Hello again residents of the North Thompson Valley. We are now back from another amazing trip while promoting our beautiful valley and Fall Fair & Rodeo. This time our travels took us all the way down to the BC Coast, where we visited the cities of Nanaimo, Ladysmith and Vancouver. We had tons of fun on the way while playing some road trivia.
We arrived at the Harbour Bay departure port early and decided this would be a good opportunity to do a little walking around and hand out Fall Fair brochures to others waiting for ferries.
Once aboard the ferry our next adventure began. Wendy McDermott had taken the time to organize a little scavenger hunt for us. We had to find; a life buoy, a lifeboat, get a picture with and elderly couple, take a picture of something we found funny, find three brochures, get three signatures from different workers on the boat, get a picture at the front of the boat and find three ferry pins.
Once arriving in Nanaimo we went straight to our hotel to get ready for the Miss Nanaimo Ambassador Program Gala that was being held at the brand new Vancouver Island Conference Centre. The MC was weatherman, Gordie Tupper, from CHEK TV. There was a great opening number from the retiring Royalty, and their eight candidates then entertained us.
After the showcase of the top talents, all of the candidates participated in the most nerve-racking portion of the evening; the impromptu questions. They all answered their questions with great poise and understanding and they should all be very proud of themselves. We would like to give huge congratulations to Megan Cawthorne, the new 2011/2012 Nanaimo Ambassador and to Carmen Haarsma and Fallon Benson, Nanaimo’s two Vice-Ambassadors.
On Saturday we started our day by meeting up with all the other visiting Royalty to take part in a tour of the Naniamo Museum. We saw many amazing artifacts and learned how young girls had to act when they were in school, ‘back in the day’. There was a set up of an old fashion classroom where we had to sit with our feet flat on the floor, backs completely straight and our hands placed on our desks. We were also told that our hair should have been pulled back into a ponytail. If we wanted to ask a question we had to raise our hand and wait to be called upon, stand up beside our desk with our hands by our sides, and ask the question. We would then have to wait for the teacher to tell us we may sit down. Things sure have changed since then.
After the museum all of the visiting Royalty got the chance to play laser tag! It was a lot of fun and our very own Queen Alex ended up coming in second. Saturday evening we were off to the Ladysmith Ambassador Program a few kilometres down the gorgeous Island Coast. The night was beautiful, packed full of entertainment and all 13 candidates did an amazing job. Their new team consists of Geordana and Amber, Ladysmith’s two new Princesses and Madeline; Ladysmith’s newest Ambassador.
Early the next morning we were up, ready and fed by 7:30 am. Then we were off to our last adventures of the weekend back on the mainland. On the ferry we ran into Jessica Giles, Ladysmith’s Ambassador for 2010/2011, whom had just retired her crown the night before. She was very excited to be going to UBC for her second year of school and she was headed to get the keys to her first and very own place.
We wandered around the ferry meeting lots of people who had tons of questions for us. We met a senior boy’s baseball team from Nanaimo and an adult men’s rugby team, also from Nanaimo, whose oldest member was 82! Wow, way to go! We talked with both teams about our valley, the Fall Fair and our Pageant Program, and then got some pictures.
Once off the ferry, we went straight to Stanley Park, home of the Vancouver Aquarium. We had a blast!
We got to see everything from fish to sloth’s, and also saw the beluga whale and dolphin show. It was incredible!
Then we went to Metro Town Mall. It is the largest shopping mall in B.C., and might we add, “the most incredible place” that Princess Jessica has ever seen! We walked and walked, but couldn’t possibly visit every store they had as we had to get back on the road and head for home. We wanted to make it back over the very snowy Coquihalla Highway before dark.
Needless to say, it was a very quiet trip back to our beautiful valley…we slept the whole way home!
What an amazing adventure we had. Definitely a trip that none of us will ever forget.
Until next time, your North Thompson Fall Fair and Rodeo Royalty;
Queen Alexandra Brown
Princess Jessica Graves
Princess Seanna Lyons