Summer Road Trippin' - #1 Powell River Wedding

This summer resulted in a series of weekend road trips.  So no big 'week away' but a succession of events to attend.

I approached it with some trepidation. Oh my, so much to organize. So much to decide.
Until I thought... nah, let's just do it. Let the chips fall where they may. As long as we have somewhere to sleep, surely we can get by.

So this is Road Trip #1: Niece's wedding in Powell River.

Booked the early ferry out of Horseshoe Bay. That's at 7:30 in the morning. Which somehow meant getting up at about 4:30am.
... on a Saturday.

Not really my happy place.

Eeewww. What's she doing with her toes?!

Despite the odds, got ourselves and the kids up and out the door. Picked up the nephew (meaning yours truly was sitting in the back of the car... in the middle seat. Gosh, what mothers do for their kids!) and made it to the ferry.

This is a two-ferry event. Have to drive up the Sunshine Coast for the next one. Lots of time there, so a nice snack at the cafe.  Not a great day yet - some clouds and drizzle. But gave us time to focus on our grooming. The girl painted my nails (manicure/pedicure is not my strong suit), then her own. (Some funny looks her way with that!) Nephew kept up commentary about how he'd like his wife to get one of those BC Ferries jobs, so they'd be set for life. Amusing travel up.

Powell River is a cool place. Original mill town, but the jobs disappeared as the industry automated. The whole town seems to be built on a slope towards the water. All these fabulous bungalows with great water views, for next to nothing (by Vancouver standards.)  If you can find a way to make a living there, and you don't care about being close to a city, it's lovely.

Checked into our room, changed into our finery and made it to the ceremony at the golf course in plenty of time. The wedding gods had smiled upon them and it was sunny and bright (and kinda hot!) by that time. Martin found blackberry bushes while we were waiting for the formalities to begin, so he was especially happy.

Not a selfie person

A selfie person

After the ceremony and some fun family photos, we had time to kill at the hotel room. Bought some 'effervescent' (= cheap) rose, which we shared, and did some hotel selfies before the reception.

Gangsta posing in the Town Centre Inn

I guess the dress slides down...

The happy couple

The reception was wonderful! Venue was a hall in the old town with beautiful pane glass windows. Food was a local caterer - tasty, warm and real. Desserts were cool (on a stick, in jars... super fun). Drinks were cheap.


There was dancing. The whole family danced, to varying degrees of success. We took the shuttle bus back to the hotel, dropped into bed and slept until the last possible moment the next morning.

Found the Magpie Cafe for a fabulous breakfast. Chose Eggs Benedict with Ukrainian Sausage - perfect eggs, silky hollandaise (in just the right quantity) with the slight saltiness and chewiness of the sausage providing a perfect contrast. Quite bliss-inducing. My goal when eating at a restaurant is to pick something that I would not make at home.  And I definitely would not, could not make THAT at home.

Snake Kids 2015

More ferry rides home. Lots of waiting around in parking lots. Some of our car passengers got a bit antsy and ended up doing 'Snake Kids' in the back seat (look closely - there are 2 children in this mashup.)

We survived. More than that, we enjoyed. We were family.
(and, as I always say, if there are no police incidents, it's a success!)

No Police Incidents - WHEW!