2002

May 2, 2002

Tim, Viki, Robert, Robert’s girlfriend Kari, and Viki’s friend Carolina all went to the Roxy theatre to see the 25^th anniversary showing of the Sound of Music.  It was an enchanting 3 hours.  The MC presented awards to the best dressed and there was quite a selection to pick from.  We received party packs with edelweiss, curtain material and even a firecracker for the big kiss.  The packed theatre sang along to subtitles on the screen, though few attempted the one song in Latin.  A full set of hand motions had us laughing hilariously as we tried to keep up with the variations of do-re-mi.  We cheered, hissed, booed, barked and sang our way through a wonderful evening.

May 10, 2002

Angie Mitchell experiences severe stomach pain and ends up having her appendix removed.  The men in the family rallied near her side, at a television showing hockey in the waiting room.

May 18 – 27, 2002

Started on trip to San Francisco with a visit from Stan in the Coho Ferry line up.  In Washington, we succeeded again in sampling the best lemon pepper chicken in the world at the town of Forks.  Ruby Beach was lovely again.  Bought a kite at Long Beach.  We finished the first day with a traditional night camped at the lake side at Fort Canby State Park in Washington.

We awoke to rain on the roof of the Blazer that morning.  We returned to Long Beach and took the Blazer down on the beach for a great time, though I thought for a minute I might end up watching my vehicle rust in the Pacific Ocean as a permanent fixture there.  We drove on to Canon Beach, Oregon and had the traditional sandwich at the general store and sat on the benches lining main street to people watch.  We had two lovely sunsets and two lovely walks on the beach, plus Viki ran 10 km on the beach.  We bought 3 pictures of the area at the gallery.

 


Viki running on the beach.

On day 4, we drove the length of Oregon and stated on the waterfront at Brookings.  Day 5 included driving through a redwood tree at Legett, California and then many hours twisting and turning through some of the slowest highway in the world on the number 1 through California.  At one point, the small road and the height above the Pacific was too much for Tim and Viki took over the drive while Tim resisted the urge to grab the wheel and crash the car into the mountain side to avoid the edge.  The trip that day took an extra 2 ½ hours due to the excessive number of 15 mph turns.  We arrived in San Fran in the late evening and Viki drove over the Golden Gate.  Our booking through Expedia for the Grand Hyatt was great, though it did cost an additional $38 a day for them to look after the car.

In San Francisco, we visited rode the cable car to Pier 39, saw the seals and the markets, walked up and down Lombard street, rode the cable car to Union Square, wandered through China town and had lunch on the 36^th floor of the Hyatt.  We also drove to Haight Ashbury, the Painted Sisters and over the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges.

On day 7 we rose early in the morning and made it to Klamath Falls in mid afternoon.  Our meals and hotel were extremely inexpensive.

(Mt Shasta)

On the next morning, Les Schwab fixed our flat tire and refused to let us pay for it.  We stopped at Crater Lake and although it was overcast our pictures still showed an amazing amount of blue water.  We had the best hamburgers at the chalet.  We were unable to exit on the north route as it was closed due to snow.  It was about 9 feet deep at the side of the parking lot at the lake.  Later that day we had excellent views of Mt Jefferson, the 3 Sisters, and Mt Hood.  We finished the night in Yakima.

On day 9, Viki rose at 5 and had me in the car speeding for home by 5:30  We were through the border easily and reached the Tswassen ferry with perfect timing on the end of our journey.

June 10-13, 2002

The annual trip to Madrona at Parksville saw Kathryn, Stan, Viki, Tim, Robert, Carrie, Pam, Lora, Sierra, Teresa and Kevin attend.  A neighboring evening beach fire group gave Robert a capo to use on his guitar and sheet music for the song Kiss Me.  Robert played guitar while Carrie led our group in singing back to the other fire.

Kari, Stan, Tim, Kathryn, Pam, Robert

Kari and Pam take all Stan’s money at poker.

Stan, Tim, Kari & Robert, Pam, Kathryn, Viki
Kevin, Sierra, Lora, Teresa

July 4 - 15, 2002

The annual trip to Shawnigan Lake saw excellent weather for the third year in a row.  We ate off the barbecue, played horse shoes and badminton, went swimming and caught a few fish off the dock.  Pam jumped in the lake in her pyjamas to retrieve garbage for a price of $6.  Viki jumped in with her clothes on for free.

Teresa and Kevin showed their true feelings for each other in the following backyard movie, with Robert joining in as well in a display of family harmony.  Meanwhile the results were much the same when the Mitchells took to the lake.

Click on the pictures for movies.

July 31 – August 16, 2002

On July 31, Kathryn, Viki and Tim caught the evening ferry and stayed with Tracie and Jason in their new condo in Vancouver.

The next night they stayed in Revelstoke and on August 2^nd they drove through the Rockies to Brooks, Alberta.  It rained heavily and we missed seeing all the mountains.  Just east of Calgary we had a few flakes of snow.  In Strathmore the temperature was a couple of degrees above freezing.

On August 3 and 4 we attended the 50^th anniversary of the town of Hays, Alberta.  This included a parade, visiting with former students, a tour of the school, an auction, an outdoor church service and a pancake breakfast.   Tim realized a sense of pride in the contribution he made to the survival of this small Alberta farming community (population 400).

On August 4^th we also drove to McGrath, Alberta and visited with Tracey, Erick and Reilly for a few hours.  Then we drove on to meet Pam and Stan in Great Falls, where they had been waiting for us since 4 a.m. that morning (Stan, the drive-a-holic arrived early).

On August 5^th we left our two cars at the motel and we flew to Minneapolis and then on to Wausau where Don Freiberg picked us up and we set up home base in his cabin in Tomahawk, Wisconsin.

 On August 7^th we visited the Island on Clear Lake.  Tom and Carol were there.  The cabins were occupied by Jerry & Jo, their children and 11 of their grandchildren.  Karl and Margie also visited for the day.  Pam was the first Mitchell child to visit the Island.  Pam and Kathryn had fun on the rope swing.  The adults visited on the veranda.

 On August 8^th, Pam, Kathryn, Viki, Stan and Tim went to Green Bay to see the Packers practice.  We arrived in time to see the procession of players accepting offers of bicycles from local children.  These were ridden by the players from the stadium to the practice field across the street.  When Brett Favre came through the line on a 9 year olds bike, Kathryn was able to slap his hand while 3 of us took pictures at the same time.

On August 8^th, Pam, Kathryn, Viki and Tim went to Sheboygan and spent the evening with Katie.  We started at Katie’s favorite Italian restaurant.  We walked on the pier at Lake Michigan and stopped at Katie’s house to meet Buster, her Great Dane.  Katie taught us the local dialect:

 “Ach ya hey! Once.  Intso?”

“Ach ya hey.  Intso.”

 At 10:30 in the evening, Katie suggested we drive to Kiel for the Kiel picnic, which Pam and Kathryn eagerly agreed to.  Pam, Kathryn and Katie could be heard shrieking on the Tilt-a-Whirl.

Pam and Kathryn  had fun teasing one ride operator about how boring the ride was.  He locked the cage they we in so that they were forced upside down over the peak of the ferris wheel type ride.  At the end of the ride he spun the cage rapidly so many times that the girl’s heads began to hurt – they were laughing hilariously.

On August 9^th, Katie joined us for lunch at Del and Judy’s.  Shortly after lunch, Stan and Lu arrived.  Stan stayed in Elkhart Lake hoping the Jim, Joy & Lynn would arrive (which they finally did), while the rest of us drove Lu home and then returned to Tomahawk.

On August 11^th we celebrated Viki’s birthday by having a real Wisconsin storm.  We drove south 6 miles to see it and the temperature dropped from 88 to 65 degrees.  The hail was so heavy that I took shelter under a tree to save the car from damage.  After chasing the storm a while, we drove back north and hit the edge of another storm on Highway 51.  It was so bad that all the traffic on the 4 lane highway pulled over.  We waited a minute and then made a break for the clear sky north of Tomahawk.  We returned to Don’s and the same storm came over us again with heavy rain, thunder and hail.  We had a great time watching from the porch.

Later that evening, Jean and Wayne Schulz came by to see us.  They then joined us as Stan, Don, Viki and Tim went to the casino in Lac du Flambeau.  Jean and Wayne visited again the next day and brought sloppy Joe’s and beans for supper.

On August 13th, we flew back to Great Falls and drove to the Lodge at East Glacier Park.  The lodge was a phenomenal 3 story fir and cedar structure.  The interior is open to the ceiling with many benches where people were sitting and talking.  Stan played the piano.  Tim, Kathryn and Pam also swam in the outdoor pool.  Tim, Viki and Stan walked to the Amtrak station to see the passenger train stop by on its daily visit.  We enjoyed a meal in the lounge watching the sunset (children were allowed in the bar).  The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly – a highlight of the trip.

On August 14^th Tim and Viki headed directly home, while Pam, Stan and Kathryn went over the Going-to-the-Sun road.  Tim and Viki stopped in Moses Lake, Washington, just to feel the air in the 100 degree heat and the heat caused the car’s fuel pump to stop working.  The car was repaired by 10 the next morning and Tim & Viki returned to Victoria later that day.  Ironically they were unable to get a cell phone response from Pam and it turned out that Stan, Pam and Kathryn also spent the night in Moses Lake at an exit two miles away.

October, 2002

Kathryn moved in with us and began attending Oak Bay High.  It’s great to have her living in Victoria.  By May she was well adjusted to Victoria and was off the to the junior prom.

The Queen of England drove by the end of our street and we snapped her picture.

November 26, 2002

Katz, the 12 year old boy from the apartment downstairs who lives with his grandmother, was sent to see Tim for a shaving lesson.

November 28, 2002

On the way to Viki’s day surgery, at 6:15 in the morning, we watched a Russian space ship burn up in the northern sky.  It was a spectacular show which lasted nearly a minute and looked like a gigantic sparkler travelling through the heavens.

Viki was back from surgery and directing the Thanksgiving day meal by 10:30.  We had 24 people for the 8^th Anderchuk Thanksgiving.