Congratulations Sean and Lauren!

Sean and Lauren got married on Saturday (August 23rd) in a beautiful ceremony in Lauren's family's backyard overlooking the ocean. The reception was at Acadia University: another wonderful spot. Congratulations--we love you both! :)

Nova Scotia

We spent a lovely 7 days in Nova Scotia: enjoying the sights in the days leading up to Sean and Lauren's Wolfville wedding on August 23rd.

We spent the first few days on Cape Breton island, in a little cabin on Bras D'Or lake. Dave ate his fill of lobster, crab, scallops, shrimp, salmon, halibut, mussels, etc. (okay, I had some too!).

We found a few nice little beaches on the coast, then headed south back to Halifax for a boat tour of the Harbour, and a night on the town--Halifax is such a fun spot in the summer!

Finally, we headed up to Wolfville and spent some time in the "valley": admiring orchards and vineyards, watching the tides with amazement, hiking the Cape, and exploring the cute town of Wolfville. It is such a perfect spot; I can't believe Lauren was so lucky to have grown up there!

Here are a few pictures: I haven't yet figured out how to get them in the right order and label them properly, so bear with me...

Blomidon beach (just outside of Wolfville)
Cape Split hike

The Lookoff: view over 4 counties of the valley.

Blomidon beach (again)

Along the Cabot Trail
Cabot Trail
Dave's favourite post-Trans-Rockies pasttime: watching the Olympics!

Halifax

Cabot Trail
Along the Cabot Trail

Cape Breton Island



LOBSTER!!!

Trans Rockies: FINISH!!

Well, it has been a gruelling 7 days for Dave and Joe, but they made it, results are in, and they have succeeded in being the #26 team in the Open Men category for the TransRockies Challenge (Mountain Bike Race). We are so proud of him, as well as our good friends Steve Gaffney and Brian Cooke, who came in 6th (Team "Opus"). See http://www.transrockies.com/ for photos and results. Here are few of the pictures Dave managed to get over the week:

Trans Rockies UPDATE:

(Photos courtesy transrockies.com )

Dave is doing amazing! It's funny, I think we were all focused on "just finishing the race", having fun, etc. that it never really occured to me that Dave and Joe would actually do WELL!! As of last night, they were placing 26th out of 97 teams (in their age category; there were 300 teams at the start), which is incredible!

Although they've been in the mountains without cellphone access for the last few days, the website provides informative updates, and their "support crew", Amanda and Amy were able to call this morning to reassure us that all is well and Dave is having a great time.

I am heading up to Elkford tomorrow night to catch the last 2 days of the race. See: http://www.transrockies.com/ for updates and results; their team is called "FYS Racing Team"...

Go Dave Go!!!

California Road Trip

As I mentioned, I spent Aug 2-9 visiting my friend Claire (a friend I met in Toronto at U of T, who is originally from Calgary, now living in LA!). I flew in to LA, spent a few days enjoying Venice Beach and the surrounding area, then we drove through the interior (via. Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Montana) up to Invermere BC where we met up with Dave et al. for the start of the Trans Rockies.

The trip was wonderful: LA lifestyle is so laid-back, the weather is perfect every day, and the people I met were amazing. Claire has a cute place right near the beach where we could ride cruiser bikes along the boardwalk and enjoy all that LA has to offer. We spent some time at the Huntington Library Gardens, and the Getty Museum, and did a little drive through Hollywood and the hills.

The drive went by quickly as we listened to the National Public Radio show "This American Life", and had lots of time to chat and catch up about everything under the sun...

Hopefully Dave will have a chance to visit too next time, when we can add San Francisco and the Pacific Coastal Highway to our itinerary.
Thanks Claire for a perfect holiday!
:)

TRANS ROCKIES!!

It's finally here: the Trans Rockies! Dave has been training for this mountain bike race for months and now he's about to begin. The race starts tomorrow, here at Panorama Resort in Invermere, and finishes at Fernie next Saturday (Aug 10-16th). You can follow his progress at www.transrockies.com where there will be ongoing updates with results, photos, and details of the race: Dave's team is called "FYS Racing Team".
We are so excited and can't wait to update you!

ps/ I will add photos of my Los Angeles/California --> BC trip ASAP this week.