saying goodbye Davis style

This weekend we said good-bye to our dad.

Hugh, Jane and I met Erin, our Uncle Greg & Aunt Rosemary and our Uncle Dale in Field, BC. My dad spent the happiest part of his childhood in Field and there is a natural land bridge there that my dad requested we spread his ashes at.

You've probably never heard of Field. It is a tiny little town nestled into the slope of the mountains 15 minutes left of Lake Louise. North, South, East, West...whatever. All I know is when you leave Field you turn right onto the highway to go to Lake Louise and left to go to Golden.

Now when I say tiny I mean itsy bitsy, teeny tiny. The population is less than 200 and kids have to be bused to school in Golden 40 minutes away. Field has one coffee shop called The Truffle Pig. It is a coffee shop, restaurant, grocery store, gift shop, and liquor store all contained in about 1000 square feet. I can't report on the quality of the coffee because sadly their espresso machine was broken. The food was good even if there were only 3 items on the breakfast menu.

We stayed at The Kicking Horse Lodge, address 100 Centre. That's it. Not Centre St or Centre Ave, just Centre. Hugh and I shared a hotel room with Erin and Jane. I'm not sure if Hugh is brave, crazy or just plain cheap.

On Sunday morning we headed to the little known land bridge and discovered that it is now a major tourist attraction. At least we assumed so when we saw the 4 tour buses of Koreans parked there. Ummm, this might be a little awkward.

We waited and eventually they moved on. We stood by the glacier fed river and said our good-byes and took turns sending my dad down the wild, churning free-wheeling river. I have never seen water such a beautiful icy, aqua blue.

We came out of our hug, wiped our tears and looked around to see several cameras pointed in our direction. They're ba-ack. Awesome. At least we had the important parts alone.

Dad thank you for giving us your sense of adventure and gypsy spirit. Thank you for sharing with us your love of reading. For all your faults we always knew that you believed in us and loved us. We miss you.