An unexpected day

I wasn't going to do another post until after next week but some interesting things have happened that I have to tell you about!

Our dinner party on Thursday night was a great success - we had the owners of a downtown guesthouse over, along with their two little kids and their parents (whom we had never met). This is the couple we met online before leaving Australia. The parents are from Alberta and spend a month here every year visiting their kids/grandkids. I think it was successful because the noise level of the conversation was constant and more than a couple of bottles of wine were consumed! The toys I have saved for decades once again were brought out and enjoyed by the kids.

Yesterday morning as we were having coffee and perusing the outside weather, the inspiration came that we should have a day of sightseeing. It was forecast to be a beautiful day so we packed a picnic lunch and off we went. Our one targeted destination was Mt Washington, the main ski area for the island and about an hour north. As we drove, we decided that after seeing Mt Washington, we would continue further north to Campbell River and see if there were any salmon still in the rivers.

Mt Washington is at an altitude of over 5,000 feet - we were surprised (don't know why) to see snow along the edge of the road as we got closer to the top of the mountain; we were shocked though to see snow everywhere as we approached the resort! We had brought an extra layer of clothing thank heavens so weren't too freezing in the 0 deg. weather. Checked out the main lodge and got lots of information from the clerk in the gift/clothing shop there - including the fact that Angelina Jolie and Celine Dion had both been there! The resort doesn't open for skiing for another month or so but it was busy with lots of renovations etc. going on. I could almost hear our car complaining as its tires were subject to the freezing temperatures of the snow when we drove through a parking area which hadn't been cleared! I have to say though, it was very pretty. I'm sure that's enough of a snow fix now until we head out through the mountains to Edmonton for Christmas!

Apparently it's busy in the summer too - you can take the chairlifts to the top and then hike down, which would be fun as the views from the top would be amazing.

Check out more about Mt Washington here, especially you skiers, snowboarders and hikers!

Last season, Mt Washington had a record amount of snow (over 18 metres) - more than any other ski resort in the world apparently. They are in the process of expanding their learners area and have just finished building these really cool things to help you get around (called Magic Carpets) - we saw them but didn't realize at the time just what they were (photos are an artist's impression from their website). They may be common at ski areas but, because we don't ski nowadays, we aren't up on such things.

From the snow to the ocean...Campbell River (known as the Salmon Capital of the World) is a town of about 30,000 people another hour or so further north. We arrived just after lunch and found a beautiful spot to park beside the ocean to enjoy our picnic - it was a bit too chilly to sit out. Then we did a drive around the town - parts of which are beautiful and parts pretty old and grotty - typical I guess of many towns.

Our lunch spot.

Campbell River neighbourhood with views across to
Quadra Island - where I'll be next week.

Not a great shot, but two of the many totem poles we saw.

I didn't realize that Campbell River is on the 50th parallel.

Campbell River view - not my photo.

The area is home to several native Indian reserves and their influence is seen very strongly in the town - most businesses and parks sport amazing carved statues of Indian themes - fish, birds, people, etc. It was really impressive. **Just did some research on these carvings and discover they are the result of an annual chainsaw carving competition - who knew? Maybe an idea for the Central Coast?  Check out the website for more images.

This year's winner.

And some others.

We drove out of town a bit and saw a sign for a Fish Hatchery so checked that out. They were doing a major renovation so we couldn't see much. We went for a walk and saw a few salmon making their way up the river - also saw several dead salmon along the edges (I won't show you the photos of that). A worker onsite told us "you should have been here a couple of weeks ago, there were so many in the water that you could almost have walked across the river on their backs"! Next year maybe. Lots of big birds were hanging around, waiting I guess for the opportunity of a feed.

Can you see the salmon jumping?? Got to be quick!

Much easier to see in this photo! 

After leaving Campbell River, we headed south towards Nanaimo but along the Oceanside Route - it really is oceanside with lots of spots where the road has amazing views of the water - when not by the water, the road went through pretty forested areas with fall colours still putting on a show and lovely acreages to look at.

We stopped and parked the car in Courtenay for a walk down their main street. What a surprise that was! It's a beautiful town and the shop windows were all done in an autumn theme. The shops were of a quality which would rival Banff or other popular spots but without the heavy touristy feel. I think it is definitely a destination worthy of a revisit. I didn't take any photos of the downtown so the few small images below were "borrowed" from another website.

Right across the river from Courtenay is Comox - home to a Canadian Forces Air Base - which shares facilities with Comox International Airport, similar to the situation in Newcastle. This base mostly focuses on search and rescue operations - not sure how many people are based there but I think it's fairly large - and likely the reason why the town seems prosperous. It's another option for people, or us, flying to and from the island as it's just over an hour from home. The area also has around 30,000 residents.

After our little walk, we hopped in the car, gave Zelda a chance to help us find the way back onto the highway - she failed - so we followed our nose instead. What a great day though - it's always nice to discover and see new things.

This morning we were again having our morning coffee when Brian spied two deer in the front yard - not too unusual. Then came a big buck on the scene and everyone looked nervous! Then came another buck and sandwiched the two deer on the bank at the front of the property. Things were at a standoff for a while until the buck made his move on the doe - she took off with the other deer in pursuit. The second buck I think decided that he was not in the running and had a feed instead! Watching their behaviour, I can see why our front yard takes a beating - they don't care what they step on or walk through or eat - it's all fair game.

On a more trivial note, as I poured my cereal this morning, I remembered my frustrating grocery shopping trip the other day - all packaging in Canada is bilingual and it seemed that every packet in the store was turned so that the French side was facing out! What a pain it was trying to figure out what I was looking for - some things are identifiable by their packaging but as I am still getting used to different brands, that wasn't  very helpful. This is the cereal I am eating at the moment - the cereal here is mostly very sweet and I'm still trying out different ones - have yet to find a favourite. Anyway, one can work on one's French reading skills while eating I guess!

And I couldn't leave without just a couple more beautiful shots from my window...

Yesterday morning's sunrise.

We were surprised to see this ferry come quite close and sit in
the middle of the bay for an hour or so. Next time we saw it leaving
we realized that all the branding on the side had been changed
 and updated to remove the Olympics pictures. 

These leaves seem to be hanging on much longer than on
other trees - much prettier to look at than bare branches.