The Eve of the Wedding

Friday, June 24th – Victoria, British Columbia - Day 133

The day before the wedding was a busy one. In the morning, there was a bridal shower for Leah at a cute little teahouse. There was some confusion; the girls were going then not going then going again. John and I dropped them off.

I was then assigned the great privilege of picking up the brothers McDonough, Paul and Evan, from the airport. A quick drive to the airport only to face an hour delay, John and I hung around. The additional hour was a bit of an issue because I was to drive back and pick up Gen and the girls. When they finally arrived, we went to grab some food for the boys before stopping by Leila’s house so they could say hello to their brother and sister-in-law.

Gen had been filling time with the girls but was out of things to do so we picked her up before delivering Paul and Evan to their hotel overlooking the harbour. This involved a lot of in-depth conversation about hotel pricing, trees, and the flight to Victoria. With our mission for the day done, after a lot of driving on my part, we drove back to Pat’s house to prepare for the party. We got ready while trying to ensure that the kids stayed away from the house.

Pat and Leila did a magnificent job of hosting the families and friends of both Matt and Leah. Food and drink were plentiful, and the company was fantastic. It’s amazing how everyone felt like friends and family. I got to know a bit more about Matt and Leah when talking with the people closest to them. The party went late into the night, even after I said my goodbyes and went to bed.

Comments

Mary in Malibu

Tuesday, June 7th - Angeles Mountains, Los Angeles to Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu, California - Day 117 It is great to welcome Mary back on the trip. The kids gave her a huge hug as we picked her up at the airport. They are all really excited to talk to someone other than their parents. We are all driving to our wedding on June 25th. Sixteen days until we need to be in Victoria, British Columbia. Our plan was to drive up the coast from Los Angeles, halfway to San Fran cut inland to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park (which is close by) and then head north to Yosemite, before driving back down to Big Sur and then into San Francisco, potentially north east to Lake Tahoe and north to Redwoods National Park. It’s a busy schedule, we’ll see how it goes. On the way to pick up Mary we got a well-deserved oil change for the Santa Fe, courtesy of Valvoline. It was expensive but quick and easy. We were thinking of driving throu...

Back to the Coast

Tuesday, June 14th - Sacramento to Big Sur State Park, California - Day 123 In the morning, we got on the road and drove along the Sacramento river which watered acres and acres of fields on all sides of us. We took a scenic drive before getting on the highway. A brief stop at Walmart and Dollar tree replenished our supplies. We phoned Big Sur State Park to try to get a spot for the night. They had nine spots available, we were three hours away, we needed to hurry. When we finally reached the coast, we drove along a curvy cliffside road that was very beautiful. Views of waves crashing into the rocks on the coastline below were exquisite. Gen was behind the wheel. There were no passing lanes, she finally found a spot to pull off the road and subsequently had several minutes of vehicles continuing to pass us before we could get back on. We finally reached Big Sur State Park and were welcomed with a grove of Red Woods towering over the drive into...

Simnett Travels

Search This Blog