Thursday, October 29, 2009

Today is John’s birthday – happy birthday hon! All the kids, plus his brother, called to wish him a happy birthday so he had a nice chat with all of them and it made his day to talk to them. Janet & Dave brought him a couple of bottles of beer and a card which was really nice of them.

Today was drizzly but not a real hard rain. This morning we just sort of fiddled around and didn’t do too much. John went over to Janet & Dave’s this afternoon to help Dave load some software on his computer and Janet had asked me to come over but I decided to stay home and do a good cleaning as it is a lot easier to do when I’m here alone.

We had invited Janet & Dave for dinner to help celebrate John’s birthday so Janet came over about 4 and the guys arrived around 5. I had put a pot roast in the slow cooker this morning so it was an easy dinner and I had bought a pumpkin pie for desert (that was John’s birthday cake – LOL) so everyone seemed to enjoy it.

The wi-fi here is driving me crazy, every once in a while it will appear, this morning I got my e-mail and managed to get yesterday’s blog posted and was on the internet for about 10 minutes then the connection was gone never to appear again grrrrr!!!!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Today was overcast and cool but the rain held off until late afternoon so we didn’t mind that.

This morning I loaded up the laundry and headed to the park Laundromat and hoped while I was doing the laundry I could get on the internet there. The laundry was really busy so it took me a while to get done, I got two loads in right away but had to wait for another washer to do the 3rd load and then had to wait for dryers. Meanwhile, I was off and on the internet but did manage to get most of my blog posted up to date and was able to finish it when I got back before I totally lost the connection again. I also chatted with a few people while there so it helped pass the time, it’s funny, a few people wanted to talk about my Mac computer and a few asked if we were in the Airstream then said how nice it looked etc. We have certainly had a lot of compliments on our trailer, even the fellow directing traffic going onto the ferry said “nice Airstream” as we went by. The length also seems to get attention, at 34’ it is long!

We went into Parksville this afternoon and John stopped at the Dodge dealer to make an appointment to have it checked out as we seem to have a bit of a transmission fluid leak. Friday morning at 8 a.m. is the appointment, you can sure I won’t be joining him to do that!!
We stopped at a mall that had a Bargain Shop so I stopped there to get some cards. A lady also looking at the cards said she didn’t realize their cards were half price so I said that I knew they were in Ontario so hoped the same was true here. She asked where in Ontario we were from and when I said Waterloo she got all excited as that is where they lived before coming here – small world!

Then it was on to Save-On-Foods where I again went into shock at the prices, it seems the only decently priced groceries in this province are at Super Wal Mart or Supercenter, hopefully we will find either one of those in Victoria to stock up on a few things we can’t get in the states.

On the way home we drove a bit further up the Ocean Highway past the park, then headed home to get dinner ready – it was a tough one to make tonight – leftovers!

John’s Tudors is on tonight so I know what he will be watching and I will pick up a new book.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

We awoke to sunshine this morning, how wonderful! The fall colours here are still nice as seen in this picture.




This morning, as I was drying my hair, we lost the hydro, so John checked all our breakers inside and determined the problem was at the post so off he went to the office to tell them. The fellow from the park came and started checking things and it didn’t look good for our post and of course this is they year we left the extra cable at home as we haven’t ever needed it so decided we wouldn’t bother bringing it along – bad mistake as we didn’t have enough cable to get to the next post over.

Janet & Dave were picking us up so I called and told them our problem and Dave brought over some cable so we got our hydro working and left the guy trying to figure out how to fix the problem.

We went to Cathedral Grove which is an old growth forest, what an amazing place and we enjoyed the walking trail through the woods looking at all the old trees and new growth. The maple leaves there are humungous, I have never seen anything like them and the size of some of the tree trunks is awesome. All of the fallen trees (and a lot of the still standing ones) are covered with moss and then there is new growth growing out of them.

Cathedral Grove
A Maple Leaf


John and I in Front of a Fallen Tree (Just to give an idea of the tree size and the leaf size)


Janet & Dave


More Cathedral Grove








After Cathedral Grove we went to Goats on Roof at Comox for lunch, it is a neat place with sod on the roof and goats.

Yes, There are Actually Goats on the Roof!






A Nice Big Rabbit


We had a nice lunch and wandered around a few shops then headed on to Englishman Falls. We were the only people at the falls and they were beautiful, you had to walk across a bridge to see them and after viewing the falls we enjoyed a bit of a walk around there then headed home through Nanaimo.

Englishman Falls




And the View from the Other Side of the Bridge





The Moss and Growth on Tree Stumps is Amazing


When we got back we stopped at Janet & Dave’s for a bit and booked rooms at Cox Beach Resort in Tofino for next week Monday through Wednesday. Thanks to Steve for putting us on to Expedia.ca to look for good prices when going there.

We got home about 6, dinner is now over and I am now going to download my pictures, if I can stay awake – LOL! I have to do laundry tomorrow so hopefully I can get on the internet at the Laundromat and get this posted.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Monday, October 26, 2009

This morning was another very rainy morning, poor John just got totally soaked hooking us up and of course, wouldn’t you know it, the rain stopped just as he got done – grrrrr!

We had reservations for the 12:45 p.m. ferry from Tswassen to Duke’s Point, Nanaimo and were at the Tswassen terminal in lots of time, probably wouldn’t have needed the reservation but felt it was best to have it. By the time we got to the terminal the sun was out and it had turned into a nice, but cool, day. The crossing was good and we got off the ferry about 3 and as we came out onto the dock I had to put on my sunglasses as the sun was so bright, ten minutes later it was pouring rain again.

It was a wet drive to Qualicum Beach and another soaker for John to set up – did I mention that we are getting tired of rain!!! When I had called the park they said they had wi-fi but when we checked in she said they had wi-fi but it is kind of spotty, which seems to mean non-existent – great!!

Janet and Dave had invited us for dinner and she had a delicious meal of lasagna, garlic bread and cesar salad with lemon meringue pie for desert. We have been treated to so many good meals lately I am going to start putting on weight if I’m not careful! We have just got home and it is time to crawl into my nice warm bed as it has been a long day.

We have plans for some sightseeing tomorrow with Janet & Dave so we only hope the weather is nice for a change.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Today is our son-in-law Tim’s birthday – Happy Birthday Tim.

Finally, we had an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day with temperatures in the mid 50’sF (13-14C). This morning I got our ferry reservations made for the 12:45 p.m. crossing on Monday from Tswassen to Duke's Point and a campground reservation in Qualicum Beach so that is done.

We went over to Cheryl & Steve’s about 11 and with Steve driving we headed to Steveston, a fishing centre on the coast. On the way we stopped at a market so Steve & Cheryl could get a couple of pumpkins and we all picked up lots of nice fresh veggies. The market was a zoo with kids checking out the pumpkins and all the people buying the fruit & veggies.

We arrived at Steveston and what a cute town with lots of little shops and restaurants. Of course the main event is Fishermans Wharf and the fishing boats with their fresh catch.

The first thing we did was stop at a fish store where Cheryl bought some salmon pepperoni – yummy! We then walked to PaJo’s Fish & Chips and got delicious fish and chips for lunch. They only have outdoor seating and we were fortunate to get a picnic table where we could watch the harbour while enjoying our lunch.

Steveston Harbour


Enjoying Lunch


Swan in Harbour


John & Steve Meet New Friends!



We then walked out to a large park along the shore where there were lots of walkers, joggers, cyclists, fishermen and people flying kites. We watched some of the boat traffic going by – just a great place to enjoy the scenery and people watch.

Ship Leaving Harbour


Harbour


Tug Pulling Barges of Wood Chips


More Boats


It was then back to the wharf to make our fish purchases, we ended up buying a bandit fish, an ocean perch and another type of fish. Cheryl bought some shrimp, some whole and some with the head removed and she also bought two green sea urchins.

Checking Out the Fish





Steve & John With Our Selection


On the way back to the car John and Cheryl went into the first fish store we had visited and Cheryl bought some haddock cheeks and John bought some more salmon pepperoni.

We went back to Steve & Cheryl’s and had a great dinner of different types of fish and shrimp as well as veggies and potatoes and all topped off with apple pie and ice cream. Steve’s mom came for dinner and she really enjoyed the fish and the sea urchins, which you eat like sushi with a bit of wasabi and soy sauce.

Steve and Cheryl have had scafritti done on their house and it looks really neat. They have it around the front of the house


and then this one is in a room which originally had a hot tub but is now being turned into an exercise room.


They also still have lots of flowers in bloom.


We can’t thank Steve & Cheryl enough for all their hospitality, taking us around and wonderful meals, we truly appreciate all they have done for us while we have been here.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.