Last Post

The last day the weather god was teasing me. A huge windstorm kept Strider rocking all night.  It also blew away the worst of the clouds leaving a beautiful fall day. I drove up to Sidney where it took a lot longer to winterIze, sani-dump and wash Strider before I took him to the storage place to sort, pack and clean up. His first storage spot was inappropriate and they were good at finding someplace safer for the winter. I went into Sidney to do last minute shopping and take a walk along the water. The town was bustling. People here talk about micro breweries, crab fishing, the growth of their community and all the amenities they now have.  It felt vibrant and a good place to end the driving part of my coast to coast Odyssey.

This old guy gets flowers and scarfs from people who live in Sidney.

I flew to Ft. St. John and arrived to snow, clean, clear, not too cold and after all this is Canada. Watching the news tonight there is snow in southern BC through most of the roads I was driving on. I feel like I finished just in time. 

Thank you all for sharing this journey with me, so long, until next time.... 

Victoria 3

Rain, rain, rain. I can't really complain after a long talk with friends who just avoided the flooding from Hurricane Mathew. I spent the morning cleaning up and getting rid of things I don't need, sorting out what I will take with me and what I will leave in the van over the winter.  

When my old friend arrived we walked to town along the harbour wall, stopped for lunch, then went onto the Victoria Art Gallery to see a collection of what I thought were antique Chinese tea pots.  There were hundreds of them but they were from 1970-90, unique and not what I was expecting.  The display of historical woodblock prints of erotica were more interesting.  By the time we got back down to the harbour it was raining harder, getting late and the water taxi was waiting. Such an easy way to come home at the end of a good afternoon. 

Pictures of teapots taken on my phone just won't cut it so no photo's today.

Victoria 2

So dear reader I'm winding down and moving from adventure seeker to thinking of Thankgiving (and how much I have to be thankful for) family and home.  Victoria is a good place to make this transition. Today was perfect slow, warm and sunny. I took the water taxi downtown, shopped, had lunch at an outdoor restaurant and walked along the inner harbour. I listened to snippets of conversation from people on the street, table mates and fellow walkers. Two topics dominated the conversations: relationships, whether to start or end them; and real estate, whether to buy or sell, interest rates, capital gains and/or the new tax on foreign owners. I can't remember ever overhearing or even paying attention to what others are talking about. Interesting for today anyway.

 Having spent so much time hear for so many years I thought I knew this city pretty well. I can find my way around, have my favourite places, parks and people. But in the 20 minute taxi ride I learned a lot and will share it with you below.  

Victoria has half the rain, or twice the sun as Vancouver. The bank of clouds to the south I always worry about and which doesn't usually make it here is held back by the mountains in Washington where they get more than 10 feet of rain per year. 

The houses at this marina are the largest, between 14-2400 sq feet, best built and most expensive.  They are hooked up to city water, gas and electric and their connections are flexible enough to raise and lower the 10 foot tides. 

The lease for the RV park is up this year and there

is a good chance it will not be renewed

Purple Martins nest in the bird houses on posts in

the water beside the RV park. They migrate to Brazil for the winter.

The stone retaining wall on this part of the harbour walkway was

designed by the original owner of the house behind it 

to look like a ship. The family still owns and lives in the house.

This is going to be a new marina for 28 extra large luxury yaughts 

Don't get me started. It is also being built on the north shore.

The north shore of the harbour is for non motorized 

watercraft only which accounts for all the kayaks and paddle boards

Rained Out of the Rain Forest

The downside of having such a good day yesterday was I took so many pictures I crashed my computer, or thought I had.  Couldn’t get the little wheel to stop turning or shut it down and until it died sometime in the night and was born again this morning I thought I was in big trouble.  But dear reader as you can see we are back in the ether so to speak.

The other downside was that I woke up to rain, and the forcast was for more and heavier rain for the next few days.  Some of my friends and I have thought it would be great to be on Long Beach in the rain.  Well not this kind of rain, no big storm, no mist, no fog just dull, flat, grey light, lots of wet nothing. I packed up and Strider roard back to the east coast of the island at a blistering speed of 25-60 km/hr most of the way to Alberni.  A stop at McMillan Park for the first time in the fall, and the understory was lovely.  

Now I’m settled into a campground south of Nanaimo.  There was time for a good walk around the forest trails by the water before the rain caught up to me.  It is fine, I’m cozy, will try to load pictures again and am reading a fascinating book, The Gene: An Intimate History.  No kidding, it really is amazing especially because of the latest winner of the nobel prize. 

Victoria

Woke up to more rain.  Regardless I wanted to see Chemainus again and stopped to walk the streets and buy cinnamon buns but the bakery that makes them is closed on Tuesdays.  The town does look picturesque with all the murals, flowers and well cared for old buildings.  The rain cleared a little when I arrived in Duncan to meet with an old friend.  She is doing a wonderful job of directing a community service agency.  It was great to hear what she has accomplished and is planning more yet to come.  Duncan too is growing and had a great restaurant for us to enjoy. 

From there it was an easy drive over the Malahat and into Victoria from the west.  I thought about stopping at some of my favourite places, Goldstream, Royal Roads etc but the rain kept me moving then just when I got near the West Bay Marina/houseboat/RV Park it let up. 

This is a small site I at the beginning of the walking trail that goes all the way to the inner harbour, around the other side and onto to Dallas Road.  I walked about 3/4 of the way to the Empress Hotel and it would only take an hour each way. I learned the water taxi's also stop at our dock. While the RV sites are small the view is big for many of the sites that have people staying all winter.  I think this will be perfect for me the next couple of days. I didn't carry my camera so the pictures from the walk are from my cell phone.   

The view of the RV/Marina/Houseboat Park

The view of the inner harbour

This seagull comes to this spot every day when old lady comes by.  She puts little pieces of bird food in a path to her hand and the sea gull moves eats one piece after another until he gets to her fingers. 

Overlooking Laurel Point my favourite hotel that I've never stayed in and one of the many kayakers out in the evening

The water taxi I will be taking tomorrow

The Blue Bridge, one of my favourite

Do you remember the paddler at Bow Lake just wearing shorts?  

Here it isn't quite as cold and this one looks like he could survive a spill. 

Tofino and Surrounds

The start of the day was cold and rainy.  I snuggled in and read my book for a couple of hours then headed toward Tofino.   On the way I drove up to the top of Radar Hill and found the plaque below live in Edmonton, where the Princess Pats are stationed, and had no knowledge of this. 

Next was my favourite reason to come to Tofino, the Botanical Garden.  It was built by a businessman who came to Tofino for a holiday, fell in love with the place and literally carved the garden out of the rain forest so respectfully that it kept the integrity of the space.  There is a little place to eat with great internet which was how I made my last posts.  

There is something joyous, off beat, and touchingly sad about the whole garden

Part of the trail verges onto Griese Bay the second largest staging area for bird migration in North America  They built a couple of blinds but this time of year quite and peaceful.

A new part of the garden tucked away in the forest is a memorial for the Tsunami in Japan

I had a lovely time there then finally made it into town thinking I would check out the gallery, shops and have dinner.  But I am just not cut out for shopping.  It all felt too busy and my favourite restaurant is no longer in business…..so it was back to the beach for me where I could walk forever, be in awe of the surfers, and watch the sun go down.  The best part was getting enough cell connection to wish my granddaughter a happy 13^th non-birthday. 

This guy held the waves the longest

Until he didn't and even then he was graceful in his going down

It is really nice to have lots of young people around.  Hadn't noticed how many people my age are on the route I have come until I got here and it is a different culture

I was so busy taking pictures of bubbles I didn't notice the wave coming in 

and soaked my feet and pants

At Tofino Strider Makes it Coast to Coast

Tofino

Easy drive to Port Alberni where I stopped for supplies.  I was going to stop at Stamp Falls to see if the salmon were running but it was raining too hard and the road is so slow and windy I decided to keep driving. The road is as twisty as it was 40 years ago the first time I brought the kids but now there are cement edges on the steep, tight turns and knowing what to expect made it a great drive. There was hardly any traffic until we got to one spot where we all piled up and crawled up a hill.  At the top were about 1-200 cyclists riding for a charity fundraiser.  It was pouring rain, there were sag wagons and several police managing the traffic.   As we crept by they were all waving and smiling in front of a sign that says 18% grade.  I’m thinking it is craziness to try to ride down in this weather. 

At any rate the rain kept up until I got to the Pacific Rim boundary and by the time I got to the campground and headed down to the beach there was a small patch of blue. The heavy winds were doing their best to push the rain clouds away and I was so happy to be there.  I bumped up against my age when I started scrambling up on the rocky out crops that I didn’t remember being so sharp and slippery.  It was hard to jump around on but I wanted to get pictures of the red chairs that have been put in all the National Parks across Canada. I'm so glad to have made it coast to coast. 

Our Red Chairs

Some Things Don't Change

Old logs and these plants

Long walks and mist along the beach

Big Sand Castles

Budding sculptors

Intrepid swimmers

It was cold and windy and not hard to go back for a late lunch.  The wind lightened up, the sun came out and it was a great time for photographs.  A guy was setting up his wind kite. I asked if I could take pictures and he was pleased.  He flew back and forth along the breakers and then at the far end of the beach came in to meet me and see if I had anything.  I really needed a 600 but he wanted my email so he could get some.  Then he was back in the water and flying back.  Looks like so much fun.  It is so easy to walk forever, they don’t call it Long Beach for nothing.

The campground is lovely, even has power but the internet is next to zero.  People are walking up and down the road looking like they are playing Pokemon but really just trying to get a signal.  Can get emails and Chris managed to get a call through but I couldn’t keep the connection.  I will go into Tofino and try to post tomorrow.