Spring Break!!

We were away for spring break. We left winter behind and went down to the Island for Allan's cardiologist check-up and for some long overdue visiting. We were short on time, as seems to be the case each year, but we crammed in visits and got to have some wonderful time catching up with almost everyone! The check-up went really well and we got to have a quick snoop around Victoria that afternoon for our annual "Breakwater walk", which has showed us something interesting each year. This year the point of interest was the otters... well, I don't know if it was interesting or disturbing (both) but apparently it is mating season and it was not nice - so we got all kinds of questions...

Then off to Squamish for a visit to our old hometown... where we got to have more great visits and see so many of "our" people in such a short amount of time. Hubby and I even got to go out for an anniversary dinner - just the two of us!! The grandparents took the kids to the fair that evening and they had a great time too.

The entire time we were down on the Coast and the Island the weather was typical for this time of year... soggy, gray, little bits of sun but then more gray and soggy. I was surprised this year, by the moisture on the Island in particular. Everything was soggy and rot was prevalent - it seems I have been living in a dry climate for long enough to notice it much more acutely than before. Squamish wasn't quite as rotten and wet, but it wasn't far behind... perhaps because it hasn't completely thawed from winter yet? As soon as we left Squamish and were heading up the highway towards Whistler, there were snowbank still along the edges of the road.

Our drive home was fabulous. Driving over the Duffy Lake Road has, in the past few years, been an adventure in brake repairs... this year we managed to (narrowly) avoid any brake issues. The roads were mostly bare and clear the entire drive up - with only little bits of snow falling through the 100 Mile to Prince George areas, but nothing sticking to the ground. Once we passed Prince George, it was beautiful, sunny, warm and great driving. Which is good because that tends to be the boring part of the drive, so it is good to be able to drive at a decent speed! After we passed Chetwynd we noticed Northern Lights in the sky as well as a beautiful night sky, full of stars. We followed the Northern Lights all the way home, watching them change shape, stretch and fold... we arrived back home just before 11pm absolutely exhausted.

The next morning we awoke to a beautiful blue sky and temperatures up to about +8 degrees, the snow banks are still there but they are melting quickly (causing small streams to run down most roads - and therefore requiring us to buy the kids new rubber boots!) The kids started back to school wearing lighter jackets, no more snow-pants or winter boots (the rubber ones from now on!). It is surprising how warm it is - the kids both complained last night of being WAY too hot at bedtime; even though our heater didn't turn on yesterday. It feels much warmer here, than it did on the Island/Coast, even though the temperatures are about the same... it is also surprising how long the days are already. We left here just after the equinox, but already the days are considerably longer than the nights, and it is still bright out at the kids bedtime.

Spring is here.