Adventuring with Herbert Putkey

From Second Honeymoon

For our second honeymoon, Theresa and I went with the English to the Sunshine coast and Strathcona park. We had 3 nights in Lund (very small town north of Powell River) and 3 nights in the Strathcona Park Lodge, 45km from Campbell River. In Lund we took a boat cruise into the not so desolate Desolation Sound, and spent a great day exploring Savary Island. On Savary Island, the 10 of us split into three groups. Ollie, Cliff, Theresa and I walked around pretty much the entire island, and had a good swim at Sutherland beach. Steven, Sharon, mom and dad spent most of the day relaxing at a different beach. Robert and Catherine rented bikes and explored all of the island that way.

From Second Honeymoon

In Strathcona we had two good hikes, and managed to squeeze in some paddling and swimming in the Upper Campbell lake too. We stayed in the Strathcona Park Lodge, which worked out really well. We had a big cabin to ourselves with a view of the lake from the patio, and easy access to the water.

From Second Honeymoon

The pictures are up here.

Our friends Amy and John finally got their act together and tied the knot this past weekend. They live in Kansas City, so Theresa and I made the trip out, as did Amy’s relatives from Portland, and John’s from Phoenix and Kansas state.

They had a small ceremony at the court house on Saturday morning. It was funny because you have to go in the back entrance on the weekends, which was not too elegant. Then the guy doing the ceremony was straight out of The Princess Bride, and we all had to concentrate not to laugh (especially after he had said what a solemn event this was). After the ceremony we took a couple pictures, and then went for breakfast. Fortunately the place had a surprisingly large brunch cocktail list (first of the day and badly needed!). In the afternoon we went over to their house for beers, BBQ, and a cake each. My stomache hurt for most of the night.

On Sunday we went to the sculpture park, which I really liked. It’s a 22 acre space with large sculptures spread throughout, and was nice and peaceful. Afterwards we went back to their house for an intense Cranium battle, and a couple cheetos.

See our pictures here.

Also, Amy’s pictures are here.

After a decade of sin, our friends Adam and Daphne finally decided they liked each other and got married (some people take forever to really commit!). They had the wedding in Kelowna, where they both grew up. Theresa and I decided we would need to take a week off to make the arduous 4 hour drive. We camped for one night in Manning park on the way up, and 2 more nights there on the way back. It was pretty cold (going below 0 at night), but that wasn’t enough to discourage two hardy adverturers like us. We had a spectacular hike on Monday - we did the Skyline trail. We hiked for nearly 7 hours without seeing any other people. When we got to the summit with 360 degree views, it felt like we had the entire park to ourselves.

In Kelowna we got to meet Adam and Daphne’s families. We had a fun morning getting taken around by Daphne’s dad, John. He played tour gude and took us to Father Pandosy’s mission, and several wineries.

The wedding was a lot of fun. Joel, Adam’s brother, gave a great speech while channeling a prospector from the 1800’s; Daphne’s dad somehow managed to get a Cuban band to come play for about an hour (they were in town for a music festival); I managed to briefly demonstrate my skills at bocci (2 weeks in a row); I also got a tattoo of Ogopogo (there may be a relationship between open bars and tattoos); and Theresa and Mark lit up the dance floor.

The photo album is here.

Catching up on some pictures - weddings have been fast and furious this year! I’ve put up the few pictures I took onto my picasa page.

Our friends from ultimate, Jeff and Lisa, got married yesterday. The ceremony was in Queen Elizabeth Park, and the reception followed at the Heritage Hall nearby. The reception was a lot of fun and included a skit about how Jeff and Lisa came together.

Once the dancing started, a bunch of people from our ultimate team crashed the wedding to enjoy the open bar.

See our pictures here.

Theresa’s brother, Brian, married his long-time girlfriend Kathy this weekend. The ceremony was at the Lake Natoma Inn, outside of Sacremento. Theresa and I flew down on Friday afternoon, and came back on Monday. We had a late dinner and drink with Frannie and Mark on Friday after we got in. The rehearsal was on Saturday afternoon, and afterwards we went to a Mexican restaurant attached to the Inn for snacks and Margharitas. Shortly afterwards we went out for dinner - I think you get an idea how the weekend went!

The ceremony was on Sunday at 11am. Brian was giddy with excitement. The reception followed immediately afterwards. It was nice to see a lot of friends and relatives that we haven’t seen in a while.
All of our pictures are here. I’m hoping to get more from some of the other guests.