The Raven

We woke in Kelowna to a very cold morning. The kids were excited to be in a different place. We ventured downstairs to the Denny's Restaurant that was within the hotel, for breakfast. The kids had Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Darren had a Lumberjack Special and I had an All-American Slam.... they were all what us Aussies would call a "typical American breakfast." Very tasty.

While we were in the warmth of the restaurant outside the snow started to fall. Only light flurries.

Brush the teeth, check out of the hotel, lock the bags in a secure room and head off to the Orchard Park Shopping Centre. The snow has coming down heavier.

Our first stop was to the Telus mobile phone shop where we purchased some pre-paid SIM cards to use in the "old" phones we bought from home. When I say old, I mean the phone I was using before my iPhone, so only 12-18 months old. The girls in the shop were skeptical that the Telus SIM card would work in the phone, so we only purchased one pre-paid SIM card to test it in all the phones we brought with us before purchasing more.

So after the phone shop Mum and I headed to the Save-On Foods supermarket to meet up with Diane. Someone had told us to become a member of the supermarket club to get a discount. So, always mindful of a bargain, we did.

Diane, Mum and I started in the fresh food aisle and Karmen joined us about 30 minutes later. We had allowed 2 hours to complete the grocery shopping, but ended up contacting the shuttle driver and postponing pick up for a hour. You know, it takes three times longer to shop when you have no idea what the items on the shelves are. We thought we were smart having our meal plan and completed shopping list with us, but it didn't save anytime at all.

I left the girls in the supermarket to head back to the hotel to use the free wifi to register the SIM card. The snow was coming down even heavier now, making the walk cold, and stepping off the kerb into a puddle of water didn't help. When I got back to the hotel the first think I did was to take off my wet shoes and put on my nice warm, dry boots.

The plan was that if the SIM card worked in all the phones I was going to rush back to the Telus shop and purchase more for all the phones, but I was unsuccessful in registering the card and decided to leave it till we got up the mountain and telephone customer service. Dad and Bob walked into foyer about now and Brian (our shuttle driver) was also there. We picked up all the luggage and headed off the the grog shop. Apparently Dad, Bob, Darren and Casey along with all the kids had been there purchasing our liquid refreshments and decided that it would be better leaving Darren and Casey and all the kids there to guard the $800 purchase than trying to cart it back to the hotel for pick up. Good move.

We pulled up and loaded the kids and grog into the bus, then headed over to the supermarket to collect Mum, Diane and Karmen and the ten days supply of groceries for twelve people. When I left the girls in the supermarket earlier we already had four FULL (overflowing) shopping carts and weren't finished. Imagine my surprise when we pulled up at the front of the supermarket and here they all were with seven, yes SEVEN, shopping trollies full of groceries and a receipt almost two metres long totaling $1700. The clerk at the store said that we were the second largest purchase they have ever had.

All aboard. We headed up the mountain to The Raven. A slow drive because we got stuck behind someone that obviously was not use to driving in snow and on snow. I admit, it was a very weird feeling driving on snow and having no snow chains on. They all had snow tyres on though... but they don't look too much different to normal tyres.

Our expert driver, Brian, steered us right to the door of The Raven... then all the hard work began. We had to go up to the top floor of The Raven in the elevator with ALL our luggage, ALL our groceries and ALL our grog!!!! That was an effort!!!

Walking in through the front door I felt like I was walking into a website. I had familiarized myself with the pictures on the website for The Raven. It was exactly as seen online. Room allocations were made and the first drinks were poured. Aaahhhhh!!!! Time to relax. Well, maybe for the others, but not for me. I got stuck dealing with setting up the mobile phones. There was a bit of rigmarole to register the phone online. Not having a Canadian address or existing phone number was a bit of a hassle, but the Customer Service Officer on the phone (I think she was in India) was very helpful. We tested the card in all the phones and it works in four of them, so we will be able to contact each other on the mountain.

After all the travel today we had planned on not cooking dinner and pizza was always on the menu. The Bakehouse delivered us six large (and I mean LARGE) pizza's. They were very very yummy. A few more drinks, plans made for the following morning and everyone hit the hay.

More tomorrow....

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Location:The Raven, Big White, BC