Cam, Lisa, and the elusive Mike

Between now and last Wed is the longest I've been without updating my blog in a long time. It's been an exciting few days. Firstly, the title is somewhat untrue, since Mike has nothing to do with Cam and Lisa. Oh, there's a Mike that does, but he's not elusive. Well, actually, for me he has been since he's been friends with Lisa for 30 years, and I've been friends with Lisa only about 16, and yet somehow we've never come to the same party till now. Where was I?

Thursday I was feeling a bit out of sorts, and took a quiet day, not doing much, just puttering around the house getting ready for our trip. I've been driving by the Rothney Observatory for nearly 30 years now, and have been intending to drop in almost that long, since they have regular open nights. Yet somehow the timing never works out. It turned out to be a beautiful clear night, though the wind was cool. There was someone using a laser pointer to to show where various stars and constellations are. There was a replica of Galileo's telescope to look at Jupiter with, and right beside it a modern telescope of the same resolution. Even the replica gave a good image, but the modern was much better. I was surprised at how much detail there was. Lots of other telescopes to look through, and some really interesting displays. We'll have to do that again.

Friday we finished packing and we got ourselves out of the house by 11am. It's two hours to Julie's house, and she was kind enough to let us drop in. We finally met the elusive Mike! I've spoken with him once on the phone, but hadn't met him yet. Thanks for the coffee and cookies! As you might imagine it was wall to wall chatchatchat! We'll have to do that again too.

Then we drove the rest of the way to Island Lake Lodge, just north of Fernie, after a bit of a detour through Fernie itself. The road up to the lodge is a bit of a fright, but the lodge itself and the scenery around it are stunning. We got checked in just in time to make it down to the spa for our appointments. I got a deep tissue massage on my legs, and it was wonderful in a 'hurts so good' sort of way. Then we explored the grounds a bit, and hung out with our buddies waiting for dinner. The food was drool. Totally completely drool. Amazing. My steak was melt in your mouth perfect. Then we hung out on the deck and mingled and chatted. There were some people that we knew already, and a bunch of people from both families that it was nice to meet. A great mix.

The next morning, after a drool breakfast, Linda and I walked down the Old Growth Forest trail. Just a nice stroll for a couple hours, listening to a nice stream while walking through an old growth cedar forest. Very peaceful and calming. My thought was after that I'd go for a swim in the lake. I had been assured the staff swim in it daily and it's cool but not cold. So I didn't bring my wet suit. Pardon me, but it was effing COLD!! Much colder than Ghost Lake! I stood mid thigh depth, and rationalized that this was at least as good as an ice bath. I did get all wet, and swam for a few minutes. Just barely. My fingers were going numb, so I got out again, and dried off in the sun. Lunch was drool.

We had some time to ourselves during the early afternoon, so I mostly camped out in a comfy chair and watched the world go by. The view is incredible. Cam and Lisa had chosen to get married down by the lake. Here's what it looks like.


It's slightly overexposed so you can't really see the peaks in the background. If you want to see wedding shots of people you don't know, send me an email and I'll give you the link. After some more formal shots we all went back to the lodge to drink and eat little drool treats. There were about 4 or 5 different kinds and they were all drooling good. Then dinner; most people had the duck breast. We had to wait, as everybody but one person at our table got their plate, and we had to wait briefly till the last person was served. I don't think I was the only person who's tummy was growling with eagerness.

The toasts were short and sweet, with no boring wedding stories taking up valuable drinking time. Then the dancing started and a good time was had by all. We hit the hot tubs by 11:30 or midnight and called it a night. Other's closed the dance floor and the party moved to the hot tub till about 2:30.

Today was breakfast and goodbyes or see you laters. This is a seriously nice place to stay, and with the wedding package it was a really good deal for what you got. We'll be looking for an excuse to go there again. (Mike, if you're looking for a nice place to take Julie, hint, hint. Come to think of it Jase, same goes for you too. No, not Julie, Cath.)

Home again, waving at Julie's house on the way through. Nice to be home. Amelia wasn't even too choked at us. BBQ steak, corn, and fresh blueberry cobbler for supper. Life is good.