Boy am I glad to be back from Vancouver....

what a trip! First of all, we left on Thursday morning (March 13th) and arrived in Kamloops, BC Thursday night. We were exhausted and needless to say very tired. We drove in a a Subaru Outback, similar in style to this one. It is very cramped in the back so I was very sore and stiff. So we stayed at the Econo Lodge, next to the Harold's Family restaurant. The Lodge was very nice.

Friday morning we hopped into the car and headed along the Coquihalla to Vancouver. We had a very difficult time finding a hotel as they required a credit card, something that neither of us have. We found a wonderful hotel called the Cassandra Hotel, right on Kingsway. We went for dinner and my step daughter and hubby went off to the Orphium, for the Choir rehearsal. I wen to go visit some friends that I hadn't seen a loooooong time.

Saturday we went out to Port Coquitlam. I lost two very dear friends to a cold hearted murderer, Robert Pickton. The were missing for a number of years 1990's to when their DNA was found on the pig farm. We stopped at the location of the old farm. Someone had torn down the memorial that had been set up their to remember the 27 women we know he killed an the many that are still missing. It was so sad, like the city of Port Coquitlam wanted to erase the memory of these women and the atrocities committed in that city on that land. My husband and I bought flowers and we left them there, one for Georgina and one for Brenda. It was a very sad moment and one I won't soon forget.

Saturday night was the concert.

The Armed Man has been taking the UK by storm since its premiere performance at London's Albert Hall in 2000. The Mass was described by the Times of London as a "firebomb of orchestral and human voices". The first half of the concert is the much anticipated premiere performance of John Estacio's The Houses Stand Not Far Apart. The Richard Eaton Singers of Edmonton share the stage with Conductor Bruce Pullan, the Vancouver Bach Choir, the Vancouver Symphony and soloists, Kathryn Domoney, soprano, Jennifer Enns Modolo, mezzo and Aaron St. ClairNicholson, baritone.

This was a beautiful and well done performance. What a way to end the day! We went back to the hotel to rest up and then to get ready to go back home. We decided to split the trip up, again. We stopped in Merritt and visited the Merritt Walk of Stars, which is really cool to look at. There are also some great murals of the many stars, both past and present, on many of the stores walls. Checkout the website. We stayed in Kamloops at the same hotel, including the same room. Hubby and I took some time for ourselves and left the step daughter at the hotel room.

Sunday we drove straight on through to Jasper, stopping for lunch, then onto Edmonton as I had a shift that I was doing for the Make Taxes Pay that is volunteer run program so that people with low income can get their taxes done with out paying outrageous fees to get their taxes done.

I am sore and stiff today, which should go away in a day or two. Hope to have pictures up of the trip, soon. It was a hoot!