Wednesday, May 21, 2008

A Few Photos of Our Vacation Time

It was a sad, teary moment as I watched the plane turn on the runway ready for take off carrying our friends back to far away Mississippi. Two short weeks earlier we had not yet met in person... now we were family. Benji, Tammie and their daughter McKenzie had spent two perfect weeks with us. The weather was wonderful, both the week we spent in Whistler and the week we were at our home.

What a whirlwind two weeks we enjoyed together .... yet at the same time the most relaxed enjoyable vacation I have ever had.

What a privilege it was to show off our beautiful province of British Columbia to people who were in Canada for the first time in their lives.

We showed them the contrasts in our backyard.. ...... snowy peaks......

pleasant green forest trails.....
and the ocean viewed from the ferry to Victoria.
Of course we ate together.... We celebrated Mother's day lunch after church .....

Tammie's birthday.........
and loved the Gelato Ice-cream at a Vancouver shop..... only 218 flavors.
We saw lots of wild life...... including 5 bears.... we photographed the baby bear below, hoping his mother wasn't lurking near by.


and we laughed .... and laughed.......

Benji realized his life long dream of meeting the Sasquatch !!

We laughed at the man carrying a whole pig down a Vancouver street ....
and we saw this white dog in a white convertible when we came out of a Whistler Market Place. He was a beautiful dog but ohhh... how he made us laugh. He refused to acknowledge that we were even there ... his whole demeanor communicated his wish that we simply be gone. "If I don't look at you , I can convince myself that you don't exist!"



This Sniffle Station made us laugh... but what a thoughtful idea !! Strategically placed to accommodate that unavoidable runny nose in cold weather.....


We also made time to serve. After Benji and Tammie planned their 25th Wedding Anniversary year with a trip to BC, doors opened for ministry. I will tell more in the story I am saving for my next post .... but here are a couple of photos depicting opportunities God gave them.
Benjy singing in our church.


and in Gateway church the next Sunday. (I was thrilled to hold this little Sudanese baby. The girl standing beside me is the baby's mother's cousin. She arrived in Canada only two or three weeks ago. )

Everywhere we went we were surrounded by the beauty created by God's hand. We were thrilled looking up to see the awesome mountain views but didn't miss the little things we had to bend down to enjoy. Tammie was especially impressed by the buttons and the huge tulips.



We enjoyed the wild beauty of the Othello Tunnels. We did not know until we spoke with a Chinese tourist looking for the Tunnels that Rambo was filmed there.

We also saw amazing architecture built by man. The Parliament Buildings in Victoria, the famous Empress Hotel as well as innovative designs of homes in Whistler.





We loved the water falls.

Bridal Falls.

Shannon Falls



Brandywine Falls

Nairn Falls



On the last Saturday we wanted to take them boating on Lightning Lake in Manning Park. To our surprise that was hardly possible. The lake was still frozen solid and snow patches still on the ground. The ground squirrels were out but must have been surprised that many of their tunnel entrances were still covered by snow. McKenzie enjoyed feeding them... they were sooo hungry!

The day was warm, (26' at the Lake and 34' a short distance away) warm enough to be out in shorts and t-shirts and to get a burn. We all did something new ..... had a picnic beside a frozen lake and snow a couple of feet from our picnic table.

The memories we have .... depicted by some 1,300 photos between us ..... will be processing for some time. We are all so aware of God having orchestrated every detail of our time together and we are so thankful for the gift He gave us.
It is hard to come back down to our normal day to day routine. Our two weeks were an experience we could easily have become accustomed to !
But mountain peaks are not places you can live .... we can only enjoy the high for a time and let the deposit of the experience give strength for the ordinary days.

14 comments:

Lovella ♥ said...

Wow Julie, what a treat to enjoy photos on your blog. I loved seeing all the things you did together. I'm just amazed at how much you were able to do. How wonderful.
I'm so glad that it was all you had dreamed it would be.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

I love the scenery photos. They make me want to go to B.C.

Anonymous said...

Great photos, Julie. You crammed a lot of activities into 2 weeks!

We fell in love with BC when we were there a few years ago, but we didn't get to spend enough time there to see and do everything we wanted. Someday, we'll be back...

Lavinia said...

Julie! You're back! You were missed!

I just finished printing off another blog's recent posts, to catch up on over my lunch hour, and now I'm going to do the same to yours....excited to have such good reading material while I eat my lunch...I'm printing yours out on the colour printer..I see a lot of pics here that I need to study....

Welcome back, Julie, can't wait to hear about how the visit from your friends went....

Best regards,
Lavinia

Lavinia said...

Hi Julie; I read your printed posts on the way home, and they were so uplifting. I'm in awe of the beautiful scenery of British Columbia; I had no idea there were so many waterfalls. This holiday of yours was so splendid...it all came together...the people, the love, the good times and interesting places. I enjoyed all the photos, especially the cute dog who unfortunately ignored you!

Demara said...

Oh it truly looks like a glorious time you had, refreshing and ooo so beautiful!

I can't wait till I'm up and running around again, that's for sure! And I can't wait till I meet with the Surgeon...soon

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Wow...life doesn't get much better than this! New friends exploring old familiar places, seeing them with you with fresh eyes. I'll bet you will miss them and their Southern charms. I know you don't get to travel much yourself, but I do hope one day you will get to take a peek at the world of the South as well.

Julie said...

Thank you! one and all for your kind comments... I value you as my God-given friends ! and am moved by the love I feel from you !!!

James Janzen said...

Sounds, and looks, like you had a GREAT vacation. All those activities and all within a couple hours of home. We do live in a beautiful part of the earth. I look forward to your future posts about your last two weeks.

James Janzen said...

No Bridal Vails Falls?? Too close???

Carolanne said...

Wow! Great photos and great memories too!

Sounds like you all had a fantastic time and just looks like so much fun.... :)

Judy said...

We truly live in a beautiful place! We spent some time last summer being local tour guides for friends from Switzerland...and visited some of the sdame spots with them. It sounds like you had a great time together!

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Julie, what a blessing! Thank you for sharing a bit about your vacation and your new US friends (now family) with the rest of us.

Nicki said...

Wow! Sounds like you had a great time. Looking through the photos made me feel like I was there with you. You really have a gift with words. Thank you for sharing it with us. I'm glad that God offering you protection from the accident and that he was able to give you new experiences in your own backyard to remind you (and us) anew of his wonderful provisions. Picnicing beside a frozen lake and snow in summer clothing - amazing. Great to have you back on line.