Vacation Adventures

A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking. And I'm……… taking one.
Dear friends, I am now on the 4th day of a 2 week vacation and I am LOVING it.
It's basically a family reunion -- all four of my siblings and their spouses [minus one] are together for a time of rest, relaxation and frivolity. And booze.
Not a lot of families could do this sort of thing and get along harmoniously. Mine can!
So far, here on day 4, we all wish it would last forever, and our only sad moments are when we realize it must end at some point.
We're staying at a beautiful place in Vernon, British Columbia.
And the word "beautiful" is an understatement. You can see more about it HERE.
I took the above photo minutes ago from the deck, as I write this.
There is so much I could say about my trip so far, but I'll focus on one humorous incident that happened yesterday.
We all went on a nature hike in the afternoon. [See picture below… yours truly is the fifth hiker from the left].
After our hike we were hungry and so we stopped at a pizza joint to order some food. The proprietor at first misinterpreted our intentions and started arranging some tables to seat all eight of us down while we still perusing the menu at the front entrance of the place. My brother-in-law and I, we noticed this and went over to say we would just be ordering the pizza as a take-out. The guy looked up and said, "Well, fuck you, then!" with this serious look on his face, and promptly added "Don't stay here, I don't give a fuck! I don't give a shit what you do" and several other things like this, all with expletives. THEN he sort of smiled and said "I'm just kidding" but by then, my bro-in-law was outside, fuming.
You don't talk to Tom that way..... he is a veteran prison guard and has no time for such……… hilarity.
It was weird as hell, I must admit.
The others had not heard this verbal exchange.
So now Tom is telling several others what the guy said to him and these factions arose.... some of us just wanting to leave the place and others [mostly unaware of what just happened] kept looking at the menu and stuff...... ordering. By now the owner was behind the counter. A bunch of us decided to leave as Tom was going to his car, thoroughly disgusted with this crazy whacko. We left about four of our crew behind and we went back to the house.
I was one that left..... on the way, Tom was all, "I would NOT give that guy any business. He's obviously deranged."
So we arrive back here and open beers and try to forget about it...... anyhoo..... half an hour later, the others arrive. They get out of the car nearly falling over [drunk] because after we had gone, the owner turned all nice and gave everyone FREE drinks...... strawberry daiquiri, beer, white wine, and then refused any money for the FOUR pizzas he had made. Pizzas that were supremely excellent. As in, there is no way he would accept any money. The bill was supposed to be something like $70 without the booze...... he would not take one cent for either thing.
Ahhh… that is British Columbian hospitality.
We've considered going back there and having a few drinks -- maybe even another pizza or two.
But then again, by now the guy has probably come down off of whatever drugs he must have been high on, and we don't want to risk even stranger adventures with his sobriety.
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