Wells, BC is the place to be for a wintry week or long week-end (February 17 - 20, 2017, in our case). Turning East from spotty snow in Quesnel and driving through a series of increasingly snowy valley-ways ended in the Westerly Rocky foothills and puffy fluffs of billowy meringue frosted evergreens and sparkly frosted fields by Wells' frozen lake.
Dave & Cheryl's red Mountain Thyme Guesthouse was perfect for our three-part family gathering of eight: niece Theodora (Nektarios, Alexandros-5, and Nikolas-3) in the main level family room with en-suite shower; brother Rick (Maureen) in the upstairs Queen bedroom; and us on the mezzanine trundle bed (Yolanda in "the drawer", as she would show the boys when they went upstairs together to do some drawing and colouring on a few occasions). The cabin also had a sitting area, kitchen, and upstairs w/c with a tub. Still dressed for Christmas, it was a joyful place to be. We arrived Friday at about 6:30 pm, Yolanda from PG with Theodora, Nektarios & the boys, and Bob from PoCo with Rick & Maureen.
We ate late together and had fun with and enjoyed Theodora's two birthday cakes, which Alexandro's decorated with "happy birthday", and we chatted a bit before tucking in.
Saturday was the 2017 Wells International Gourmet Ski Tour (WIGST, with four tasty tapas stops: Ukraine, Basque, India and Portugal this year). Bob, Yolanda, Rick and Maureen were out ski touring for about 3 hours and Theodora, Nektarios, Alexandro's and Nikolas went into Barkerville with their snowshoes and a pic-nic. For Yolanda and Bob, this was their third visit to this event where some tour in costumes.
Once we were together again, Yolanda, Theodora and the boys headed out with snow shoes and the sled until dinner time. While dinner was set, Yolanda and the boys headed up to the mezzanine with pop-corn to draw and colour, and take a look at the drawer bed. Our rib and Moroccan chickpea stew prepared by Dave & Cheryl at their restaurant Bear's Paw was fantastic and we cleaned up quickly afterwards as there was the Extreme Mountain Sport Film Festival organized by Dave. Yolanda and Theodora stayed with the sleeping darling boys and had a really nice visit while the others went to the festival. Sunday was a great day for connecting with the locals. After a family walk/snowshoe in the fields below Wells, we made a pic-nic lunch at the cabin and then said our good-byes to the PG crew.
Bob, Yolanda, Rick and Maureen visited Barkerville on cross country skis and then headed to Wells to find a nice coffee, and we did, at Bill Horn & Clair K's studio. While enjoying their stories and sharing other stories, Bill made a call to Tim & Kate to connect us for a visit. At Tim & Kate's we shared stories about bike blogs and bread baking and purchased scarves from the 2016 WIGST for making into hats, similar to the one Yolanda made for Bob from his 2008 scarf.
Arriving back at the cabin, and a pop-in to Frog-on-the-Bog gift shop to order more pottery bowls, we encountered Dave & Cheryl preparing a group meal at the Bear's Paw and they accepted our invitation to drop by for an Oban after their guests were gone. Scrabble and Bird Bingo were our entertainment and we had a good visit with an interesting connection as Rick was reading a flagged spot in his new book purchased earlier that day in Barkerville and the article contribution was written by Dave's daughter Mica! We fit in a last ski in the morning before we started our drive at 11:30 am to PoCo. Rick kept us safe, including in a section of blinding snow on the Coquilhala, and we arrived in PoCo at 9:30 pm.
Dave & Cheryl's red Mountain Thyme Guesthouse was perfect for our three-part family gathering of eight: niece Theodora (Nektarios, Alexandros-5, and Nikolas-3) in the main level family room with en-suite shower; brother Rick (Maureen) in the upstairs Queen bedroom; and us on the mezzanine trundle bed (Yolanda in "the drawer", as she would show the boys when they went upstairs together to do some drawing and colouring on a few occasions). The cabin also had a sitting area, kitchen, and upstairs w/c with a tub. Still dressed for Christmas, it was a joyful place to be. We arrived Friday at about 6:30 pm, Yolanda from PG with Theodora, Nektarios & the boys, and Bob from PoCo with Rick & Maureen.
Saturday was the 2017 Wells International Gourmet Ski Tour (WIGST, with four tasty tapas stops: Ukraine, Basque, India and Portugal this year). Bob, Yolanda, Rick and Maureen were out ski touring for about 3 hours and Theodora, Nektarios, Alexandro's and Nikolas went into Barkerville with their snowshoes and a pic-nic. For Yolanda and Bob, this was their third visit to this event where some tour in costumes.
Once we were together again, Yolanda, Theodora and the boys headed out with snow shoes and the sled until dinner time. While dinner was set, Yolanda and the boys headed up to the mezzanine with pop-corn to draw and colour, and take a look at the drawer bed. Our rib and Moroccan chickpea stew prepared by Dave & Cheryl at their restaurant Bear's Paw was fantastic and we cleaned up quickly afterwards as there was the Extreme Mountain Sport Film Festival organized by Dave. Yolanda and Theodora stayed with the sleeping darling boys and had a really nice visit while the others went to the festival. Sunday was a great day for connecting with the locals. After a family walk/snowshoe in the fields below Wells, we made a pic-nic lunch at the cabin and then said our good-byes to the PG crew.
