We drove up north along the Fraser River for a camping trip. Just east of Vancouver is the little town of Hope where Rocky II was filmed. At the end of September people come here to watch the salmon spawn on their way upriver. We visited misty Bridal Veil Falls among tall trees and steep trails.
The first night we drove up a logging road and found an empty spot in the woods to build a fire and sleep. We could hear a little stream gurgling nearby. If you keep a fire going all night, the animals will stay away, so I kept watch because I was afraid of axe murderers and bears. In the morning we sunned ourselves before traveling on.
We put on sun lotion because the hole in the ozone layer causes skin cancer in this part of the world.
We took the cable car over Hell's Gate, the narrowest, deepest part of the Fraser River and then drove north along the Thompson River that branched off from the Frazer. The day got hotter and the countryside became very arid. We stopped at a fruit stand and bought a watermelon. It was yellow! It tasted mild and refreshing.
Before traveling on, we stuck our toes into the Thompson River. It was VERY refreshing but we could not jump in because it is too fast, wide and deep. The Thompson River collects the Nicola River and runs into the Fraser.
Our second camping spot was along the Nicola River.
We went for a dip in this shallow, gurgling river. It was cold and very REFRESHING. You can hear how refreshing it was by clicking on this sound file (261 kB).
After we returned from our camping trip, we began to plan our wedding. We went into work together every morning. The drive to Kekuli is about a half hour on the freeway. Most of the time there is rush hour traffic. Here you see Sixth Avenue in New Westminster. Overhead is the skytrain, which was initially built for the World's Fair in 1986. It has since been expanded into a public transport system.
![[6th Ave in New Westminster]](images/h_traffic.jpg)
Randy wrote a database to keep track of all the addresses for our wedding invitations, which we designed and printed up ourselves. I hand-tied a white bow to each one.
On October 13, we left Vancouver to get married in Ames, Iowa. That is where I grew up and my parents still live there.
As we approached the Seattle airport on the bus, Mount Ranier rose majestically on the horizon to bid us farewell. She had greeted me in the same dramatic fashion a few months ago when I flew in to meet Randy. From the plane I saw her reach up through a bed of clouds swirling below her like a gown. Now, as we were leaving this place together, I saw from below that same swirl of delicate white clouds swathing the tip of the mountain. I saw that she is wearing a bridal veil.
A picture of us eating wedding cake