Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

Our 2nd day of touring around and sightseeing in BC (British Columbia) led us to new territories and lots of new discoveries. One such place was Fort Langley, one of Roberta’s favorite spots. Fort Langley is where British Columbia was first started, back in 1858.

Like so of the other places we visited, Fort Langley is a cute, quaint little town that is also rich with history and a lot of natural beauty. We strolled around town and took in the sights. One of our first stops was the historic Fort Langley train depot. It is no longer in use, but at one time, it was a full of trains coming and going.

Larry the conductor.

Lee the crossing guard.

Roberta is the groundskeeper.

Once again, the gardens and the flowers were just gorgeous. All of BC’s rain and wet weather makes for beautiful flowers.

We also walked along the river a bit.

And then just leisurely strolled around, taking everything in.

One of our delicious discoveries was Tiny Tim’s Mini Donuts, owned by the Tim Horton’s Donut Chain. “Tiny Tim”, actually Jonathan, makes his mini donuts hot and fresh for every order. He was so full of personality and a great salesman. The donuts literally just melted in our mouths. Dennis went right back and ordered another batch immediately after finishing his first batch.

We had a beautiful day, but we were far from over. We had a very special occasion we were celebrating later on, but more on that later. 🙂

Sometimes the best things we find are those we were not looking for. You have to be ready for the unexpected and just keep your eyes and your heart open. Who knows what you’ll find. 🙂 Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After a delicious dinner and a fun evening spent catching up and laughing, it was time to tour the Vancouver area. Roberta is an excellent tour guide. She took us all over, both to the familiar places we had seen before and to new unknown territories. Despite the weather, we saw some beautiful sights indeed. Vancouver, and Canada in general, are beautiful.

Vancouver is a very creative town, with many talented people showing off their style in many ways. This is a very creative way to advertise for the bike store.

This is the main ferry terminal and marina. We’ve been here before, but it is always so beautiful. I could never get tired of seeing this. I could see it everyday and I would still be amazed and awed by all the beauty.

No matter how many times you visit someplace, if you open your eyes, you can still always see something new.

There were beautiful artistic creations all around the park and marina area. Many of these artistic creations have indigenous influences as well. And many things were just fun and whimsical.

There were so many gorgeous flowers all around too. The whole area was just blooming.

We left the marina and headed up the coast a bit for some more incredible views.

We spotted a beautiful little bird who was making friends with his own shadow.

Hold tight. There are still plenty more Vancouver and British Columbian adventures coming your way. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

From Washington, we drove about five hours until we crossed the Canadian border.

Coming up from Washington we had cool, chilly, wet weather, just as we did from Idaho and all through most of our time up in Canada. We weren’t prepared for it either. We packed mostly shorts and summer clothes, expecting warmer weather. We knew Vancouver was going to be cool and wet, but we had no idea that so much of our trip would be. But, we made the most of it, did laundry a few times, and thoroughly enjoyed our days, even though they were cooler and wetter than we expected. 🙂

Crossing the Canadian border. When crossing the Canadian border, just like crossing into Mexico, passports are a necessity.

Headed to Coquitlam, just outside of Vancouver. We were headed to Vancouver for a few days to visit with our friends Kim and Roberta. Dennis, Lee, Larry and I all met Kim and Roberta many years ago on a trip to Fiji. We’ve all been good friends ever since. One of the many benefits of traveling around the world is that we have many friends all over the world too; kind of like writing a blog. 🙂

Kim and Roberta, as always, welcomed us with open open arms. They are always so gracious, and show us all around town. We are always doing fun things when we visit. We stayed with Kim and Roberta for three nights. When we first arrived, we visited a lot and caught up with each other since our last visit. Then Roberta showed off her gardening skills by introducing us to all her plants that are very, very happy plants indeed.

Roberta is very proud of “Rhoda”, her thriving rhododendron.

Because Roberta has so many plants around, she also has a lot of birds and butterflies too. This momma Northern Flicker, the same ones I get here at home, had a nest inside this tree. She was feeding her babies.

While Roberta was introducing us to her plant family, Kim was busy in the kitchen cooking up a delicious steak dinner. Like me, Kim is very happy in the kitchen.

After dinner, we all just had a good time visiting with each other and sharing lots of laughs. You know, exactly what good friends do. 🙂 We started our Vancouver and Canadian adventures the next morning.

It’s always so much fun connecting with people and making friends wherever I go. Good friends can always pick up right where they left off, regardless of how much time is between visits. Make friends wherever you are, wherever you go. The world will be a much better place and a lot more fun. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We ate at a cute little Thai restaurant while in Ellensburg, Washington. You would think something BBQ or steak would have been our choice, with the town being very rustic and reminiscent of the Wild, Wild West, but no. We chose Thai instead, and went to Sugar Thai Cuisine.

We all enjoyed different menu items, and everything was very good. Lee is showing off her vegetarian spring rolls.

Dennis doesn’t understand why I take so many pictures of the foods and restaurants of where and what we eat. Sadly, he was more than a bit annoyed at my taking food pictures. He said no one was interested in my food pictures. I tried to tell him that my blog is a FOOD BLOG, and that I have almost 9200 followers, and YES, people are interested in my food pictures. We fought this battle the whole trip. Sorry Dennis. Love you dearly, but …..

Make the most of every day and every situation. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Scott and Traci only live about 20 minutes from the Oregon border. After leaving their place we crossed into Oregon and drove all the way up through Oregon, making just little stops along the way. We were headed towards Ellensburg, Washington, not far from the Canadian border. As you would expect, there was so much gorgeous scenery everywhere. Every place we went was different and beautiful in its own unique way.

We didn’t have plans to stay the night in Oregon, but we did try to stop at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, only to find out it was closed that day. I’m sure it would have been very interesting and informative, but we’ll have to save that for another trip, another time.

We continued on our journey, making our way up to Ellensburg, Washington, where we were stopping for the night. We had a lot of ground to cover, and people to see, so we were on a very tight schedule.

Ellensburg is a quaint little town that takes you back in time to the days of the Wild, Wild West. It is also a little town that is very proud of its history. We wondered around through town, taking in the sights before settling down for dinner and for the night.

This was a door handle to one of the buildings.

This beautiful old building was constructed in 1889. I think of it as the Phoenix Building.

Not all in Ellensburg is old though. There were modern displays and so many gorgeous flowers lining the streets as well. With imagination, anything can be turned into creative pieces of art.

Our time in Oregon was very short. We were only passing through. We didn’t spend much time in Washington either, though both were very beautiful indeed. Larry and I have seen both Washington and Oregon in more depth at other times, but there is always so much more to see and explore. That means we will have to do it again later. 🙂

There is beauty everywhere, all around us, in so many different forms. We just need to look for it, and we will see it everywhere. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After a very full day of taking in as many of the sights as we could in Boise and Caldwell, we ended the day, and sadly our visit with Scott and Traci, with a fun dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, Stewart’s Bar & Grill, in Caldwell.

Stewart’s is decorated with a wild west theme, which is appropriate considering Idaho is part of the great Northwest.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and lots of laughter with good friends and family. We dined on everything from salad, to fish & chips, to steak to pasta. Everything was very tasty, but the best part, of course, was the company we shared the meal with. We are lucky enough to live the good life indeed. 🙂

After dinner, we all strolled around through downtown Caldwell for a spell, but most everything was closed. We still got a chance to take in a few more sights, and we all needed to walk off our dinner a bit.

Thank you Scott, Traci and Idaho for all your hospitality and for showing us such a good time. We love you lots. See you next time. 🙂

There is beauty all around. Just open your eyes and your heart, and you will see so much. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time. Next stop, Ellensburg, Washington or Bust.

Today’s post is a continuation of sorts from yesterday’s post, Our Epic Northwestern Journey – Part 7 – Doin’ Time in Boise. Today, I am featuring the Military Museum that was located on the Boise State Prison grounds. We visited the museum while we were waiting for our prison tour to start. We could have easily spent a lot more time in there too. Maybe next time. It was a very nice, realistic presentation. It honors the brave men and women of the United States military and armed forces through the years, particularly through the WWII years.

Had I been a young women during these times, I would have joined up to fight for my country then too.

This says it much better and much more eloquently than I ever could.

Thanks to ALL the men and women who have fought to preserve our freedoms, from the very beginning to now, and into the future. We owe everything to you. Thank you for all that you did and continue to do everyday.

My dad fought in WWII. He was a very young Australian man, 14, who lied about his age and said he was 16, so he could join the Australian Army to do his part to fight for our freedoms. I will always hold a special place in my heart for all of our brave men and women who fight to protect our freedoms and our way of life.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After a short break to help celebrate my mother-in-law Ollie’s 95th birthday, I am back. We do not have anything on the books for any other traveling at the moment, so I am am not going anywhere any time soon. Now I can pick up where I left off about sharing our adventures from our epic Northwestern journey as well as all about food, both mine and otherwise, and all kinds of other good stuff, once again.

One of the other things Scott and Traci recommended for us to see was the Idaho State and Territorial Penitentiary, also in Boise. It was a functional prison from 1868-1973. It became a historic landmark in 1974. It was a fascinating tour, filled with all kinds of history and interesting facts. This was one of four territorial prisons in the U.S. We went to one in Laramie, Wyoming, then there is another one in Montana and the fourth one in Texas. We have yet to visit the other two.

The Processing Room.

The weapons room.

The grounds were BEAUTIFUL. You wouldn’t expect to see beautiful rose and iris gardens in a state penitentiary, but the gardens were exquisite. They were actually planted as an incentive for the prisoners. If they were good, and displayed good behavior, they could view the gardens. If not, well let’s just say they were punished severely, with no views at all, among many other things.

Our tour guide was very informative and we learned a lot about life within these limestone walls. The prisoners designed and built the prison, maintained all of the lands, grew their own food, and much more.

Our guide explaining about life within the prison. Life was harsh, to say the least.

Aside from the flowers, the prisoners who behaved well also were allowed to keep a cat that one of the prisoners had smuggled in through his toolbox while out doing one of his prison jobs. The prisoners named the cat Dennis. Dennis the cat was quite the celebrity and was very well loved by all. When he died, they buried him on site as a way to honor him.

Many of the prisoners were well educated, and in most cases were more educated than most of the guards. This was pointed out by the sign designating the bench for the guards only. It should read “benches for guards only”.

There were ten executions in the prison. Not all of them went well. There were a few botched executions. The executions were by hanging. Here is the execution room.

Raymond Snowden was the last prisoner to be executed at the Idaho State Penitentiary.

There were both men and women imprisoned here, and for the most part, they were only separated, but still basically housed in the same areas. This was until there was a rape of a female prisoner by a guard, that resulted in pregnancy and a botched “forced” abortion. After that, a separate women’s prison was constructed just across the street in 1920.

Many of the prisoners, and especially the women prisoners, were incarcerated and sentenced to hard time for very minor infractions of the law, or for things that we take for granted today. Luckily times are a changin’.

This was a fascinating tour and a must see for anyone who loves history. There was more history on site as well, but I will save that for later. There was a military museum on the prison grounds as well. We visited it while waiting for our tour to begin.

Life is short and we never know how long we have. Carpe diem. Seize the day. Make the most out of everyday, and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We are taking a quick weekend trip to Hays, Kansas, leaving tomorrow. Larry’s mom, Ollie, is having a big birthday bash for her 95th birthday. We are only going to be gone for a long weekend, and I will soon be back to continue with my tales of our Northwestern journey and plenty more. 🙂

Scott and Traci both had to work while we were up visiting, so we took off by ourselves to tour around the Boise area. Dennis, Lee, Larry and I are all VERY seasoned and VERY experienced travelers, so no problem. We can always find entertaining things to do. We got back together later for dinner with Scott and Traci.

Our first stop was the historic Boise Train Depot. Last time I went up to visit, Traci took us there too, but we never got to tour around inside. This time, we got to see the station from both the inside as well as the beautiful garden area outside.

Built in 1925 for use as a Union Pacific railroad depot, the building was designed by New York architects and was heralded as “the most beautiful structure of its kind in the west.” In 1997, the Boise Depot shut down its operations. It was refurbished, renovated and preserved as a historic landmark. All Aboard!

Big Larry standing next to Big Mike. Big Mike, a Mikado-type steam locomotive, was built in 1920 by the American Locomotive Co. The powerful 2-8-2 Mikado was designed to include a large firebox supported by a two-wheel trailing truck located behind the rear driving wheels. The locomotive acquired the name Mikado because the first 2-8-2 engines were built for export to Japan. Nicknamed Mike by railroad men, it was a very successful type of locomotive. More than 14,000 were manufactured between 1920 and 1944. Boise’s Big Mike was used as an all-purpose freight engine along Union Pacific’s main line from North Platte, NE to Fruitland, Idaho.

Inside the bell tower there are four bells, all different sizes. They stopped ringing them because they were causing the structures of the bell tower to crack.

A view of Downtown Boise. Today, nets are up all around the bell towers to prevent birds from flying in.

The surrounding Platt Garden was created in 1927 by Union Pacific. Today, the Depot and its surrounding garden is used for all kinds of events, including weddings. There were so many beautiful flowers in the garden that made the garden even more beautiful.

These Buckeye trees are absolutely gorgeous. I was fascinated by them and had never seen them before, at least not in full bloom.

Because I LOVE history, I also love being able to step back in time to glimpse how things once were. I think, and maybe I am just romanticizing the past, life was a lot more glamorous in the previous times than it is today.

Go back in time, and be transformed to a different time. See how things were as opposed to how they are. If you are anything like me, you will be absolutely amazed. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.