Vancouver and Cancun Friends

For our first full day in Vancouver, Kathleen had freed her morning calendar and following in Ben’s footsteps, volunteered to show up the lighthouse that we had seen from the seawall walkway the night before.  We decided on a picnic and packed some sandwiches in Tony’s backpack.  Off we went to find the lighthouse at the end of the trail at Lighthouse Park, 40 minutes from Kathleen’s.

The weather was beautiful and Tony directing our hike set us immediately off onto the road less traveled.  Kathleen mentioned that this didn’t seem like the trail she was used to, and right she was.  This trail was a little challenging even for me, much less an 82 year old.  By the time we had gotten to the end of the trail, we realized we had taken one of the side trails not leading to the lighthouse.  We made it full circle and found the easy path down to the lighthouse.  I was a little concerned Kathleen thought Tony was trying to kill her, taking her down the adventurous path!  However, she was a great trooper and came through the experience unscathed. 

 

 After a picnic lunch, we came back to the house to be met by the afternoon’s entertainment-Catherine!  Catherine took us to the Cleveland dam and saved me from another road less traveled experience.  Luckily Catherine convinced Tony to drive to the trailhead, rather than starting at Kathleen’s and walking down a steep path a couple thousand feet or so, my knees are still thanking her!  We had a great view of the dam and a mountain formation call “The Lions” and the stroll through the forest was quiet and serene. 

Kathleen, Tony and I met Chris, Christina, Catherine, Ian and Ava at a lovely restaurant on the water, The Beach House.  Kathleen proceeded to tell the crew how we tried to kill her on the trail, but that she did survive.  Going through some pictures later in the evening we found pictures of her adventures on the Camino de Santiago in Spain three years ago.  The trails there looked as bad as the one we had her on.  She’s an amazing woman, walking the 600 miles by herself over a 4 week trip.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course the highlight of the dinner was getting to spend it with friends. 

 

However, an additional bonus was to be entertained by Ava.  She is such a polite and delightful child.  For some reason, I just can’t seem to take enough pictures of her, so humor me as I indulge in the Ava show! 

 

Ava in motion, thanks Samsung Galaxy 4-who needs an iphone!

 

She's got the whole world in her hand!