Weather Travels

I have been back from the lower mainland from my Christmas holidays for over a month now, and wasn't particularly excited about writing about the biggest impact on the holidays - the weather. After my last post, I woke up in the morning, and decided to take the journey to Victoria. Though there still was a snowfall warning, I was betting on it not amounting to much.

Here I am waiting for the bus to the skytrain...



Nearly 6 hours later, I arrived in Victoria, where snow was still falling and a snowfall warning was still in place. I spent two nights and day with Katherine and Marcus, where I was truly "royaled." We had a lovely feast...



In the meantime, Ryan was travelling from San Francisco to Vancouver to join us. The snow had winded its way south to Seattle. Ryan and Julie (who was going to her family near Seattle) first took a plane, that couldn't land in Seattle. When they were told that there would not be any flights for days, they decided then to take the car, and buy chains when they got to the mountains in Oregon. Sleep first. When they checked the roads, they knew it was an impossible task so they called the airlines. Standby perhaps? Again they set off the airport, with their combined total of 8 bags. Some angel in a SW uniform found two seats. And they arrived in Seattle.

Vancouver was still a few hours away. Josh, our secret Santa, had the day off and went to pick Ryan up in Seattle - a surprise for me. Indeed there was a surprise. I was travelling back from Victoria...

and planned to meet Aimee at her work where Josh was to pick us up. But the Interstate traffic was huge, and Ryan and Josh were delayed.

So, Aimee and I went to the Skytrain station I had just left, and made our way to Coquitlam Centre. At the end of that day, I had travelled by train, charter bus, city busy, car, and ferry.

And what seemed like a grand idea several weeks before, ended up feeling like a miracle! We were together for Christmas!

And still the snow kept falling. The next day, Ryan and I did some grocery shopping while Josh and Aimee were at work...



Ryan, a think-ahead kinda fella, brought his Sorels - mine were in my closet at home. And so, I followed the trail he made up the hill. Christmas Eve day. Ryan and I baked and cooked and tried to find the Christmas movie on 56 channels that would grab us.

The next morning, we spent with the Winnipeg part of the family, via the Web...


We feasted and hung out and had great fun. And the snow continued to fall.

Today, the sun shone, and I noted the longer hours of daylight. The air was warm. Having lived in the mountains for many years now, I am not easily conned. I know that winter is not done with us.