Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada on the second Monday of October. That means a long weekend. Most families celebrate with a turkey dinner on Sunday. That also happened to be Bridget's 17th birthday, so we had a dinner with some friends on the Saturday night.

One of the teachers at school invited us to share the celebration with her family at Cultus Lake. It is about a ninety minute drive up the Fraser River Valley towards the mountains. Her two daughters were in Calgary and unable to attend. As it turned out, it was a very multicultural affair, with 4 Aussies, I German, and 3 Mexicans, as well as her family. There were about 30 people for a sit-down turkey dinner. Each family was to bring certain things to contribute towards the meal.

It was a beautiful clear day, and it was a lovely drive out to Chilliwack, with the Fall colours in the trees and a very clear view of snow capped Mount Baker in front of us for most of the trip. Near Chilliwack, we turned off the main highway and headed through farming country towards the foothills of the Cascade range. We started a gradual climb for a few kms. towards Cultus Lake, which is a summer resort, with houses around the shore. It is also very close to the US - Canadian border.The only problem with having Thanksgiving dinner out in "The Valley" was that we had to drive home.

On the Monday holiday we decided to go to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia - UBC. They have a great collection of First Nation Totem Poles and other pieces from the Pacific Coast of BC and Haida Gwaii, or The Queen Charlotte Islands. They are still in the renovation phase of their redevelopment and several galleries are still to be opened.