The Wedding

June 24, 2017 - Saturday

Verna & Lorne

@

Saint James Catholic Church

while waiting for the Bride Cathie and her entourage to arrive

The Groom Rob and his entourage

were waiting by the altar

The Wedding Ceremony

was officiated by a

Catholic Priest:

Fr. Edmund Vargas

The Groom + The Bride

~V~

My daughter and I getting ready for the

Wedding Reception

@

Delta Hotels

Me and My Husband

Bro-in-law Romy & Sister Emmy

Parents of the Bride

Tam, Lorne, Rose and L.A.

Tam, Lorne, Rose and Verna

L.A., Rose, Tam, Ty, Lorne

Here we are enjoying the night of dancing after a hearty dinner.

Best wishes and Congratulations to Rob and Cathie.

May you love, trust and respect each other and  don't hesitate to seek advice

when you need it.

Nostalgic Moments

 

At the "Atrium" Delta Hotel lobby with the fortune plants background reminds me of our family's fortune plant planted beside the gate of our house in Philippines. Well, I am feeling nostalgic seeing those fortune plants because I also remember having those leaves used to adorn the wedding car or bridal car that drove me to the Church on my wedding day wayback 1991.

 



So here we are, thinking that the bridal entourage is here at the lobby and we are late for breakfast. We waited for a while.

While waiting, my daughter and I took turns taking photographs at the lobby and at the pool.

 

 Such a beautiful swimming pool they have here. The waterslide is under construction at the main Delta Hotel so if anyone would like to swim then they can use this pool. Whatever!

 

Only my brother-in-law Romy  arrived with Patrick and he and my husband Lorne talked for a while. Anyway, we had our breakfast , buffet style. We met two friendly Filipinas namely Leonora and Marsha who worked there at the restaurant. They are pretty chatty, charming and easy to get along with.

It's nice to see so many Filipinos working at Delta Hotel. It feels like being home away from home.
There are too many Filipinos working in Calgary and that's a good thing because employers preferred the service of Filipinos for their business establishments knowing they are hardworking with pleasing personalities. My husband Lorne is Canadian but he is a hardworking man too. Too versatile to ever be mentioned for his great skills as an employer and as a manager-landlord.

Am I Really In Calgary?

 (((Tan tan tan tan ))))) to the tune of "Close encounter of the third kind!" That's the kind of feeling when I saw this picturesque view. Yes, we are approaching the main city of Calgary. Yeeha?! I didn't see anybody wearing pair of boots or cowboy hats.

Then the tall skyscrapers! Beautiful. However my husband do not like being in that area. Remember he is an outdoorsman, he loves nature not skyscrapers.  Not that we don't have skyscrapers in Philippines and in Vancouver city. But the downtown area of Calgary looks like Texas. Just kidding.

We stayed at Delta Hotel (affiliated to Marriott Hotels). It's nice being booked early, we were given the best rooms to stay. The air-conditioning unit is awesome in a hot weather on summer time we all feel the same way when it's hot, we need something cold. But before that, we unload our suitcases, bags and other belongings. Bellboys to carry our suitcases? None! We carried our bags, suitcases, etc. from the lobby to the elevator to our rooms. There's a ready pardon message that the hotel is under construction and the management apologized for such "dust."

Taking a dive or plunge to their most coveted pool and waterslide? Forget about it. That too, especially the waterslide is under construction. What??????

Feeling kind of upset about the unexpected my daughter and I stayed inside the room and just turned on the TV. Well the TV didn't fail our expectation they have OMNI Channel with our favorite comedy-drama " The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop.

While we were watching the South Korean TV series, I remember that the time in Calgary is one hour ahead of our time in British Columbia.

 We had our dinner, at the Bar (lobby of Delta Hotel) and met my sister and her family, the bride and groom's family and friends.

The next morning, had our first brewed of hot Starbucks coffee. There's no breakfast at the main building of the hotel, we have to order breakfast at the "Atrium."

From Banff Here We Go

 Wow! The Rocky Mountain High! The longest mountain ranges in the world. These succession of mountains can be seen or visible through the naked eyes from California, British Columbia to Alaska.

 I had seen a black grizzly bear, small sized bear along the sides of the highway and this time around there's that peculiar animal hidden through the post. What do you think, is that a mountain goat? I would like to see a moose. Where's the moose?

More stop-over. So many road constructions along the highways. We were too patient enough to wait. So many vehicles at the back of our vehicle who waited patiently too. We listened to the music. mostly songs of Kathy Perry and Drake being played on the radio. Then CBC News radio gets through the airwaves.

We have reached border of Calgary, Alberta at about 9 AM, the weather is clear, normal and cooler temperature than most expected. We passed by so many double drum-bridge (looks like a pair of spectacle shaped actually).

 

With the presence of map and GPS device who will get lost in Calgary?

 

We are too early for booking at the hotel so we went on sight-seeing tour at Banff.

 

We are lucky to have found a parking space despite the busyness of this place. It is a beautiful city with cooler weather temperature at summer time. We went for a walk and see the many structures, buildings and chalets you can only see in countries such as Austria and Switzerland.

Guess what? The hotel room rate here per day is costly! The cheapest rate is $350/day hotel room rent which we can't afford. lol. We walked and spent few minutes for window shopping along the long arcade and saw advertisements on realty. Houses, too many beautiful house for sale price ranging from over million $$$$$ dollars. One older woman yelled at us and said, "buy a couple!" We just laughed at her. Hey too many birds on the trees and on the ground. It seems those birds are not afraid of people, they also walk on the sidewalks and on the streets. Weird eh? Pigeons do that when they are fed they can be that kind and tame not afraid. But for those cute birds of chickadees, finch and starlings on the ground? Hmm, I found it so strange. The local people are feeding these birds (literally birds) from the way they behave. Unafraid of people! They walked on the sidewalk and do their thing there. I didn't shoot photos of those birds because saw these locals feeding them by the bench.

After I spent $64 worth of souvenir items we moved on to continue our journey. I would like to stay here in this beautiful, clean city but it's costly to stay and live here. You have to be a millionaire to enjoy the lavish lifestyle of this place. maybe I will stay here for good if I won the lottery or keno but sadly we're not that rich so wake up! I know it's not proper to boast around while on vacation but after 19 years working this is the first decent vacation that my husband had in 19 years. Besides, my purpose is ONLY TO SHOOT PHOTOGRAPHS. I'm not supposed to buy anything but I like those Banff T-shirts so I bought them for my children. I am not into bragging. If I want to brag I will join the Fort Bragg!! Just as what I had written before the area is a small site for those who would like to see countries of Austria and Switzerland in a glance. One of the best tourist site. remember BANFF is considered NATIONAL PARK OF CANADA.

OMG! We can't find the moose on the highway and look at what we found here...BIG MOOSE! Can we take this moose home?

The Revelstoke. A Name Hard To Forget!

 Our travel continued and passed by this old bridge before Revelstoke. My husband mentioned something about this bridge which link to something else. Did you know that I suffered hearing loss several times while on this journey? It's crazy! I was hearing impaired for one minute to at least 1 minute or less... frequently. Then my hearing returns after I yawned or tap my ears. It's kind of weird right? But that's natural occurrence during the long driving from the mainland highway up to the elevated regions of British Columbia. It's the high altitude kind of situation and the strong winds that gets in to our vehicle every time I opened the windows.

We stayed at Super 8 Motel for the night. We can't drive no more because we are tired sitting and husband tired of driving and exhausted and we have to stretch our legs, most of all we have to eat dinner. We had our supper at Dennys restaurant and what a small world, a Filipina waitress works there. She is charming and chatty with great personality. She told me that Revelstoke is a very quiet place to live. It seems quiet alright from the way it is situated inside the mountain ranges on all sides of the city. But this time around there are too many tourists, bustling with at least hundreds of tourists to thousands maybe just to visit the "Last Spike?" I don't know.

I had a good night's rest after having a warm bath. I was thinking of the swimming pool located at the lobby of the motel maybe my daughter and I could take a plunge but I was too tired to do that. There are young kids swimming with their mom. Good for them.  Super 8 has free Wi-Fi so you can use your computer, laptop or tablets. But then I was exhausted to use my computer- notebook.

 Breakfast: I always need a hot brewed coffee first thing first in the morning. Without it I'll be cranky for the rest of the day. My husband already had his first coffee and at the lobby of the motel, there is that special nook for breakfast. I was waiting to be served when my husband said it was a "self-serve" service. Anyway, he made waffles especially for me and my daughter.

Super 8 Motel's Breakfast Nook is simply nice, clean and tidy. The management is keeping their place in proper order.

 Here I am waiting for my order of waffles while having my first cup of hot coffee with cream.

Thank you my dear for this early morning breakfast!

After breakfast, my husband paid for our stay at the front desk clerk and off we go for another long drive to the mountainous, rugged terrain of this region.

At 6:45 AM We had reached The Golden, Roger's Pass and after three tunnels we had passed along the way, so many stop signs and flag stops to slow us down on the highways

Road constructions everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!

Shocking!

 This is when I opened the window of our vehicle and turned on my digital camera wide open to the majestic view of this very huge mountain. The strong current of wind, cold and brrr....it's really cold. My face is cold, my hands are cold! It's only 3 degrees Celsius, for God sake!





We are at Roger's Pass at 7:05 AM, June 23, 2017 and I don't wanna miss this sublime epic so I took more quick shots and closed the window of our vehicle before I freeze (not frozen yet) thank God. So beautiful this huge mountain. A mountain I only happened to see on National Geographic Magazine and I was seeing it with my own eyes.

The Last Spike - National Historic Site

 I was here before in the year 1992 together with my husband. This is my second time to visit the heritage site of the "Last Spike" together with my husband and daughter and it's good to know that there's improvement in promoting the site of the first start of Canadian Pacific Railway which features also a tribute to the Civil Engineers who surveyed and supervised the construction of the railway from 1876 to 1885.

 Tam, you nailed it!

 You nailed it again!

 You think it's the last spike? There'll be more spikes ahead. Well, who knows?

 And I nailed it too!

It's so good to see so many people in a historic site like this one. I have seen so many asian people who pay (paid) attention to this very nostalgic one of a kind museum of art and what more realistic here is you get to feel the aura and the emotions put into place of what happened so many years ago. Did you know that there was a "movie" produced about the asian people (mostly Chinese) who suffered, injured and died in the construction of the Canadian railways.

 

My husband Lorne and I on our journey to BC up to Hyder, Alaska and a picture of me at the "Canadian Northern Pacific's LAST SPIKE in 1992."

 

 

 

WE, the living are fortunate enough to see, touch and feel maybe perceive what else is there for us to know. Knowledge is power! We should be grateful, thankful for their valor, patience, virtue and noble sacrifices.

The Amazing Bridge

Out from the BC Ferry and unto the highway in the fast lane, my family continued our long journey to Calgary through long driving. We passed by so many buildings, bridges and archways and what a remarkable way to see the world's widest bridge, the Port Mann Bridge which measures 2,093 meters and it is 163 meters in height. Port Mann Bridge is the Arch Bridge in British Columbia, a 10 lane cable-stayed bridge opened to traffic in 2012 and second longest bridge in North America. It is located in Surrey, Coquitlam B.C.

 The photo images of Port Mann Bridge was captured by my camera so can't really get a proper eyeview of how beautiful this bridge, have to borrow a photo image from Google down below.

Photo source: Vancouver Sun- Google Images of Port Mann Bridge

The long driving continues up to Merritt, a small city with less population compared to Surrey, less population compared to Campbell River. We stretched our legs and I yawned and yawned until I was able to hear the talking, the noise. My ears was clogged of air (pressure of some kind) and I was hearing impaired while ordering burger and fries from A&W outlet. We got back to our vehicle and my husband turned on the stereo and listened to Nelly Furtado's song "I'm Like A Bird." Another sudden stop when husband saw a huge truck where a vendor was selling fresh cherries parked on the side of the road. We parked our vehicle on the right side of the road near the fruit stand away from the traffic. Guess what, the vendor was so handsome, he's a look-alike of Tom Cruise. lol

At about 2:21 pm Kamloops. My husband bought gas $90.00 (the 2nd time refill) Cheaper gas here compared to Campbell River's gas $124 price tag full tank. Drove by Chase, Shuswap Lake and the area where my husband's family had a camping site/resort with cottages which his parents bought after they sold the logging camp in 1972. They owned the resort only for few years and sold it.

We had reached the Houseboat capital, the city of Sicamous with population of 31,000 people. Then reached the next stop where too many tourists in busloads. What could be the attraction eh?

To be continued...