Canada Pix & Leaving New York

31/08/06
We are currently en route to Boston and will be there later today (Monday 28 August).

We have had a hectic few weeks with our journey to Washington State at the end of July. From the time we hit the ground in Seattle it was very busy. Don & Glori Watts along with Bill & Victoria McCurley were in Seattle to meet us on arrival however as it turned out our flight was 5 hours late so we missed the planned dinner by the time we got to the hotel at around 2 am they had had dinner and were tucked up in bed!!!

However the next morning after a quick breakfast and visit to the Music Museum (cannot remember the name of it. Collection is owned by Mr Allan of Microsoft fame) we departed Seattle on Don & Glori’s helicopter headed for Vancouver Island. Don had arranged our clearance in advance so we didn’t have to attend to customs formalities. All very exciting given it was my first trip to Canada!!

It took about an hour to get there via the San Juan Islands – a very attractive area – and we landed in someone’s back yard which was a hop skip and a jump from the little boutique hotel which they have arranged called the Sooke Harbour Country Lodge (one of the 1,000 places to see before you die). It was a delightful setting on the ocean side of Vancouver Island and all the rooms had a different theme complete with their own fire place and lounge area. If you were brave enough which we were not (as it was cold) you could have taken a bath in the private Jacuzzi outside on the balcony.

The food was absolutely delicious all made from fresh produce – some from their own gardens. After dinner that evening on our way back to our rooms our path took us pass the kitchen where we could see some of the staff still working diligently making chocolate. Of course we had to taste the product and get our chocolate fix!!! A very memorable stopover!

Next morning after breakfast Glori, Victoria and I jumped into a taxi and headed for Victoria. The chaps hopped into the helicopter and flew over to Victoria as Don was concerned that this would be a safer option not having as much weight to uplift out of the paddock.

The afternoon was spent in Victoria having a look around the town including lunch plus a little shopping for the girls. Our hotel was the Delta Point Hotel right on the river. It was a fabulous property with great views over the city.

That evening we agreed Chinese food was the order and then a little dancing at a great bar. We were all looking like we were a bit over served by the end of the evening which meant it was a fun night!!

Next morning after breakfast we jumped back into the helicopter and flew back to Seattle. Had we had to drive that same distance our journey time would have been around 8 hours each way – certainly a great way to travel!! Clearing customs for us was a little more involved than our American friends however no problems whatsoever.

We went back into Seattle and had a great lunch and Don, Glori, Terry and I flew back to Kennewick by helicopter and Victoria and Bill kindly opted to drive the car which the girls drove over on the previous Thursday.

The journey by car east to Kennewick, which is where these guys live, is about 3 ½ hours by road and about little over an hour by helicopter.

Don stopped over at Suncadia which is a massive resort area and where they are building their cabin. We landed by the private Golf House and took us by golf cart to have a look at their cabin which is not quite finished yet. All 7 bedrooms that is and could easily be a Lodge or Boutique Hotel. It is situated on a private golf course only accessible by the residents who own properties in this complex. There is an small Hotel or Inn in the complex as well which has its own golf course. The Inn is fabulous – much like a rather oversize home – and has 18 rooms. Don and Glori have this complex booked for Don’s 50 Birthday party which at that point was in two weeks time.

Our helicopter ride gave us an amazing overview of the countryside starting from the Seattle area which is very green – following the Columbia River and then into the Desert area to Kennewick.

Don and Glori have 4 children – Donnie (married to Meghan), Derek, Jonathan and Mariah. Jonathan and Mariah live at home. Donnie and Meghan got married last year and we went to their lovely home for a drink one evening.

Glori was happy for me to be chief cook and we had many lovely evenings in their home around the dinner table with their children and friends. Fortunately this home was sufficiently large to accommodate us in every aspect complete with a fabulous swimming pool, which we didn’t get around to experiencing unfortunately and a lovely housekeeper Narusya who made our bed and did our washing!!! Like staying in a hotel really!!

The next 12 odd days pretty much was working with Glori to help organise this birthday Party for Don which was about 160 odd people. However, naturally we managed to fit it plenty of social outings at their Country Club and number of restaurants plus an excursion to Walla Walla to the wine country. They do make some very good wine – all of which can be also be found conveniently in Don’s home cellar downstairs!!!

Whilst Don was busy with his business and Glori and I were organising the party Terry spent his time playing with Don’s toys – a Harley motorcycle and his Mercedes sports coupe 500HP and watching movies in their home theatre!! He was a very happy chappy as you can imagine! Don even very kindly carted the Harley up to Suncadia for his party weekend so Terry could use it!!


During our stay we had a great evening at Bill & Victoria’s home – great spot and beautiful home which backed onto a Golf Course. And we met other friends, Steve & Casey Henegar, who took us out on their lovely motor boat on the Columbia River and served us a fabulous dinner – we felt very at home here!!.

We also had to opportunity to look over Don and Glori’s massive business operation. They grow vegetables on a total of 20,000 acres of land which is all irrigated from water they pump from the Columbia River. They have a processing plant as well as a packaging and storage plant in two separate vicinities. It certainly was an impressive operation and they are just in the process of building an organic dairy set up which will run 4,000 jersey cows!!

We went up to Suncadia Inn on the Thursday before the party on the Saturday. Most of their family and close friends stayed at the Inn. The remaining 100 odd people stayed near by at Cle Elum. What a fabulous area.

On the Friday evening everyone went to Roslyn and “The Brick” which is one of Don & Glori’s favourite haunts. Apparently it has the oldest liquor licence in Washington State. This is where you don your cowboy gear (if you have any which we didn’t) and do line dancing. However they played other music as well. It was a fun evening and good way to get the social atmosphere going for a lead up to the party on Saturday night.

Staying at the Inn was a special treat for us – being new best friends – as we were able to mix with all the family and their close friends in a most amazing environment.

The party went off with a bang and everyone had a fabulous time. The Suncadia staff did a magnificent job of executing everything that we had organised in such a professional friendly manner. But the highlight was the entertainment which was a Seattle based band that Don had hired and we organised, as a surprise, a ‘Jimmy Buffett’ impersonator from Las Vegas. Both were outstanding. The impersonator, Barry, produces and performs in his own shows in Las Vegas which includes, renditions of Jimmy Buffett, Neil Diamond, Neil Young etc. He got a replacement so he could come to Washington State to do this gig. He was a really nice person as well and in fact was keen for Terry and me to come to Las Vegas to visit. Maybe some other time?

We returned to Kennewick on Sunday for a couple of days and then Glori took us to back to Seattle by car and we flew out on Tuesday evening, arriving Wednesday back in New York. A fabulous and very memorable time was had by us in Washington State.

On our way back to Stratford and the boat we stopped in Greenwich to have a brief lunch with Jay and Ellie Urstadt and say goodbye to them as they were leaving the next day to go on vacation in Iceland with their family. It is always fun to spend time with them, albeit short, and we learned that Jay, who had participated in the Golden Oldie Swimming Games in California 10 days before, came 4th in his category. Pretty good for 78 years old!! He is looking forward to the next games which are in Perth and then he said he will be in the next category which will be 80-85 years and he will be at the low end and beat the pants off the older ones!!! Hopefully we will see Ellie and Jay in Europe next year!!

Carol Ann and Thomas (who joined us in Savannah for a few days) from Atlanta joined us on Friday and we all left Stratford on Sunday for Block Island in Long Island Sound. We had a very nice dinner ashore that evening at a country hotel.

Then it was onto Martha’s Vineyard on Monday for a few days. We all went ashore to have a look around on Wednesday. You wouldn’t believe the place we anchored, Vineyard Haven, was a dry area - can you believe that!!!! So we quickly took a taxi to Edgartown on the other side of the Island so we could find a restaurant that served wine – no problem there!

What an attractive area – lots of very old houses/buildings. We had the pleasure of having Steve and Casey Henagar’s (met in Washington State) son Tom and his fiancé Meghan, on board for dinner on Thursday evening. They have been living in Martha’s Vineyard for a few years. What a great couple and we so enjoyed their company.

Wednesday evening our guests departed and we left there Thursday heading for Buzzards Bay and to transit the Cape Cod Canal instead of having to go right around the Cape.

As we were heading up the Bay it was raining and we were feeling a little cold (22C – we are use to 30 odd degrees) so we decided to stop over at a little Cove short of where we were intending to stay the night.

I am now thinking about dinner and we were discussing what movie we would watch and then we heard a voice saying ‘hello is there anyone there’???

It was a man Eric and his 7 year old daughter who rowed out to – yes to invite us ashore at their parent’s house for dinner!!! The family had worked out what flag we were flying plus even what the name of our boat was!! How about that!

So we had two wonderful nights ashore with the Johnson Family – about 20 of them. What wonderful fun people they are and we so enjoyed their company sitting around their dining table enjoying great food and wine and wonderful company.

Leonard and Patty (the parents) are keen cyclists and in fact are off to Europe this week to cycle across France with a group of friends. So hopefully we will catch them in Europe some time soon.


We are on our way to Boston. We left Connecticut a week ago and travelled North via Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard – all idyllic places and fun to experience!

We travelled through the Cape Cod Canal yesterday which saved us a lot of travelling time.


We will stay in Boston for about 4 days. We have Don Ray our friend we met at Gino’s Restaurant in Manhattan coming up to Boston to join us tomorrow. A late lunch is planned. He is staying with a friend one night but keen to stay with us one night as well. We would like to be in London by end of September as it will be late enough weather wise for us and then have Terry’s Birthday celebration on the 30th in London.


Then we will head up to Maine to catch up with friends we met in Acapulco, Rem & Taylor before heading across the Atlantic.

We plan to depart in about 10 days 7th or thereabouts of September. We would quite like to be in London for Terry’s birthday on the 30th. We will see?

The journey continues……….

Take care

Love Lois and Terry – The Jolly Rogers