Our first trip in May to the lake (May 3) was two weeks after our last. We got away in good time in our new car, leaving at 6:15. Susan spent a little time driving the car, between the toll booth and Kamloops. She just screeched the wheels on the car a little before stalling in the gas station in Kamloops (new to driving standard). We arrived at about 11:00 (no visitors there this weekend, but Glen's parents were still up and so we had a good snack before heading off to bed). On Saturday we were impressed to see the finished deck. Due to it raining all weekend we weren't able to get the painting of the deck done. Glen and Glen's mom worked on putting in a base to the new stairs down the front of the house. Glen's dad finished the wiring for the heating (nice to have heat). Susan spent the day stuffing insulation into the window frames (she didn't want it drafty)! Glen spent a little time with a sledgehammer breaking up the cement that was originally the shower in Lee's shed. Amazingly enough there was a hummingbird that liked to come and watch as the sledgehammer hit home. We named him Crackle (a green). A couple of other hummingbirds who weren't as bold were also around. The red one we named Snap and the one with blue we named Pop. On Sunday, Susan finished off the rock path and levelling, Glen installed vapour seal in the attic of the cabin. As if the rain of the weekend wasn't enough (with a somewhat reasonable Sunday afternoon just as we left), we ran into close to blizzard conditions again after we passed the toll booth and until we got near Hope.
The next weekend (May 10th) we got away at a pretty good time, about 6:30. Since Glen was in the middle of a cold, we took Baby (the Honda) so Susan could drive more. We hadn't been in a major rush as we had heard all afternoon that there had been an accident on the Trans Canada that was tying things up. Boy were they right! It was after 8:30 (almost) 9:00 before we got out of Langley and on our way (once again we ate in the car). We got to Glen's parent's cabin at about 1:00 in the morning. Finally a weekend with nice weather! On Saturday, we (Glen, Glen's mom and dad) painted the deck and stairs. Susan spent time putting wall sealant (primer) on the bedroom walls. That evening for dinner we went out to the lovely Quaaout Lodge for mother's day (and father's day) dinner. Everybody enjoyed themselves (including Glen who was taking Buckley's to help his cough). On Sunday, we moved the furniture back into the house, and spent some more time painting. Our trip back to Burnaby was thankfully uneventful.
On May 17th we got away a little later (at 7:30). The idea was to leave a little later since it was a holiday long weekend (Victoria day) and the roads were bound to be busier. We took Lougheed highway through Mission before coming out to the Trans Canada in Abbotsford. The Coquihalla was surprisingly busy, with an estimated five minute line up at the toll-booth at ~10:30 at night (with 4 or 5 lanes open too)! Since Glen was tired upon reaching Kamloops, and Susan wasn't into driving (the standard Jetta), we decided to stay at Glen's parent's place in Kamloops (Glen's parents had left on their cross Canada road trip on Wednesday). Early Saturday morning we got up and on the road, having breakfast at McDonald's. As happens all too often on long weekends, there had been a bad accident just west of Chase at about 8:00am, with someone killed, that closed the highway. We did the "standard-old" trip along the dusty country lane between Pritchard and Chase. When we arrived at the cabin about 11:30 the car sure was dusty! The new kitchen cabinets that Lee had finished putting in sure looked good. Lee had played a little joke on us installing highway signs on our front yard path. We immediately got to work, moving things around in preparation for painting (primer at least) the living room. Soon after we received an unexpected visitor. Gail Miller stopped by to see how we were doing (and to drop off some gifts for niece Jessica). After Gail left, we cooked some hotdogs and had lunch. That afternoon we went down to Glen's parents cabin (on this day they were in Winnipeg I believe). While there, we refilled the birdfeeders and birdbath, did some laundry, watered the plants and lawn, and washed the car. Once back at our cabin we got to painting ("primering") the living room. By dinner time we were about half way done the front (including the 12' high sloped ceiling). We also had setup the beds in the bedrooms. That evening we used Glen's parent's axe to cut some wood (it has quite a loose head) and started a campfire. We roasted marshmallows until well after ten. Finally, the night of May 18th we actually slept in our own cabin (first time for 2002 even though we'd been to the lake five times already this year)! On Sunday, we went back to Glen's parent's cabin to put out some more birdseed. On the drive down (a mere 5 minutes), we talked to Glen's parent's on their cel-phone. They were at Manitoba's Grand Beach. Don't let the pictures/reputation fool you, they say it felt more like the top of Sun Peaks in January. Once at their cabin, we were surprised to find two hummingbirds on the deck, but quickly disposed of them. Another round of refilling the birdfeeders and doing a little more laundry before going back to our own place. That afternoon we finished "primering" the living room. After dinner Susan spent some time practicing faux-painting. She tried a few variations, sea-sponge on, "plastic bag on" (modelled after "rag on") before deciding on the "bag on" technique. The actual application to the wall is left to a future date though. We watched the James Bond movie Live and Let Die before we fell asleep. Susan says it's one of her favourites of the older Bond movies (it's one of mine too). On Monday, spent some time staining the kitchen cabinets. We also did a few other things like hang our name sign (1 2). We walked down to Glen's parent's cabin for one last birdfeeder refill (no downed hummingbirds today). While we were there, it started to rain. First time all weekend. It actually rained quite hard. We hung out a while, and in a lighter moment, we walked down past the marina. We were going to see if Lee was at Bob and Hazel Smith's. He was purportedly to be there doing some work on their basement. Just as we reached their place we saw him driving out over to the marina. Since it was raining he offered to drive us up to our place in his truck. Lee was staying at our place in his shed, even though he had finished the work at our place a few days before. We turned him down, rather enjoying our opportunity for a nice walk before our long drive back to Burnaby. Admittedly, a few minutes down the road we started to wonder whether we should have taken him up on his offer. The rain really started to come down heavy. We shortcut through the golf course, but still reached home soaking wet. After spending a moment drying out and talking to Lee, we left to come back to Burnaby. The trip thankfully was uneventful.
Our next weekend to the cabin was right the following, but this time we had a guest! The first of the year! Our old friend Kim Barchard was visiting from Boulder City Nevada. For a change (and more stringent time constraints on Kim's part), we got away on Saturday morning at 7:50am. We drove straight through to Kamloops, where we stopped momentarily to pick up a light fixture that had come in at the Lampost. After stopping at Arby's for a snack, we made it to our cabin at about 1:20 in the afternoon. We were very impressed with Lee's work on the doors that now cover the entrance to the attic. After the usual "settling in" period, Glen, Susan, and Kim all took a hike down to Horseshoe Bay (near St. Ives). We were amazed at how high the water was, having been there a couple of months before when the beach was much bigger. On the way back, we stopped off and talked to Gary and Donna Miller, who gave us a truckload of raspberry bushes (and a ride back to our place in their truck) that we transplanted to our place. That evening we started a fire (and Glen used his new axe which we had brought) and roasted marshmallows. Sunday morning while Susan did homework, Kim and Glen went for a hike to Evelyn falls, and a hike up above the falls. Susan received a visit from Auntie Jen and Dale while Glen and Kim were down at the Marina. Leaving at about four, we had an uneventful trip back, dropping Kim at her parent's place in Whonnock. A good weekend was had by all.

back to April 2002 continued in June 2002