Thursday, May 30, 2019

Quick trips in May

In the last few weeks I've had the invitation to tag along with friends on their travels - a business conference in Kelowna and a choir tour in Nanaimo and Duncan on Vancouver Island.
The former provided hotel room and rented vehicle (of course I still use heated seats in a desert!) on the company dime, so that aspect was easily laid out for me.  I was pretty much left to my own devices during the mornings and afternoons, which I spent wandering around geocaching.  I didn't get very far from town itself, so was more of an urban/industrial paved environment in unrelenting heat though still enjoyable.  I've been meaning to head to Kelowna for a while to tour their multitude of wineries, and we only scratched the surface of options here on one day.  We hiked up Mt Boucherie and it seemed we had the whole mountain to ourselves that afternoon.  I got to see visit my parents and give them a pre-Mother's Day dinner at RauDZ which was recommended by the fella at the tourist office.  It seemed like a trendy yet elegant showcase of regional fare - although we all chose a seafood dish, which came from not-Kelowna.  The price was befitting a special occasion and the food was prepared and presented just right.
The choir tour was a smaller affair than last year, closer to home with everyone responsible for their own transportation, hotel and expenses.  They're saving up the choir funds for a more extensive tour next year to the Maritime provinces, and of course it's good PR to meet and hold joint concerts with other local groups who have a fan base in their own communities.'Twas a long wait and ferry ride (during which we occupied ourselves with sudokus) all for two concerts! Worth it though, the performances were great and it was good to see the friendly fellas again, I'm their cheerleader in the front row! One at breakfast told us about the Heritage Boat Festival in Ladysmith that we'd be passing through on our way south, so we stopped in there and browsed the exhibits, very engaging folks eager to share their passion and hobby.  Beautifully restored wooden vessels.  And a geocache.  We had time for a meandering puzzle cache around the cute part of Duncan, which was also where the farmer's market was and the choir concert just down the street.  Altogether is was a full day (he'd describe as "busy") but at a leisurely pace. As long as we got to rehearsal and performances on time, there was no other itinerary.
Thanks for a great time!

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