2002 - Summer 2003

In July 2007 we spent three weeks in Sweden and Finland. During the first two days in Stockholm we saw some sights including Drottningholm royal palace and stayed at my old Orienteering friend Jan’s apartment. Then Jan drove us to his cabin in Ljungdalen, Harjedalen district near the Norwegian border. One of the best experiences there was watching the local Lapps (Sami people) separate and mark the new reindeer calves. (Apparently few outsiders get to see this.) Jan’s cabin is his passion was better equipped than his city apartment and quite comfortable. He even had a homemade wood-fired hot tub. During our week in the mountains we took a side trip across the border to the old town of Roros in Norway. This town was a major copper mining center so we explored the mine site and climbed big hills of waste rock (slag?). On the drive to and from Ljungdalen we stayed overnight at a youth hostel that was once a school.

Back in Stockholm we visited the Vasa ship from 1626 and the Pipi Longstocking Museum (Junibacken) and much more.

On 14 July we took the overnight ferry to Helsinki where we were met by the Ahlskog family who took us on a drive around Helsinki with a stop at a café. They let us spend one evening to ourselves in their beautiful home as they went to a previously planned party (and the men of the family went to a Metallica (!) concert). Apparently Ralf the husband is a guitar player and once played in a band and still loves hard rock :)

On the third day there they took us to their cabin which involved a 1- ½ hour drive then a 20 minute ride in a small outboard powered boat to a small island where Ralf’s family own a cabin (actually about six – a main cabin, two sleeping cabins, a sauna, latrine, and workshop). Thankfully they connected to the power grid a few years ago so there was electricity. They have water from a well. We enjoyed some fabulous meals including fish that Ralf had caught and smoked the same day. The daughter Neelia rowed Rachel around their small bay and played with her in her tree fort. It was incredibly peaceful, mosquito -free and the weather was perfect. Of course they, being Finns, have a sauna and they fired it up for us. When we couldn’t take it anymore we ran into the Baltic sea to cool off. Back in Helsinki they took us to a mall for shopping. It was a short trip to Finland but during that time Neelia and Rachel became pretty close so they both were teary eyed when it was time to catch the ferry back to Sweden. Thank you Nita, Ralf, Niki and Neelia!

During our final days in Sweden Jan took us to Skansen – a combined heritage village/zoo/amusement park. There was nothing tacky about it and Rachel loved it there. We also went to various manor houses (Hagelby Manor and Skokloster Castle) from the days of Sweden’s empire (ie the 1600s). We stopped to examine a few Viking era rune stones as well.

Staying with Jan was great He was incredibly generous with his time, and especially with food, thus due to his pleasure in feeding us we parents gained some weight. Thank you Jan!

There were many things that impressed us with Sweden and Finland such as the lack of litter on the streets and the general politeness of the people. Language-wise we had no difficulties as most people spoke a bit of English and the young people were surprisingly fluent. In Sweden, as I know basic Swedish I was able to understand a lot of what way said, but did not speak the language, except when English was not understood.

9-Day Vancouver Island Drive
Day 1- 30 July: Burnaby - Nanaimo via Horseshoe Bay ferry - stayed at Parksville Travelodge Day 2 - 31 July: stayed in Parksville all day - Rathtrevor Beach Park- second night at Travelodge Day 3 - 1 August: Parksville to Bates Beach Resort campsite (tenting) at Black Creek Day 4 - 2 August: remained at the campsite for a second night - went to Kin Beach Park, shopping in Courtenay and Miracle Beach Park Day 5 - 3 August: Bates Beach to Campbell River - stayed at Town Center Inn - shopping Day 6 - 4 August: in Campbell River switched to Elk Falls Provincial Park campsite (tenting) Day 7 - 5 August: departed Campbell River for Victoria (Joneses) Day 8 - 6 August: Victoria - petting zoo - "Bean Around the World" for lunch Day 8 - 7 August: Victoria - exploring downtown - Willow Beach Park Day 9 - 8 August: departed Victoria for Burnaby via Swartz Bay ferry

10-15 July 2003: Six-Day Southwestern BC Drive.

Day 1: Burnaby to Lightning Lake Campground, Manning Park. This was Rachel's first Canadian camping experience and she loved it! At night it got quite cold, probably due to the high elevation. The campsite was not exactly wilderness camping as there were brick washrooms with hot showers. (The daily fee was $22.) On the drive there we stopped for supplies at the excellent Safeway store in Chilliwack.

Day 2: I started the day with a 42 minute run on the trails around the campground. Got nervous when I found fresh bear droppings on my route. We reached Kentucky Lake campground in the mid-afternoon after having a rest and doing some shopping in Princeton. We chose a spot directly on the lake. I went for a swim but it was too cold for Rachel or J-k. R played with some children her age from a neighboring campsite.

Day 3: We left quite early (9:30 am) and stopped at the Merritt Visitor Information Center for coffee for us and icecream for R. We continued on to the town of Logan Lake where we had lunch. We wanted to stay in the Logan Lake Lodge but it was full, so we ended up staying at the rather run-down, but cheap, Copper Valley Motel. I went for a 46 min run. We had homemade style food for supper at a friendly little family-owned restaurant in town. We liked the way the town seemed well laid out with lots of green lawns and quite tidy. R had a great time in the lakeside playground.

Day 4: I went for an early 26 min run consisting of two laps around Logan Lake. We planned to continue north and stopped for lunch in Cache Creek. After that we went to the Hat Creek Rach which used to be the starting point for stagecoaches to the Cariboo. The next stop was 100 Mile House, and then 108 Mile House where we got a room at the 108 Resort overlooking a golf course and 108 Mile Lake. We all went for a swim in the pool followed by a soak in the hot tub. We had supper in the resort restaurant.

Day 5: In the morning I barely managed to run around the (large-ish) lake in 46 mins. We barely met the checkout deadline after having breakfast in the strangely deserted restaurant. Speaking the the front desk staff I learned that the resort is bad financial shape due to the low number of tourists which is perhaps a result of the hard economic times in the country amd the fact that the passenger railway service from Vancouver has been discontinued. We turned south and bought groceries at 100 Mile House, then headed for Whistler via Lilloet. The drive through Lilloet was speactacular with snow-capped mountains and deep canyon, though by the time we neared Whistler it had become rainy. Apparently a car had slid in the rain and was pointing vertically into a ditch. The police and rescue vehicles passed us on their was to the accident. We scouted around the town which was busy with a World Cup Mountain Biking Race. By chance we found the "Legends" resort which has one and two bedroom suites and checked into a smaller suite. As we arrived fairly late we only had time to have supper (at the Zen Japanese Restaurant) before bed.

Day 6: This was the last day of our expedition. We had breakfast in our suite, then let R play with Lego in the Kids' Room, and had a swim in the pool and hot tub, before beginning the drive back to Burnaby.

28 June 2003: Summer Vacation. A friend (Bob) gave us a lift to Dubai Intn'l Aiport for our flight to Amsterdam. Check in went smoothly, although KLM would not allow us to fly on the the same-day connecting flight to Vancouver, thus necessitating a one-day layover in Amsterdam. Fortunately the travel agent arranged for a room at the Schipol A4 hotel near the airport, and once at Schipol Airport it was only a matter of taking the shuttlebus there. There was a "baby" windmill that caught Rachel's imagination, and interestingly there were restaurants constructed like an overpass on the freeway -- not much of a view in my opinion. The next day we boarded a new plane for the long second leg to Vancouver, but before doing so we had to plead for three seats together as the airline had originally separated us. We have heard that the service on KLM flights has declined and that pretty well matches our experience: the food was the worst airline food I've ever had-- bland and underheated. The flight attendants regularly knocked my shoulder with their behinds. I can't say they were rude or ugly, just tired and barely suppressing their disdain for the passengers. Asa final note, the flight was delayed 40 minutes by someone who checked their luggage on the plane but did not board, thus requiring the airline to unload that person's luggagefrom the hold. The in-flight movies were "The Recruit" and "Maid in Manhattan".

June 2003: I got 30% tinting for all the windows on my Trooper, except the front windscreen. It should make it a bit cooler inside on those long drives to the coast and it should give a bit of privacy from curious eyes. One of the reasons I got it done was that I wanted to exercise my newly granted right to do it. For years expatriates were forbidden from having tinted windows, despite having reasons just as valid as the locals, but in April the UAE federal government passed a law allowing non-citizens to do it.

30 May 2003: Rachel's Third Birthday Party. Nine kids plus parents. Started with a swim in the pool, then went on to cake and presents, etc. Everyone had a great time.

14 April 2003: Arabian Wildlife Center, Sharjah. We went here with two other families. The kids got quite excited by the sight of all kinds of local wildlife, especially the large carnivorous mammals like the leopard, hyena, wolf etc. The whole facility is clean and appears to be efficiently run by western specialists. Definitely worth a return trip next year to see the parts that we didn't see this time.

19 March 2003 - The war against Iraq began with the bombing of Baghdad. To date the war has not affected our day-to day lives and we have not felt any overt hostility towards us, in spite of being in a conservative Islamic country.

12-14 February 2003: We spent three days and two nights in a double chalet at the Sandy Beach Motel, Fujairah with the Studholmes as well as Maxine, Steve and Lucas who stayed in a room of the hotel. Great snorkelling and a fantastic place for the kids because of the sand and playground equipment. Had (an overpriced) Valentine's Day buffet lunch at the new Mercure hotel next door.

10 January 2003: I took part in my third Dubai Marathon 10 km race with a time of 50:50, which was a couple minutes faster than two years ago. In the same run Phil A recorded 44 mins. Two other A2R2 runners were present but completed the full Samsung Dubai Marathon. They were Darren G, who finished in just under 4 hours and Randy, who finished in about 4:20. There was a lot of fog that morning which made finding our way back to the car from the finish quite difficult, but by noon it had cleared up and gotten quite warm. I felt better prepared than last time. Of course, my goal is to chop a few minutes off my time next year. It is tempting to try the full marathon, but I am not sure I can devote the time for the training that would require.

19-21 January 2003: Returned to Nizwa to see the mud brick village at Al Hamra and the cliff-top village of Misfa as well as Jabreen Fort. Met friendly Omanis at the Al Hamra Museum. Spent the first night at the basic Majan Guest House and the second night at the luxurious Falaj Daris Hotel. Fantastic comfortably cool weather. This trip was one of the highlights of our time in the Middle East.

3-5 December 2002: We went on a two-night camping trip to Oman organized by Phil A with about a dozen people. The campsite was the beach at the Capital City Marina Muscat, which was perfect, with nearby showers, but unfortunately the seas were rought and the crashing of the waves made it hard to sleep. Rachel enjoyed herself immensely playing with the other toddlers Lucas and Emily. Although our route down from Al Ain was through Sohar (including a stop at the hotel there for a coffee), our route back was through Nizwa in the interior. We spent an hour or so climbing around the impressive restored fort there. We raced north hoping to cross back into the UAE, before dark, but did not succeed and had to drive the last half hour in darkness. In the future, I think we should devote a full weekend to exploring Nizwa and the other historic towns that are nearby.

Click for pictures of Nizwa Fort