Our "Couch Surfer" From Switzlerland!

This is our current guest from Switzlerland.  His name is "Marc"...:-).  He is  part of the "couch surfer's" community and is here in Canada for a mountaineering course...:-)

 I had my trusty camera and snapped a picture of Marc and Chris saying hello for the first time face to face.  This is Marc's first couch surfing experience....and this is our second time hosting a surfer. 

 Marc had some GINORMOUS luggage bags with all of his gear for his touring and couch surfing needs.  I decided to let Chris man handle that! ha

 We finally got back and started to get settled in....:-)

 And of course EVERYONE that comes has to meet "Jasmine" the rat.....:-).  Yep, we have one of those....:-). She thought Marc was a new snack..ha.

 We told Marc about our scooters and he told us that he had a motorcycle back in Switzerland.  He has a Yamaha 125 motorcross DT.  I hope I said that right....???

 So, you know the guys are scheaming about going out for whirl on them....:-).  I decided to sit this one out.

 After fitting Marc with the proper helmet, they took off.  I was not happy that neither of them were wearing the proper gear...:-(  Chris took my bike (Ms Vicky) and let Mark take his Majesty.

 It was kinda weird turning to see both bikes GONE and I wasn't on either of them....AND THEN it occurred to me, that I had locked myself out of the house!  ugh!!

 fortunately for me they were only gone about 20 minutes.  It was getting chilly outside when they came barreling around the corner.   Yay for me! ha.  Scootard was riding Ms Vicky like he stole her!

 Marc was really impressed with a 400cc scooter and said he really like it.  He found it very comfortable.

ok....can you guys "chin wag" INSIDE the house now??  I'm cold!

So, we finally made it back inside and started sharing travel stories and pictures of some of our adventures....:-).  It was a very pleasant evening.

German Couch Surfers -Day 2

As always, I was up early although later than usual which was good!  I was tired from all of the preparation of our guest coming.  First order of the day was to get coffee on.  This time, I didn't make it too strong.  I decided to test the first batch out before giving any to our guest this time...:-).

Chris decided that since there was no set time for any of us to wake up, he was starving and wanted some bacon!  Here's his masterpiece....

Then I decided that since there was no set time to get up, hard boiled eggs were the best bet with some very simple things like toast and jam or jelly.  Sooooo.....

Having lived in Europe for 5 years, I know how the Europeans are about bread. Unfortunately, what we have doesn't compare to the fresh baked bread that they showcase in their stores and resturants. Anna said that our bread was "fluffy"...haha.  I knew what she mean, but had never heard anyone say that before.  But it is very true compared to the hard crust on the outside of European bread.  So, we decided to make toast of what we had in the fridge...after everyone was awake of course.

 I thought much too late that we could have gone to the store and purchased some hard rolls.  Maybe next time....:-)

Turns out that our guest were pretty hungry after a good night's sleep and was ready to eat when they woke up.....:-).  Everything was ready for them!

Even my coffe was good this time!  Yay for me....:-)

After a good breakfast and a lot of conversation about traveling to various countries, it was time for our European "couch surfers" to continue on their journey.  We asked them to sign our guest book before they left us.

And thanked them for spending the evening with us....:-). They were also very grateful for our hospitality.

We hugged and Chris and I wished them God's blessings on their journey!

Couch Surfers from Germany....:-)

We have decided to make more use of our home by hosting international guest whenever we can.  We feel that this is something that will be enriching on both sides and will give us a greater opportunity to share our lives with people from various cultures in ways that we may not otherwise have the chance to.  Meet "Ky" and his sister "Anne"......:-). 

They are part of the "Couch Surfer's" community which we have recently become a part of.  Ky is a wind farm manager in Germany and Anne has finished her studies to become a doctor and will be returning to Germany soon to start practicing medicine.....:-).  Very cool indeed. 

Well, we certainly could not have people come all the way from Germany and not feed them, right?  So, we sprung for some nice East Indian food in downtown Squamish.  It was very good and we all left stuffed!

Vegetable Kapora.........:-)

Something Pannere??  Fried cheese!

Then of course we had to go back to the house for some coffee that I am afraid I made a bit too strong!  I hope they are able to get a good night's sleep...haha.

 After suffering through my pot of "mudd" (coffee), we shared experiences with mountain climbing, (not me) hiking (not me) and kyacking (nope) and Chris and I shared our experiences with camping and scootering......:-).

 It was a good evening and everyone was in bed by 11:30pm.  Except me.  I'm up writing this blog...ha.  We had a great time and I am looking forward to spending the morning with them before they continue their travels....:-)

Blackberries and Lunch at the Park!

Today started out a little chilly. So, I left home with a sweat shirt and jacket and Christo with a tee shirt and jacket. His was the better choice by early afternoon...ha. We rode through West Van and I returned the friendly "wave" to a bunch of folks that we passed going by....

 We saw a beautiful flower bed on the way and I had to stop and get some shots of it.  I'm not the best photographer, but I still wanted to get what I could.

Unfortunately, sometimes the shutter opens and closes in the middle of "auto" challenges.

So, we decided to stop along the way and see about getting some blackberries since my last blackberry adventure only yielded a small, sweet one  and very sour one....:-(.  Christo decided he knew the perfect place and he picked some for me.....:-)

Yay Me!!  Thanks Christo......xoxo

 The temperature was really starting to change and I was getting hungry.  So, we stopped and got lunch to take to the park.....

Christo went ahead of me to snag the picnic table just ahead of us.... There was some kind of a kid's camp going on near by, but they were far enough away that we could still enjoy the quiet of the park...Which I counted a small blessings since I suffered most of the night with a toothe ache from a root canal and just wanted .....well, food and quiet!

We spread out our food and started downt the road of NO RETURN!  IT WAS DOOMED!  I had never had "clam miso soup" before, but I was going in for the kill! haha

Scootard (Chris) ate his food like he had been mad at it all his life!  Notice the glare in his eye! hahaha  It was a fixed fight I tell ya!

After rolling away from the table we spent some time sitting by the water for a short while...

And then Scootard got "antsy" and decided he wanted to find the perfect piece of drift wood....AGAIN....:-)

I on the other hand was sitting their enjoying the view and wishing I had worn somthing else other than this stupid sweat shirt!

ok, sweating now.....

ok, time to go!  The sun is bleaching my hair....I'm starting to look grey around the edges....hehehe

So, we started heading back toward home.... I can't believe the one question that came to my mind was "what am I going to do about dinner?"....REALLY????

ok, here is a nice distraction from more food......:-)

and of course, there is always that cute little art gallery.....:-).    ahhhhhh......:-).

But that didn't last long.......we got home and I was still thinking about dinner....  you know being friday and all... you want to keep it simple....  I'm thinking Peanut Butter and Jelly!  Yay!!  

Saddlesbags, Stickers, Afternoon Ride---Oh my!

The weather seems to be changing quite quickly here in BC. Just last week it was in the 90's (30's celcius) and everyone thought they were going to either cook in the gear or cook on the beach somewhere. So, the last couple of days have been a bit tricky trying to figure out what to where and when. Today, I decided to take the plunge and take a short ride on "Ms Vickey".  But not before we got those saddlebags turned around the right way!  AGAIN....

Scootard was just getting in from work and wanted to go on a ride with me.  Since I don't ride alone...that worked out just fine....:-).  

The stickers that we had been waiting for came in the mail today and we were able to pt them on our bikes.  "ADV" stands for Adventure Rider! 

 Now, we are ready to go!  We are off the store to find some matching nail polish to cover the scratches that Ms Vickey recently encountered.....Hopefully, they will have the right color!   

But unfortunately, our searched landed us with nothing from the local Wal-Mart store.....:-(.  Ms Vickey will have to bare the marks of her "dirt nap" for now.  We will check again when we get on the road during our next adventure.  I know that somebody, somewhere has the right color for her! They are small scratches and thankfully not extremely deep.  Hey, it's cheaper than a paint job!  So, for now, it's back home to some slow cooking dinner.

I love getting fresh veggies and fruits from the vendors on the side of the road whenever I can.  But these ingredients came from the local grocery store, but "appeared" to be in decent shape.  But we know how that can go, right?  I wanted to dig into my big roasting pan of slow cooked Ox tails with carrots, potatoes, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, celery, onions, and my "secret spices" topped off with a little peanut butter to add some richness to the dish.....:-)

And I hit a home run!  A slam dunk! a touch down! and whatever else you say when your really deliver the goods.....haha.  Very tender and very rich!  ahhhhh, now for some icecream to end a very long, but fullfilling day....:-).

good night! 

Day of Relaxation and New Duds for "Ms Vicky"

I'm the kind of girl that loves to be by the water, but not necessarily "in" the water.  So, I enjoy going to the beach and watching others enjoy all sorts of water sports such as wind surfing and kite surfing....:-). 

It really is much harder than what it appears to be as you have to use all of your core muscles just to steer those things.  Plus, you are battling the wind!

 And at some times, they get the rear ends handed to them on a silver platter by mother nature...haha.  this guys comes out of the water saying...."I can't take it any more.  The winds are just to rough"....ha.  I on the other hand was enjoying the whole scene!

 Next on the agenda after a good day and some rest, was to finally after 4 years of being in Canada, pick some wild blackberries that were growing outside our Condo.  Others (including the bears) had beat me to the punch and there wasn't much left.  I did manage to grab a couple.  One was sour and the other was mildly sweet....:-).

 After snacking on the sweet and sour snack, it was time to surprise Ms Vicky with her new "duds" in preparation to our upcoming trip!  Ms Vicky is sporting new saddle bags that we picked up in Seattle for a very reasonable price.  Yay!
 I (of course) didn't know that there was a "wrong way" to put them on....:-(.  So, Scootard had to fix it for me.....:-).  He pulled up right when I was smiling over my "well done job"....ha.  When he .....uh....chuckled and smiled....I knew something was wrong...haha 

 Sooooo, he took them off and repositioned them properly and secured them to Ms Vicky....:-)

 Now, she is ready to go on her next big adventure!  I will have to get used to feeling extra weight on the sides of the bike like this.  Hopefully, I won't drop her again....:-(.

 After thinking about the neighbors "not my cat"...cat ran out from under the cover when I first started my project, I decided I would pull the rain covers over both saddle bags...maybe if she decideds to scratch her nails on them, the cover will provide some needed protection.

 And so, there she is.....Ms Vicky with her new duds on.  Looking sharp and getting covered up to protect her from wind and rain.....:-).  Looking forward to the next big adventure!

 We have just a few more days and we will be hitting the road again!  Already got our trip tickets, travel and medical insurance, and the "things to do" and things to pace lists are all organized......:-).