navigational skills needed some refreshing. :D So we ended up taking the higher portion of the Sea-to-sky-highway (99) until we were able to get onto our more desired route, highway 1. The view from 99 was awesome and awe inspiring, demanding a respect for the posted speed limit, as the narrow, winding highway runs right along the Fraser Canyon.

We made it to the ferry in "time" (4:30 pm) for the 5:20 ferry, but were put into a ...loong liiine of caaarrs.., and didn't make it on until the 9:30 ferry (which was also running late). We later learned that the abnormal swelling of the lines was due to a fire that had occurred on one of the ferries earlier that day, and also that two other sets of relatives made it onto the 7:30 ferry, for which we were ten cars too late in line. We learned a few valuable lessons, such as never relax in a ferry line-up, because it could move at any time, even when the ship hasn't sailed in yet. So after taking 1.5 hours to get across, and another 1.5 hours to drive to Uncle Dave and Auntie Becky's, we arrived at the fashionably late time of 1 am. This is not an unusual arrival time for members of our family, albeit, we have been striving to change this habit since the days we were born. :D After such a looong day Belinda and I chose not to disturb the repose of all of the other campers, choosing rather to park the bus on the road that runs past Auntie Becky's bakery. We chose to throw the seats down for the whining/crying/extremely tired/half asleep bunch of kids, and to roll out a couple of sleeping bags into the glass in an obliging field, to climb in, and to sleep as though we were on feather beds--- at least until the kids took turns crying, and the dew set in. But regardless of these little hindrances, we slept well, and you should have seen the stars at 3 am, wow.

To be continued..hopefully.

Jode