Sun = Fun

Imagine this scene - it is the August long weekend, you are in Victoria and a miracle happens... the Sun finally makes a weekend appearance! What would you do? We started by going to the beach (seemed like a logical place to start).

Soaking up the rays.

Blinded by the light.

We stayed at the beach just long enough to avoid scorching our pale skin. Then it was off to Penny Farthing for lunch and beer on the patio. After some contemplation on how to best enjoy the Sun, we decided... what better way to enjoy than with an impromptu camping trip? We packed up the car and set off up Hwy 1.

Viewpoint off Hwy 1.

Looking out at Brentwood Bay.

Salt Spring Island in the distance.

Back on the road again, we headed towards Cowichan Lake where Josh was camping. We passed through the metropolis of Youbou and hit a dirt/gravel logging road. At this point, we are thinking, "wow, we are really in the middle of nowhere!". That is until I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the string of cars that had accumulated behind us - guess we weren't the only ones in the middle of nowhere. After about 30 minutes on this road we began to wonder if we would really be able to find Josh in this land of grey-dust covered forest. Then it happened, we spotted his truck! We had arrived. And the campsite was amazing!

Might be a better view without the missing trees.

View from the campsite.

We spent the evening relaxing by the campfire and enjoying a few beers.

Getting the fire started.

The campers.

In the morning we were greeted by dense fog covering the lake.

Where did the world go?

It didn't take long for the Sun to cut through the fog and lead us into another gorgeous day. We couldn't resist staying at the camp a little longer than planned and enjoying the day.

Ahh . . . The Sun is good.

Cam the fish.

Our campsite.

Once we decided we had officially had too much Sun, we packed up and headed back to Victoria where we had an evening picnic planned with James, Marie-France and Marianne. It was the perfect way to top off a great weekend.

Yummy picnic by the ocean.

View from our picnic.

ALO with Hayley Sales

James invited us out to last Tuesday to check out at ALO at Lucky Bar. We didn't know anything about the band, but James was familiar with them from his Santa Cruz days. ALO opened for Jack Johnson at a number of his recent shows and the music they played was similar in attitude, but with more freedom for the individual musicians to show off.

Hayley Sales was the first act and she was mostly harmless. She seemed like a nice girl and her songs were the sweet kind of music you might enjoy on a summer's day, but it wasn't going to send us hustling to the record store.

Hayley Sales.

It didn't take ALO long to get the crowd into things. A jamming number they called the Roses and Clover song got the band and everyone else loose. Their radio single "Girl I Wanna Lay You Down" was a big hit with many of the females joining in and crooning along. We only caught about half the show, it was a late start by Victoria standards and it was a school night, which is a shame because these guys were rockin' it.

This moustache was worth the price of admission.

Frontman Zach Gill.

One more note, that these guys sounded so good was incredible, because the sound at Lucky Bar is terrible. Time to get some new speakers.

Provincial Park Pandemonium

We managed to be in three provincial parks in a span of about six hours. Neither of us could recount actually having been in three provincial parks in our entire lifetimes in Ontario. After we left Cameron Lake we headed to Englishman River Falls Provincial Park to check out more waterfalls.

Upper Englishman Falls.

Lower Englishman Falls.

Somehow, this massive tree is growing sideways.

We drove back in to Whiskey Creek for an ice cream cone lunch, then it was time for the beach. We drove through Parksville and checked out their massive beach, but decided to press on to Rathtrevor Provincial Park on Van Isle's east coast.

Can you spot three crabs?

A bizarre shrine to a dead crab.

At low tide the beach stretches out forever.

What happened to July?

We had a lot fun hunting for crabs and other strange lifeforms in the tidal pools, but eventually it was just too cold and windy for the beach. The weather might have some advantages here, but we sure miss the heat.

Camping

Last Friday we packed up the car and headed north for some camping. We pulled in to Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park around 8, and set ourselves up. Neither of us are big campers, but, as Ron Burgundy might say, "When in Rome . . . " The campground had lots of tree cover and the sites offered a fair bit of privacy.

Cheers!

Twilight backgammon.

Saturday morning we got up and explored the park. There was a short trail up and down the Little Qualicum River, with a couple of bridges by the falls.

Little Qualicum River

Actually I prefer mine overeasy.

The upper falls. You should definitely check out the larger picture.

The upper falls again.

The lower falls.

We had hoped to spend the afternoon at the beach at Cameron Lake, but apparently the Sun hates us. We ended up driving into Port Alberni for lunch and a few supplies we'd forgotten.

A bold claim. We're not sure they backed it up. Further investigation required.

We had a good time Saurday night. Brenda made s'mores, we ate hot dogs and drank beer, life was grand.

Brenda's infamous spider dog.

Tofu + Fire ≠ Good

Weeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Sunday morning we swung by Cameron Lake and said goodbye to the park. We had a blast and still had most of Sunday to do some more exploring on the island, but we'll leave that for the next post.

Cameron in Cameron Lake.