Leading by Example

I have a good friend who won't lead a scooter ride, but who does a pretty good job of leading in other ways.  I find him to be sensitive, generous, kind and thoughtful.  Over the years, I have admired his effort to devote Sunday to spending time with his wife.  Today, I chose to take a page of out his book.  The opportunity presented itself (weather) to spend the day meeting new friends and scooting around the countryside.  I had received a posting yesterday of a meetup @ 11:00 am, with a ride to follow at noonish, for a trip to Abbotsford via back roads.  It's been a long winter and a wet spring.  I was excited at the thought  of this journey.

But as I worked through the day, I was overcome with the desire to spend the day with my wife.  Like Bob, Sunday is the only full day that I share with my wife (other than statutory holidays).  Upon awakening this morning and while making breakfast for the two of us, I made the decision.  No scooting today.  Instead I would spend the day with Jennifer.

As we ate our breakfast, I told her that I had decided to not go scooting today.

She asked why, and I responded with ... "I'd rather spend the day with you!"

I suggested that after church and lunch, we'd go for drive, some walks and a dinner date.  The remainder of this post is how the day unfolded.

West on Highway #1 ...

Following the path of my daily commute to work, we headed toward Horseshoe Bay utilizing the Trans Canada Highway.  Not the most scenic of drives, it got us to the beginning of our adventure in good time.

Whytecliffe Park ...

"Whytecliff Park (15.63 hectares in size) is located in a beautiful corner of Howe Sound with a rugged coastline and spectacular views of colourful mountains and passing boats. The waters off the Park became Canada’s first Salt Water Marine Protected Area (MPA) in 1993 and are now famous for its incredible underwater diving. Five hectares (12.3 acres) of this park contains a playground, picnic spots, a swimming beach, tennis courts and an observation pavilion from which to admire the stunning views."

We spend about a 1/2 hour walking about and could have spend the day, but this was a sort of marathon trip.  Touch downs on favourite places, with little time to linger.

Horseshoe Bay Village ....

Jennifer & I both remember numerous trips to Vancouver Island via Horseshoe Bay terminal with the accompanying waits for a ferry.  Our children were small and we frequently walked into the village while our car sat in line holding our place.  In those days, there was no Subway restaurant for a quit bite to eat nor the Starbucks.  Just the ambiance of a small village with nice park and some green grass for the kids to burn off some energy.

Not much has changed, but today you can get a submarine sandwich at Subway, a decent ice cream cone at Baskin Robbins and a coffee from Starbucks.

Neither of us can easily say no to the offer of a Starbucks.  Today was no different as I asked ... "would you like an iced Americano?"

Marine Drive, West Vancouver ...

As we drove along, I commented that this is my favourite road in all of the lower mainland.  Whether by car or scoot, I can't seem to get enough of it.  Today was no different.  I was loving it!

I had already planned a stop along the way.

Point Atkinson ...

It seems that a lot of other people had similar plans for the day.  There was well over a 100 cars, parked wherever they could.  Other than the steep decline to the lighthouse (what goes down, must come up), I have no complaints about trips to Lighthouse Park.  Austen (our beagle) thinks she has died and gone to heaven.  There are so many scents and a beautiful forest to explore.  We are sure that she knows where she is and remembers her last walk in this direction.

After a quick walk to the lighthouse, it was time to be on our way.  The Phyl Munday Nature House was open today, but it will have to wait for another day.  I trust that we didn't miss our chance.

Whole Foods ...

I know, it was a date and here's this guy stopping in at a food store.  But I couldn't resist, there's this irresistable urge that comes over me.  My three main stops are the bakery (picked up some crumpets for my breakfast on Tuesday), the meat department (smoked turkey sausage with sun dried tomato & basil, as well as some bison pepperoni) and the vegetable department where I snuck a picture of heirloom tomatoes.  Not sure what the excitement is about, but a few of our customers (Jim Koo Produce) keep asking for this product.  If we were still living in Manitoba, we could supply them with all the heirloom tomatoes their little heart desired.

Speaking of tomatoes, Jennifer availed herself of the opportunity to purchase a tomato plant, which is part of her efforts to do a bit of container growing on our patio each year.

Our journey continued ...

Lion's Gate Bridge / Stanley Park

Traffic was thick as we headed into Vancouver for supper, but we were in nIto rush.  It was just 5 o'clock, the beagle had been fed, watered and taken for her constitutional.

Pepitas Restaurant ...

For those who don't know, I work at a fruit & vegetable wholesale. Pepitas is one of our customers and I've been wanting to try out their menu since tasting some tortilla chips & salsa that one of our drivers has generously shared with us after making his morning delivery.


We were not disappointed!

We shared a combination plate and left satisfied, after an enjoyable dinner.

Bobskoot & Mrs. Scoot (aka my boss @ Jim Koo Produce) ...

Thank you for a lovely day!