Orientation Day

Up fairly early and have continental breakfast at the hotel. Getting a bit nervous as it is almost time to hit the road and get to the campground.

We get the hotel to call a taxi. Don't forget it has to be a VAN taxi. Sure enough - a car pulls up. NOPE - we asked for a van. Waited a bit more and then the van arrived. It is only a few minutes to the campground and our stuff gets dumped on the ground.

OH MY GOD - the mosquitos. Well better get the bike assembled.

There are a few people already here so we had a quick chat and then open those boxes to see whether we could assemble the bikes. Well I was having a major problem right from the start. I managed to get the back wheel on - that was great. That is my big fear - having a flat on the back tire and not being able to get the wheel back on. But what is the problem with the brakes????   I can't get either the front or the back brakes on. Yikes - this could be trouble. Fortunately there is a bike shop in Fort Langley which is just a small walk away. So we assembled what we could and then walked the bikes to the shop. That poor guy was inundated with minor issues and he spent the entire day getting us set and ready to roll. Cost me less than $40 for him to look at the brakes and fix them - well worth it!!!!!

Anna making a GREAT attempt at reassembling her bike

We left the bikes and on the way back we HAD to stop at the quilt store - A Quilted Stitch. Just a short walk off the main road. What a cute store. Definitely if you go to Fort Langley, we highly recommend a stop over here. My plan was to find a pattern here and then I would find fabric along the way to make the pattern. What to choose - what to choose? A great selection of fabric, a great selection of patterns. I also wanted to get something that I had never seen before. A big quilt - a small quilt - something else???????   I did find something very appropriate for Anna. Her goal was to have ice cream every day. I found a pattern that was based on different flavours of ice cream. I eventually settled two patterns - one is a fabric bracelet (Hey Lisa - we will have to make these together) and the second one was a postcard pillow. PERFECT. Picked up some ORANGE (of course) fabric and an orange button. Could have spent more, but space is limited.

Anna in front of The Quilted Stitch

Me with my purchases

The Bracelet Pattern by Crabapple Hill

Vintage Postcard pattern also by Crabapple Hill

Orange FQ and an orange bead for the bracelet

Then off to lunch at the small book store. It was absolutely divine.

Lunch today

Lunch tomorrow

A quick walk back to the camp ground for our orientation. This is where we get to meet the group -who would be there?? where were they from??????   And get the lay of the land. After a couple of hours, we knew "everything" we needed to know!!!!!   Anna was VERY GOOD at remembering names - I had a bit of trouble figuring out who was whom.

Then back to the camp site to get my tent up. Ah - my lovely tent. Had to laugh because I saw a couple of others just like mine - only the 3 person tent, mine is 2 person tent which is just big enough for me!!!!!

I love traveling with Anna. She seems to know people all over the place. Her brother in law (Brad) came to "rescue" us and take us shopping. We headed off to a department store to pick up stuff. After people knew what we were going to get - we had a shopping list!!!!!!   Found Zeller's and they pretty much had everything we needed, except the cable I needed for the GPS. I had to fly across the mall to The Source to find the right cable. Got that and back in the vehicle and back to the camp site.

Our shopping excursion to Zellers

We bought chairs, pillows, cables, dishes (for Steve) and a couple of other things. It was pretty funny. Here we were supposed to be roughing it and we buying EXTRA stuff. But that had been the plan all along. Nothing off the plan.

A great supper and then we sat around getting to know each other and got our maps of the day and then off to bed. Ahhhhh - the joys of getting yourself organized in the tent. The gadgets started to come out - here is an amazing little speaker for the iPhone.

Speakers for the iPhone

I think EVERYONE was a bit apprehensive about what we were about to embark on. Could we do it???  How tough is it going to be???   Do we have a good group of people?????   There is a HUGE (OK - 4) contingent of people from Saskatchewan. Yeah - Saskatchewan!!!!   One from Saint John, several from Ontario, but mostly folks from Alberta and BC.

You'll get to meet them as the days go on.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!!