The French Connection / AKA The Reunion


July 5 - 14, 2007
After two and a half months at home, we were more than ready to leave the doldrums of the mundane daily lifestyle and head off for unknown realms once again. Maggie, our now well-broken-in motorhome was packed and ready for our 2-½ month foray on the wild northern territories of western Canada and Alaska.

Our twelve-year-old granddaughter, Cairo accompanied us for the first nine days at my husband’s family reunion, a biennial affair. It was held at Kokanee Bay Resort on Lac la Hache, a lake in the Cariboo region of central British Columbia. Cairo, an angelic but impish pre-adolescent ran like a wild child the entire week, her mop of golden curly blond hair flying in abandon as she revelled in day after day of swimming, inner tubing, fishing with a bent stick, hooks and twine borrowed from generous uncles and hatching plots while roaming in packs with assorted cousins.

Thursday - It was a scorching hot day as we ventured up through the Fraser canyon to the Cariboo, the furnace-like air dry in our throats. What a relief it was to pull into Kokanee Bay into a large grassy campsite at the lake’s edge where the breezes were cooled as they rippled across the water. We were the first ‘Boivin’ family group to arrive but over the next couple of days, a total of about eighty rolled in.


That first evening, we stretched out in our lounge chairs on the emerald grass that rolled down to the shore and revelled in the peace. Loons trilled hauntingly while a lone eagle soared high above settling eventually on a bare branch of a tall barren tree, her eye on the fish jumping below. Later on, we noticed two ‘teenagerish’ offspring perched in an adjacent tree waiting to be fed, screeching to get the mother’s attention.

A rental motorhome pulled in beside us and a family of three emerged – all tall, blonde, bronzed and good-looking, the parents about 40 with a nine-year-old son. Of German descent, they currently reside in Tunisia, North Africa, the woman working for the German embassy while her husband proudly proclaimed his status as a ‘house-husband’ – this reversal of typical roles was surely an oddity for a middle European male, I thought. His wife boldly backed in the motorhome and he prepared dinner over a crackling fire. Cairo is an assertive girl and made friends with the family and before we knew it, she had her chair over by their fire, marshmallows and a broiling stick in hand. “She’s never met a stranger” as the saying goes. The following morning, she and Tom, the little German boy were floating a raft and net fishing in the stream like old friends. A screech emanated from Tom when he spied a slimy black slug-like creature attached to his ankle – a leech – and it was hard to dislodge. Where in the natural chain is there a need for such disgusting organisms.

Friday- Later that morning, we headed out on our first Geocaching expedition – it took us along some pristine nature trails winding up the hill through Lac la Hache Provincial Park. Cairo was first to find a couple of the caches we discovered and she chose several ‘keepable in her eyes’ treasures – a skipping rope, a magnifying glass and a shiny black wallet. With about 3 ½ miles on our shoe leather, we figured that would count for our daily exercise and we could spend the remainder of the day sipping vodka & tonics (not Cairo) beside the lake.

It turned out not to be that peaceful as family groups kept arriving and the rounds were made – hugs and kisses and catching up on family news, as they roamed from tent to cabin to trailer to motorhome, etc. Cairo was delighted when the only female cousin in her age group showed up (Rebecca – later to be nicknamed Rebel) and for the next week, they were bosom buddies even sleeping together in Rebel’s tent with her little sister, Emily.



An unplanned poker game or two sprang up that first evening and Fernie settled into his favourite pastime happily winning $35. I, quite normally a lone soul, was exhausted from the day of visiting and socializing, so took my chair and book beside the lake and revelled in the beauty as the sun glowingly receded in the western sky about 10:30pm.


Sunday morning, Geocaching (of course) – just Fernie and I. Cairo stayed behind knowing that miscellaneous aunts were available if she needed them. She aptly said “It really does take a village, doesn’t it Grandma”. We ventured just north of Lac la Hache and discovered the most beautiful and unspoiled little spot imaginable. Managed by “Ducks Unlimited”, Woodfrog Lake was ringed with reeds bustling with nesting yellow-headed blackbirds, their songs so melodious and nesting boxes of all sizes were attached to sturdy tree trunks; vast fields of wildflowers – yellow, white, blue, red, purple were teeming with a myriad of butterflies. Surely this was the Garden of Eden. The road in from the highway looked like a private driveway and we would never have discovered this beautiful spot without Geocaching. We hiked a couple of miles further up into the bush for the caches – some serious heavy-duty bushwhacking was required and we were swarmed by those nasty carnivorous little black flies and their larger cousins, the horseflies – not so idyllic up there. I stepped on the end of a small log causing it to bounce up and snap my shinbone – it brought tears to my eyes and my screech of pain echoed through the forest. My shin stayed bruised and scabbed for weeks after.

How beautiful our province is – the rolling green pasturelands, harvesting well underway; pristine, glistening lakes at the end of hidden winding dirt roads, the mountains, the valleys, the wildflowers – I could go on and on singing the praises of British Columbia.

Pot luck dinner – hmmmm, I’m not too good at this, having been brought up with only one sibling and no extended family after leaving the UK when I was eleven. We were asked to bring lasagne, so we shopped for the ingredients before we left home, carried our largest glass casserole dish and spent Sunday afternoon creating our potluck contribution. The oven in our motorhome was not large enough to handle the huge dish so we solicited the use of an oven from those in the motel housekeeping rooms. During this process, someone in the crowd piped up “Do you mean you actually ‘made’ a lasagne from scratch? Why didn’t you bring one from Costco?” Now they tell me! The dinner held in a communal room was a delicious success, the speciality being an old Acadian dish ‘Cipate’ created by Fernie’s sister, Helene who pronounces it ‘sea-powt’ but I gleaned this description online:
“Cipaille or Cipâte ~ Layered Meat Pie (pronounced sea pie) is a layered meat pie that was traditionally made with the local game of the Quebec region.”


Monday Slept in the next morning, after overindulging in last night’s dinner, we needed some exercise so off we went Geocaching. We took Cairo and Rebel and devised a route around Mile 108 Lake. The girls took turns at choosing a treasure from each cache that we found and they went home with three items each. They had a good time but we wore them out –
“You walk so far and so fast,” said Rebel ready to call it a day. The trail around the lake is a lovely 10km long walk but we did only pieces. As we walked we admired the properties that adjoin the lake, their glossy green lawns rolling down to the edge.

We felt that we’d earned an afternoon of indolence, so it was chairs and books by the lake followed by cocktails. What a life!

A lot of the men got together and went off on a golfing expedition and their women left alone started a roving cocktail party, from one cabin to another to trailers and motorhomes shaking and mixing fancy concoctions at each location. The group grew in size and as the afternoon hours passed, they were ‘feeling no pain’. We knew nothing about it until Cairo barged into the motorhome later that afternoon maintaining that ‘all the women are drunk’. I told her that was no way to talk and that they wouldn’t do that but she stuck to her guns and later phoned her mother saying “all the women are drunk except Grandma” – a bit of an exaggeration as many of the women were not involved but it sure made me look good to Tracey. It was just good luck that they didn’t know I was home because I’d have been right in the thick of it and my reputation would have been ruined. The golf over and husbands returned and there was a lot of scuffling around as they looked after the children and tried to make dinner.

In the evening, F’s brother Lou organized a whist drive, a fun card game with constantly revolving partners and opponents. About 48 of us played and I was overjoyed when I won 2nd prize - $40. Yippee!

Tuesday – Family photos were to be taken so Geocaching was put aside. Our sister-in-law Ranelle, the family photographer, arranged all the Boivin siblings and their parents in a field, on and around a large tractor; they had been brought up around farming so it was evocative of their early days.

We’ve always loved the game of Bocce but don’t play very often. That was my excuse when my partner and I were knocked out in the first round of a tournament. Fernie and his partner won their round and so progressed to a higher level. I always remember my mother’s comment when we drove along Victoria Drive in Vancouver past the park where all the old gents were out playing bocce “It’s a very dangerous game” she’d utter with a shudder. I’d laugh and point out that it was about as treacherous as lawn bowling. However, years later while on vacation on the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean, we observed the local young men engrossed in their game of bocce. They threw the heavy balls overhand as hard as they could and when the orbs crashed into each other they’d fly in all directions – truly a dangerous game.


Last night, a small float plane landed in Kokanee Bay and coasted on to our beach in front of the cabins. It was a 1956 Beaver that had been remodelled over and over and it looked like new. Gary Henderson, the bush pilot from Fort Nelson agreed to take up five of us for 45 minutes at $75 each. I jumped at the chance having never been in a floatplane before. So Fernie’s two brothers, Lou and Marcel and their respective sons, Matt and Keith and the token female, Moi all clambered aboard. We put on the large headphones with microphones attached and felt a bit like Howard Hughes testing out a new plane. Gary, a quiet smiling 40ish man in jeans and a t-shirt was amused by our apparent naïve enthusiasm. The roar of the engines as they were revved up was deafening and increased the anticipation. We were all terrifically excited and the ride didn’t disappoint. The green Cariboo, beautiful from the ground is even more stunning from the air. We skimmed over treetops and glistening lakes, and buzzed our campground a couple of times and before we knew it, it was over but it was $75 very well spent.


Fernie organized a limit Texas Holdem Poker tournament that evening and I (well known for not being a gambler) was so pleased to spend a quiet night alone – after all, Canadian Idol was on TV. Cairo as normal was carousing with the roving bands of youths.

Wednesday – and the weather’s getting hotter. Fernie’s Dad is really getting into the spirit of things – he emerged from his motel room wearing a predominantly blue but brightly coloured Hawaiian-style shirt (actually it was a California surf board shirt) and a wide brimmed straw-hat with matching blue hat band – very natty.

We’d been singing the praises of Geocaching to all who would listen. Fernie’s brother Tony and Miki his wife showed interest so we took them out on an introductory hunt. We took them to Woodfrog Lake first because it was such a perfect cache in such a perfect location. They needed a GC handle, so we nicknamed them Mikibones. We then mosied on down to 100 Mile House and searched for a couple of new ones. One of them in a tree at the side of Tim Horton’s parking lot was a microcache and really hard to find. We gave up after a while and went in for icecaps and donuts – we needed a sugar fix to clear the brain webs. We looked again and Fernie found it at the back and well in the centre of the tree. Giggling, Miki and I emerged hair amuck and Miki grabbed my arm and said in excitement “That feels so good”. She was talking about finding the cache but the man in the parking lot who had been watching our antics was wondering what we were all doing in the back of the bush. It made us laugh even more uproariously. I think we have a couple of Geocaching converts.

Another potluck dinner – Mexican this time. I made a casserole that I’d gleaned from Charlie Gibson when he was on Good Morning America. I remembered him saying that when his kids came home from college they always asked for his ‘Enchilada Casserole’. It’s actually a junk food dish full of crushed Doritos so I thought it might work well for a crowd and it did. What an amazing array of dishes – probably the best Mexican buffet I’d ever had. Oh the Calories! Many of the family came dressed in Mexican attire; Cairo wore a huge embroidered sombrero and a colourful cotton skirt; two brothers wore straw sombreros and Mexican vests and did a ‘song and dance’ (don’t know exactly how to describe what they did) at every opportunity; the best costume I think was on our niece Laura, who dressed as a bullfighter (not that I approve of the sport – because I don’t – it’s cruel and archaic.).

Thursday – and it’s still getting hotter. After a pancake breakfast put on by brothers Ernie, Lucien and Marcel we grabbed a couple of other geo-newbies, Lou and Louise figuring they’d really enjoy GCing and they did. Their nickname - “the LookyLous”. Lou read the clue ‘up and over and back’ and was out of the car before I stopped it. “I know exactly where it is” he crowed – and he was down under the stairs of the church, in went his arm and out came the cache. 2 more converts.

There was an organized golf tournament this morning and there was a pretty good-sized group involved. A couple of the women participated – perhaps, their men were making sure they stayed away from women’s cocktail parties.

Usually, Angie and Bob and I organize a scavenger hunt, but there just didn’t seem to be the time to fit it in. And there weren’t as many children as other reunions so there weren’t any childrens’ races and games.


Tracey arrived this afternoon along with Petunia (Toonie) her tiny Chihuahua – I was so happy to see her and so was Cairo who had been missing her mother. She will be driving Cairo home as we head north on Saturday. Maggie has never slept so many. Miki made ‘Mango Banana Martinis’ that we sipped at the lake’s edge and Tracey soon caught up to the pace. Lou organized another whist drive but it was so hot they set up the tables outside in the shade by the creek. It was fun but no winnings tonight.

Friday – Hot again! The lazy hazy days have faded one into another filled with sun, laughter and games. Some family members left today and you could feel that it was all coming to an end. I settled up our bill for the week and Rose, the resort owner praised our family group saying that we were such a happy bunch and said she’d be more than pleased to welcome us all back again.

Fernie found a poker game at Gert and David’s this afternoon while Tracey and I vegged out by the lake. A sudden squall came up and the strong wind gusts got under our awning and it looked as if they would take us airborne. The rain poured down. Tracey held down one end while I attempted to unlock the other…..she looked like a wet t-shirted Mary Poppins hanging on while the gale force wind almost lifted her off the ground. Matt ran over and then ran for more help from Tony – it took all of us to secure the awning – and Fernie was still playing poker. He showed up when it was all over.

The storm passed as quickly as it started and I figured we needed cocktails to calm our nerves so I made raspberry martinis – Miki, Tony, and Louise joined us. Fernie and I carted a mound of firewood out of the forest one day while Geocaching and it was still sitting under the motorhome, and this was the last night so we started a campfire at our campsite. Every other night, there had been a communal campfire on the beach in front of the cabins. The group was smaller tonight – a lot of the younger folk had already left for home.

Saturday – That’s all folks! Time to leave. We strolled across the road to Clancy’s for breakfast with Tracey, Cairo, Miki and Tony – a high cholesterol feast of eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and toast – I think I’d have preferred my usual strawberries, yogurt and cereal – I’m sure my heart and veins would agree. We were the first to arrive at Kokanee Bay and the last to pull out. 12:30pm and we were finally on the road.

We only drove as far as Prince George and boondocked at the Walmart. Gert and David got there just before us. A bit of shopping at Costco and Walmart and a visit with Gert and David and that was that. Onward to the Yukon!