Friday Dec 22 travel day
Friday Jason worked, Rachel went to school, and Meggan had the day to pack our stuff and finalize presents and travel plans. When Jason got home, we packed the car, stopped for pizza, and went to the bus stop. We knew our flight was delayed 40 min, but wanted to get the earlier bus just because the airport might be busy. A bit rushed, we shuttled stuff from our car to the bus stop in the cold. We had 5 large bags, a car seat, and each of us had a backpack... Not our lightest trip! Rachel took a nasty spill and hit her forehead on the sidewalk as we rushed to make our bus.
Our original departure time was 9pm, but our actual flight left at 10:55pm. Rachel didn't fall asleep until 10:30pm but then slept on the flight. We landed at about 1am. It took a LONG time for our bags to arrive and we snagged a wheelchair for free to help carry our bags, since the carts were $5. Rachel slept in the carrier on Meggan's chest for a bit while Jason struggled to get our 5 bags and car seat on to the car rental bus shuttle. It took a while to get our rental car. We weren't able to add Meggan as a second driver. We eventually got an awake Rachel into her car seat with all 5 bags and drove out into the pouring rain.
We arrived at our hotel at 4am and Rachel, for the first time in her life, refused to sleep with us in our bed and begged for her travel crib, which she slept in until our wake up at 6am. We had breakfast at the hotel, drove to the ferry terminal, and got on the ferry without concern. The 8:30am ferry landed in Sidney, BC at 11:10am. During the ferry ride we ran around, tried to read, and Rachel had a huge melt down while we forced her to get dressed. She then fell asleep on the ferry floor, totally exhausted.
At about 12:15pm we pulled into Uncle Jeff and Auntie Janelle's driveway and joined them for their open house all afternoon. Rachel slept in the carseat for a while and then enjoyed playing with her cousins Teagan, Griffin, and Cooper. We caught up with old friends before Pops, Uncle Tony, Auntie Adrienne, and cousins Ella and Benson joined in.
Day 1 and 2 of our trip were complete, and we happily laid down to sleep!
Highlights of the next few days include:
- seeing the Woolly Mammoth at the BC Museum
- hanging out in downtown Victoria
- Christmas morning with Jeff, Janelle, Teagan, Griffin, Cooper, Pops
- Nana making Rachel a Raggedy Anne doll with matching dress
- Christmas dinner with awesome food made by my aunt Jocelyn and seeing the Bjornson gang, Eric, Jo
- funny and awkward family photos at Nana's house on Dec 26
- seeing how well my grandmother (GG) is doing - she will turn 91 this year!
- visiting with my old friend Megan Smith at the park while Jason and Ella played pirate ship
- seeing family dance on Wii
- watching Canadian Junior hockey games with Tony and Pops
- Jason got to go on an awesome run with the Penticton buttercups in the fresh snow
- seeing our Penticton friends, including Amber Dearin, running crew, and Caithy and Sean
- seeing Dana and Robin and kids and spending a thrilling New Year's Eve playing ipad pictionary with them as we tried hard to stay up until midnight
Travel notes
Although it was way cheaper to fly into Seattle than into Vancouver or Victoria, it was pretty tiring. On Monday the 31st, we drove 5 hours from Penticton to Vancouver. On the 1st, we drove 3 hours from Vancouver to Seattle. Returned the car with great service from Alamo. Shuttle to the airport. Watched planes with Rachel at the beautiful Seattle viewing area. Flew 2.5 hours home to Denver while Rachel was awake for the whole flight. Waited in the cold evening Denver air with car seat, tired child, 5 bags for a crowded bus. 1 hour bus ride to bus station. 10 minutes of dragging all of our stuff and a sleepy cold Rachel to our car. 20 min drive home in the cold car.
Next time we go to Canada will likely be in August, with two children and possibly only one adult. I hope we can save enough air miles before then that we can fly directly in and out of Victoria.
All in all, it was lovely to catch up with dear family and friends. Our Canadian crew is a hugely important part of our world and it's hard not to see them more often, but this was a great quality visit.
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