TRAVEL THE WORLD - POWELL RIVER, B.C., CANADA

This sunset over the Pacific Ocean was photographed in 2003 at the Wilmingdon Beach Campground in Powell River. This is an excellent campground in a very beautiful location set among the high cedar trees you will find on the West Coast of Canada.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - POWELL RIVER, CANADA

In 2003, we rented a fully-equipped motor home and drove from Edmonton to Vancouver, then north on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia and across by ferry to Vancouver Island. The photo was taken at the Wilmingdon Beach camp ground in Powell River, BC. Our campsite overlooked the Pacific Ocean and was set among the very tall cedar trees common on the west coast. This camp ground, owned and operated by the municipality, is one of the very best ones we have ever seen.

LIFE OF MY FATHER - 13

CAMPING OUT IN NORTHERN ALBERTA

My grandfather's new job with the Province of Alberta involved travel throughout northern Alberta assessing the value of farmland. My aunt Jacqueline told us that occasionally he would take her and my father with him. They would camp at various lakes such as Moose Lake, Lac La Biche and Lesser Slave Lake. She enjoyed doing this very much. Sometimes it would be a vacation for the whole family. Often, however, only my father would go while she remained at home helping to look after her brother Albert, who was nine years younger. She recalled having feelings of resentment over this. She also mentioned that the only vacations people had in those days were camping trips.

The first photo is of camping at Lac La Biche in 1927, the second is of my grandfather resting by the side of the road in 1927 (notice the briefcase on the wagon), the next two are of Lesser Slave Lake in 1927, the last is at Good Fish Lake in 1928.

LIFE OF MY FATHER - 6

EARLY LIFE

My father was reserved and also reticent about personal things. He had a stoical approach to life. In his view, people should tough it out during difficult times. Display of strong emotion or "showing off" to him would be inappropriate. He hated irresponsibility and had even higher expectations of himself than of others. Though he was a kind and sympathetic person, he rarely expressed affection and was hard to get close to. For example, I can't remember him ever telling me something of a personal nature about his childhood. He took his responsibility as a father very seriously, but in today's terms, would have been considered very old-fashioned.

I have very little first-hand knowledge of my father's early life. From my mother I know that for a long time the family lived largely on fish they caught in Lesser Slave Lake, located north of Edmonton and east of Grande Prairie. For the rest of his life my father refused to eat fish. On the positive side, he had a lifelong love of the outdoors and of the North. The family's financial misfortune and the Great Depression which began when he was 17 years old help to explain his frugal life style and his refusal to take on any debt except for a mortgage.

The photos are of Lesser Slave Lake in northern Alberta and my father with his tent.