7.7 Earthquake Rattles BC Coast Last Night

This morning Nancy woke me to inform that there was a violent earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale.  The quake jolted British Columbia's north-central coast Saturday night, frightening residents and forcing many to temporarily leave their homes for higher ground ahead of a possible tsunami.  Tsunami warnings were issued for the North Coast, the Haida Gwaii islands, parts of the central B.C. coast, the coast of Alaska and as far away as Hawaii.  However, early Sunday morning the warnings were downgraded to advisory status, meaning evacuations were no longer necessary, and they were cancelled altogether a few hours later.  Residents near the centre of the quake said the violent jolting lasted for up to a minute, but no injuries or major damage had been reported.

UK Flying Visit

On Monday, we stepped off the plane from London Heathrow after a 10 hour flight - this was the conclusion of our week's trip to the homeland.  It was fun packed, friends and family filled week.  The holiday started with the flight from Vancouver which should have been relatively easy, as Sam is now a seasoned traveler having flown to a number of places already. However, this did not turn out to be the case as he screamed for the majority of the flight - which probably made us the most hated passengers on the flight!  However, once we were off the airplane we enjoyed our trip.

During the holiday with our rental car we visited Odiham, Milton Keynes, Lavendon, Finmere, Crondall and Hartwell.  It was great for Sam to visit the UK for the first time and see close family and friends in person, as opposed to being on skype video.  We visited a number of local parks, playgounds, walking routes and of course bought a few home comforts at the shops to bring back to Canada.  Good old Marks and Spencers provided a need for additional luggage for the return flight.  We want to thank everyone that we met up with, who provided all the warm hospitality and welcomes.  It is the little details that you remember, such as Sam and his cousin Annabel hugging each other goodbye on the last day, all our friend's children sitting around the table for lunch or meeting a dog called Sam that became Sam's friend very quickly.  We had a great time visiting and the trip was only possible because of the people.  Enjoy some of the photos and thank you.