Monday, November 3, 2009

I woke up to hear rain on the roof during the night, great, just what we need for our drive to Tofino!

We went over to Janet & Dave’s for about 10 and they said they would drive so we loaded everything into the back of their truck and put the suitcases etc. in big tubs and the cooler in a plastic garbage bag to keep it dry as Dave didn’t want to put the cab on the truck.

It had stopped raining when we left but the whole drive we were in and out of rain with periods of sun – a strange day. It seems to be a tradition that people in the area of Cathedral Grove take their carved pumpkins and put them along the side of the road after Halloween – neat to seem all lined up along the way.

We stopped at Tim’s in Port Alberni then drove up to a provincial park where there is a fish ladder for the fish to use when they go to spawn. Fortunately, we hit a period where it wasn’t raining so walked down to the ladder and there were a lot of fish there and what a gorgeous part of the river it was, the water was just roaring through. Of course, guess who had packed their camera in the suitcase so I didn’t get any pictures.

The drive to Tofino was really pretty, when it wasn’t raining, but there were a lot of low lying clouds on the mountains. The sun came out just as we arrived – how good is that!

We are staying at the Cox Bay Beach Resort, Janet and I booked it through Expedia and the cost was $99/night so we were both worried that it might not be as nice as it had looked, however, it is every bit as nice as advertised. There are no vehicles allowed around the buildings, they provide carts to load your stuff on to take to your room, no big deal and it looks nice without vehicles all over the place. Janet and Dave’s room is right across from ours so that is handy for visiting.

It was advertised as fully furnished and they weren’t kidding, there is even a dishwasher and stacked washer and dryer in each unit. The dishes, silverware etc. are all good quality and the pots and pans are Paderno. We figure it is pretty new and we enjoyed the fireplace tonight.

We are right on the ocean, with a beautiful view, how lucky can we get. Today it was too late to do anything so tomorrow we hope to do some sightseeing and hiking, they are calling for a nice day so here’s hoping.

Views of the Ocean






Cox Bay Beach Resort


John on the Patio


Janet Playing Hide & Seek


This is the Inside of Our Unit





We brought dinner with us, Janet had made chicken wings and I brought the rest of the fixings so we had dinner at their place.

I am having trouble keeping my eyes open, so it is time to say good night and I will post this in the morning.

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

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Wow, another day of sunshine, how great is that!

We had a pretty quiet day, John and I went into Parksville to pick up a few groceries then came home and I went over to do a load of laundry.

We stopped at the office on the way out and paid for another week and I complained about the wi-fi so the lady said she would reboot it again. When I went to do the laundry she rebooted it and it worked fine in the office so I managed to get a couple of days blogs posted, caught up on the news, read blogs etc. Of course, when I got home nary a signal was to be had. The owner came over, totally surprised that there was no signal at the trailer, but I doubt that he will do much about it.

The Little Qualicum River runs beside the park so John and I walked over to see of we could see any salmon heading up to spawn, we didn’t see any but the river was pretty.





Tonight will be a quiet evening and we will get ready for our trip to Tofino.

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

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween! Today was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day – wow, did we like that! Here are some pictures I took on the way to Janet & Dave's and of their house.

Our Site at Riverside Resort


Looking Back Towards the Park


Looking out to the Gulf Islands


Janet & Dave's House & Garden




We picked up Janet & Dave about 11:30 and went into Nanaimo, we were meeting our friend Janet J. at Costco about noon. Janet G., Janet J. and I have been friends since high school and Janet J. lives in Duncan and works at U of Vic. John and I were good friends many years ago in Sarnia with Janet and her first husband, who has since passed away. Four years ago, when I was finishing my treatments for cancer the two Janets flew east and spent a week with us, what a great time we had and they were there to help me celebrate my last day of radiation, how’s that for good friends!


Janet J., Janet G and I


We haven’t seen Janet J. since October of ’05 so it was great to see her today and get caught up on our lives. We spent the afternoon doing what women do best – shopping and talking, and the guys went off and did their own thing then we all met up at Swiss Chalet for an early dinner. Being Halloween we didn’t want to be too late getting back - it was about 6:30 when we dropped Janet & Dave off.

Janet & Dave’s daughter, who lives in Victoria, was supposed to meet us also but she called this morning and said she wasn’t feeling great so was going to pass. I was sorry we didn’t get a chance to see her again. We will see Janet J. again as she is going to come for dinner on the 10th when we are in Victoria.

I have a good book so will try to finish it tonight, sure can’t use the internet so hopefully I can get on tomorrow while I’m doing laundry.

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

Friday, October 30, 2009

John was up early this morning to take the truck into Mr. Dodge to have some work done on it - $800+ later he was home! We needed new front brake pads and rotors plus we had a transmission leak that they fixed.

There was a bit of sun this morning but mainly it was a cloudy and misty day with a couple of good showers thrown in for good luck – LOL. It was pretty mild with a high of about 65F (18C), that’s the warmest we have seen it in a long time.

This afternoon we went over to Janet & Dave’s and John worked on their computer again and Janet and I went shopping. We went to a neat little store in Coombs, Bamboozles, and then went to Parksville to Shoppers so Janet could pick up some butter she had a rain check for, then went to another little shop that sells used furniture and funky clothes, then Janet treated me to coffee and a Rice Crispy square. By the time we came out of the coffee shop it was raining and I hadn’t been able to find my rain jacket in the truck so I got a bit damp getting back to the truck.

We got back to their place about 6 and they made a great dinner of barbecued steak, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob and a broccoli salad. When Dave was barbecuing the rain came down in buckets, fortunately their patio is covered so he stayed dry. It rained for quite a while but had stopped when we left to come home so we managed to get back without getting wet.

I am sitting here with my computer on but the internet only comes on for a minute or so, not enough time for me to post this so I will have to wait until it lasts for a few minutes, most frustrating.

Sandra asked me when we are heading into the states – we will be heading over on Monday Nov. 16th. We are going to stay here until the 9th as next week we are going to Tofino for a couple of days so we figured we would stay another week so we could move on to Victoria on a Monday, then I have booked a week at West Bay Marine Village in Victoria. It looks like a nice park, we have a site looking out over the marina and when I called and booked it yesterday the fellow assured me they have wi-fi that works, oh I hope he’s right!!! They have a winter rate of $230+ tax and the site we are going to be on is $45/night during the regular season so it seemed like a pretty good deal. We were told that Fridays and Sundays are really busy for the ferries so thought it would be better to wait until a Monday to get the ferry over to Port Angeles. I still have to do that booking but can’t do it until I get a good internet connection.

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

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.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Today is our daughter Kelly’s birthday – Happy Birthday Kel, we hope it was a great one! We enjoyed our chat with you and hope you had a nice evening.

We woke up to rain this morning and the prospect of another wet, cool day. John went out first thing to get his hair cut and when he came home he said it was a crummy day out so I called Steve and asked him if Fort Langley, which we were going to do with them today, was outside stuff and he said pretty well so I suggested that we forget it. Steve certainly didn’t argue with me about it. We decided they would come over to our place about 2 and we would play cards then have dinner.

After talking to Steve I went over to the lounge at the office and got my blog caught up and did some other stuff on the internet. The connection is really good and fast there so it eliminates a lot of frustration from trying to get on it here and get something done.

Last night I had said I would do pulled pork in the slow cooker for when we got back from Fort Langley so it was a fun afternoon and dinner was really easy to get on the table. Steve & Cheryl brought a broccoli coleslaw that was really good and some salad that was left over from last night.

On Tuesday when we were at Steve & Cheryl’s we played a board game called Pente, lots of fun, and they brought it over today so we played that for quite a while then reverted to euchre. John was the only one not to win a game of Pente so he will be looking for another match in the hopes of winning one. Steve & Cheryl gave us one of their boards as they had two, but I don’t think it would be good for just John & I to play as we would probably be ready to kill each other – LOL!

Steve & Cheryl left a little bit ago and it was windy and cool but there were stars in the sky – could tomorrow be a nice day for a change? We have plans for tomorrow and it is an outdoor adventure so hopefully it will be nice or at least not raining!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow and would be happy to see some sun.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Well, we woke up to overcast skies but no rain so that was better than the weather reports had called for.

We decided to check out Granville Island today and hope that it wouldn’t rain. We probably would have never found it without the help of “Alice” as I have yet to find a really good map of this area, but we did find it and then the next 100 yards was to find a parking spot. There wasn’t an outside spot to be found so we went into a parking garage – oh great, the spots were made for something the size of a smart car not a big truck. We finally found an end spot and John backed in there, we were hanging out at the front but being at the end we figured we wouldn’t really block anybody. His parking in our underground spot at our condo paid off as he had got really good at backing into small spots there!

We walked around and enjoyed browsing through the shops but the prices were well out of our price range so didn’t buy anything. We spent a long time walking through the market – everything looked so nice and fresh but again we didn’t buy anything as I really didn’t need anything. We lucked out as it didn’t rain while we were there!

Some Pictures Taken at the Market








We got back to Steve & Cheryl’s about 5 and Jim & Linda were already there so we had a great visit and Cheryl had a fabulous dinner - salmon & tuna, potatoes, veggies, salad and then apple pie and ice cream for desert. I am still feeling full!

It started to rain about 8 and it looks like it will be another night of rain – at least the sound of rain on the roof is soothing but I don’t want to be soothed for another two or three days!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow and would be happy to see some sun.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Today was overcast and looked like it was going to rain so I decided to get the laundry done as it didn’t look like much of a day to drive to Whistler.

Wouldn’t you know it, about the time I got my laundry in the washer the sun came out and it was lovely the whole time I was in the Laundromat. By the time I came back and got everything put away it had clouded over again – grrrrr!!

I needed to get some groceries and Jim & Linda had told us where a new Super Wal Mart is that isn’t too far from here so we went there and got some shopping done. By the time we were walking in to the store it was raining again and has rained off and on ever since. I am really getting tired of rain and need a good dose of sun!

The wi-fi here is the pits so I took my computer with me while I did laundry and it was great there so I think that is where I will have to go to post my blog as it takes forever from here.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow and would be happy to see some sun.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Today didn’t rain but it also wasn’t very sunny. Steve picked us up about 11 a.m. and took us to their place where we enjoyed a wonderful day with him and Cheryl.
Cheryl had a nice lunch for us and we sat and visited for quite a while, then noticed the fog was rolling in so decided if we were going to go out we’d better get going. Steve drove down to the White Rock pier and we walked out the pier to the end where the marina is. By the time we got out to the end of the pier we couldn’t see back to shore for the fog and it was damp and cold but it was still a nice walk. I didn’t have my camera and was sorry I had forgotten it as there were a couple of herons out on the breakwall and a seal in the harbour.

Steve then gave us a tour of White Rock before returning to their place. We played a board game called Pente, that was fun, and then Steve went and picked up his mom and fish and chips for dinner – yummy. We enjoyed chatting with his mom as she lived in Sarnia as a young girl so told us things she remembered.

All in all, a lovely day and we had a great time. We just got home so I will get this posted before going to bed.

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

Monday, October 19, 2009

Wow, we woke up to sun this morning, at first we weren’t sure what we were seeing, just all this brightness in the sky, and then realized it was sunshine.

We got away from Harrison Hot Springs shortly after 11 a.m. – we weren’t in a hurry as we only had 120 km (75 miles) to travel, and within 20 minutes of leaving the park we were into overcast weather again. Fortunately it didn’t rain but we also didn’t see the sun again until around 4:30.

We had an uneventful trip, exactly how we like it, and are now at the Pacific Border RV Park and are here for a week. This park is right at the border, if we had missed the street into the park we would have been at customs waiting to cross into the states, it seems like a nice park with all the amenities. When I was checking in the gal on the desk said laundry is $1/load, I just about went into shock at the price, gotta like it.

Our Home for the Next Week


After we got set up I went over and checked out the laundry – oh, oh the machines were all busy so will have to go back another time. The pool and hot tub look nice so I am looking forward to checking them out further.

John is out barbecuing steaks for dinner and I have my end of dinner all ready so we will eat shortly and then have a quiet evening.

We Even Had a Bit of Sunset Tonight


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

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Well, it finally stopped raining about midnight last night. I was beginning to think we would turn into ducks if it continued much longer – LOL! Today was mainly overcast with a few peeks of sunshine and temperatures of about 14C (58F) so not a bad day.

We drove up to Hope this morning, I wanted to check out the tunnels but we couldn’t find them and I don’t think the driver was really thrilled with the idea so I didn’t push it. We were going to check out the Bridal Veil Falls but the park was closed so didn’t get to do that either.
We then drove to Chilliwack and found a grocery store so stopped and got a couple of groceries, and hey, they were a reasonable price so I was happy. We took another route back home and then had a bit of time to get ready before Jim & Linda came for dinner.

We had a good dinner and a nice evening visiting. I checked with Jim what I thought would be the route we would want to take tomorrow go to the park near White Rock and he confirmed that would be the best way to go so now I am not totally dependent on “Alice” as she sometimes has funny ideas of how to get someplace!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow and hope it is a nice day for driving.