Tag Archives: moving day

September 17, 2026

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Today was moving day. Time to head back home. I have some students to teach, and I’m going to bet Dan will have some garden work to do.

First, though, coffee, showering, packing (easy peasy when you do “COO” — Carry On Only), and a bit of wandering. Our flight wasn’t scheduled until after 5:00 PM.

When we were ready to fly, so to speak (or write), we headed downstairs to see if we could have one extra hour of time in our room: that would allow us to leave our packs there as we spent a bit of time out and about.

Sure enough … one extra hour and we were set! So off we went, in search of “just coffee” where we had coffee and scones. We just couldn’t resist. I was being extra good and had a savory scone. Dan had blueberry. I think that means I win.

After that we thought to wander in a direction we hadn’t gone. We were surprised to see these homes (or whatever they are used for now) among all the skyscrapers and modern buildings.

And then … um … well … we encountered a fire in an alley, some people clearly a bit out of sorts, and some questionable establishments. I suspect if I’d researched I would have found this was an area to be avoided.

After that we just figured we’d go back to our hotel and veg a while. We did more reading and relaxing until it was time to check out.

From there we took the train to the airport. It was a short walk to the station, and once we realized we couldn’t tap on with our watches we managed to get in. Dan used the credit card first (the one we normally use for travel) and it wouldn’t let me tag in with the same one. I wonder if they’ll ever realize more than one person has the same card?! No biggie — I just used our other travel card. We managed to get seats (gotta love the “save for disabled and seniors” seats that were actually empty for once). About thirty minutes later we were at the airport.

Security was a breeze. Global entry made things easy too. Then we went to the Maple Leaf Lounge and … surprise, surprise … we lounged. And ate. We had at least two hours to take it easy.

After a bit of food (a chicken wrap, cole slaw and guacamole … yes, a bit of a funny mix) I busied myself with reading and searching for that perfect sling bag (realizing the one I am using is just a bit too small).

Dan had thought he saw someone eating ice cream so I went to look around. Nope, saw no ice cream at all (probably a good thing) but I did see Nanaimo bars. (Probably a bad thing.) Being as those are Canadian I think I was obligated to try one. Begrudgingly, knowing I owed it to Canada, I took one to our table. And I ate it. All. Because I’m good that way.

But YUM.

After a rather long time (getting to the airport was so quick) we went to the elevator to then get to our gate. As we were in the elevator we received a text: we had an hour and five minute delay. So back to the lounge we went, and had something for dinner.

About an hour later and off we went. Then we had the joy of waiting longer before they boarded (they had said 5:50 boarding and we didn’t board until 6:05. Clearly these people don’t know about me and TIME!!

When we got to our seats we were pleasantly surprised: while we were in the first row of our section and thought we’d have no under seat storage, we actually did. Nice!

When we finally started taxiing (close to 7 PM) it was quite a long journey. On the way I saw two coyotes out in a small grassy area quite close to the plane. Then I spotted a heron. Apparently this airport is known for some wildlife.

Our flight was pretty uneventful. It was nice to be able to see outside for a change, so I took a few not-so-great iPhone photos.

And then we were over the Bay Area.

Back on the ground it again took a bit of time to taxi to our gate, and then we were asked to wait if we didn’t have a connection to make because forty-seven (I think) people did. I think nearly everyone — perhaps even 100% — who had no connection waited while others raced off the plane. (I’m always happy to have direct flights and we are fortunate in that that is nearly always the case.)

Then it was the drive home, hitting one extremely slow spot due to the five lanes narrowing to two, but home did eventually happen. No unpacking tonight (it’s just too darn late!), but it’s nice to be back in our big bed. Sleeping on smaller beds is a challenge for me. I’m picky that way.

Goodnight!

September 14, 2026

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The alarm went off at 7 AM. Time to move on, but first it was time to shower, dress, pack my luggage, and clean up the house. Oh, and have mediocre coffee.

At nearly 10:00 AM (the checkout time) we said our goodbyes. What a wonderful visit we had, and getting to spend a good amount of time with Erika, Stewart, and their sweet kiddos was a real treat!

Thank you, Ruth Ann, for including us! 🩷

Then Richard drove Diane, Dan, and I to a new city. Or, really, he drove Dan and I to our next destination … he and Diane were continuing on. (Thank you, Richard and Diane, for the rides and hospitality.)

HELLO VANCOUVER!

(The photos above are through windows — thus the odd colors.)

Our check-in time wasn’t until 4:00 PM, but we assumed we could drop luggage off and wander. It was about noon when we checked in and not only did they have a room for us, but they upgraded us! I had originally reserved a room with two double beds because that was the cheapest route, so they did give us two rooms now rather than a king size bed. As Dan said, we should have thought and asked if they had a one room place with the large bed. Oh well, too late! We also were given a bottle of wine and two chocolates. Sweet! (Literally, when it comes to the chocolates.)

Two rooms with a Vancouver view, plus wine and chocolate:

After getting settled it was wander time. We had no plans for today, so we just headed out. We knew we wanted to find a bite for lunch, but otherwise we didn’t care what we would do. While I’ve done a lot of research for the next trip, I did very little for this one. So it’s a bit of a mystery trip, I suppose.

We walked a short bit and wound up eating lunch at a “whatever” place. Then a quick cup of real coffee!

We walked down to the water, right at the train station, and then walked through that station.

We did the obligatory gazing at the Steam Clock. Quite the tourist stop.

We then ended up going into an actual souvenir shop — we wanted some Canada caps for our next trip. (Gee, I wonder why?!) Those were purchased and then it was back to the hotel. Passing by the park that had this memorial, I noticed it seemed to be a spot for some rather sad looking men. I think it’s most likely a spot for drug addicts, but maybe I’m just being “judgy”. There do seem to be a number of homeless here, but that’s a big city for you.

Back at the hotel I continued writing this entry and someone else napped. I’ll let you figure out who that might be.

Okay, okay … then I, too, just might have dozed for a minute or two. Maybe.

After opening my eyes — surely I wasn’t really sleeping?! — I mentioned that we could do dinner at the one place nearby that was nicer, but maybe we’d wait and do that tomorrow and do Original Joe’s, which was located right below us. In looking at the nicer place, though, I saw that tonight was the only day that allowed us to get a reservation earlier and dine inside. So that was the deciding factor, and we went off to the Blue Water Cafe, which was a whopping eight or so minute walk.

We were seated and our server came and chatted for a bit. When he heard we were from California and made a bit of our feelings clear about the state of our country he talked for quite a while. It was pretty funny because he said he wasn’t going to talk about politics but then could barely stop. Needless to say, he thought a particular person in power was nuts, but was clear that he only felt bad for those of us stuck in our circumstances. I won’t go on and on (contrary to him!) but it cracked me up that he “wasn’t going to talk about politics” and proceeded to several times when he came to our table.

We ordered the sushi appetizer and, sadly, I neglected to take a photo but the sushi was wonderful. Then I ordered the halibut and Dan ordered the salmon and … well … YUM! Our server saw me take a photo of my meal and offered to take a photo of the two of us, which you can see between our two plates. (Obviously … hardly needed to tell you that, right?) The fish is brought in daily so it was incredibly fresh.

We had a lovely time. Food was great, and I’m glad we could make it work. Our next two dinners (for we only have two more here) will definitely be smaller and less costly, but it was fun to have this treat.

We took our little walk back to our hotel and here we are, stuffed but happy. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Goodnight!