| Above: Mary Baxter
guides Angela and Stephen through the ceremony. Below:
They pose with Angela's family. |
|
A hug from
Dad and a kiss from husband. |
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| Above: Angela
watches as her Nana witnesses the registry. Below:
Stephen takes the videos as Devon signs the registry. |
|
A pose with
Stephen's family. |
|
| In
celebration of their union and the coming together of
two families, Stephen and Angela ~ the new Mr. and Mrs.
Thorne ~ treated their families to a Greek Dinner.
An excellent beginning to a three month honeymoon trip
to Europe focusing on the eastern European countries and
particularly Greece. |
|
Congratulations
... Mr. and Mrs. Thorne ! |
|
 |
 |
We met
Angela and Stephen in a restaurant near their hotel and had
brunch. We talked about the wedding and more about their
European trip. Today would be another big day for
them. The beginning of a new life as husband and wife
and the beginning of a fabulous three month back-packing
vacation. Angela showed her nervousness just a bit ...
she hasn't been in an airplane since she was four years old
... and such a big plane to be getting on (747) and such a
long trip ... she was apprehensive and excited at the same
time.
We drove them to Metro
Town Mall in Burnaby where we said "good bye".
Her parents would be seeing them off at the airport along with
friends, Greg and Loren. |
A few
chores later, we went to Dad's for a visit and to present him
with our Neufeld, Sask findings ... pictures of the church and
documents from his parent's wedding. Very
exciting. He will be able to share the information with
his sister, Ada, next weekend.
Back home we packed for
our return trip to Winnipeg looking at the clock often and
thinking about what Stephen and Angela were doing.
September 9,
2003
After running around in
the morning, it was a travel day for us. Flew out of
Abbotsford into Calgary and then on to Winnipeg.
West Jet's public relations is so laid back. On our
earlier trip from Winnipeg to Calgary a unmarried stewardess
sang us a song to the music of "This Old
Man". It went:
| "We
love you .... You love us ..... West Jet's faster than
the bus. We have spunk and per-son-al-ity. ...
Marry me ... and you fly for free. " |
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| September
10, 2003
We woke up to rain ... and
thought about the forest fires in BC ... wondering if they
were getting any relief. |
| Driving south-east
from Winnipeg we stopped in Steinbach to visited the Mennonite
Heritage Village. It was very well presented.
Using a guide map we made our way through the houses,
churches, schools and shops, along with the centre piece a
replica of an original windmill.
In 1873 eight townships in the
Steinbach area were set aside by the Canadian government for
exclusive use by Mennonite setters from southern
Russia.
From 1874 to 1878 about 3000
Mennonites settled here, the first large group migration into
the recently formed province of Manitoba. They
introduced an age-old European system of farming in which
fields were arranged in long strips around the villages.
Over 50 villages were founded. |
|
| The church (the
white building shown in center picture below right) has no
steeple, bell or stained glass windows and is typical of the
early Mennonite churches in Europe and North
America. |
| The church is
constructed of squared oak logs fitted and secured with wooden
dowels. The heavy beams support the ceiling which was
build to support the weight of grain stored in the
attic. At harvest time in the fall, each farmer donated
a portion of his crop to the church for distribution to the
needy members of the congregation. It was one of the
earliest social welfare systems in Western Canada.
After having a delicious typical
Mennonite meal we drove across the border into Minnesota.
We drove on after sunset and
arrived late into Eveleth - home of the US Hockey Hall
of Fame.
|
|
| September 11, 2003
Flags flew at half-mast on most
public and business buildings in remembrance of the victims of
9-11 two years ago. We crossed into Wisconsin at Duluth
and followed Highway 2 at times skirting Lake Superior.
For a hoot, we stopped into one of the numerous Casinos we
passed. $20 dollars each would be our limit.
Sherrie spent $10 ... and had fun doing so ... and Terry spent
his but walked away with a $125 (US) jackpot! Well ....
that was fun!
As we continued east on Highway
2 into Michigan we took the time to memorized all the states
and their capitals. Retaining the information may be
another matter!
Our stop for the night was
Marquette on the banks of Lake Superior.
|
 |
| September 12,
2003
A traveling
day. We drove from Marquette, Michigan to Blind
River, Ontario with a stop
along the way at Au Train Bay.
| It
was windy but warm and the bay was accented
by golden sand beaches looking over to Au Train
Island. |
| We
crossed over the bridge from Sault Ste Marie Michigan to
Sault Ste Marie Ontario |
|
|
Au
Train Island breaks the horizon line on Au Train
Bay on Superior. |
|
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|
September
13, 2003
| We
took a pleasant stroll where the Blind River flows
into Lake Huron before we left our accommodations, but
for the most part it was another major traveling day as
we made our way from Blind River to Pembroke along Hwy
17. |
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