Brenda and Cam's BC Adventure

The Big Trip - Toad River to William A. Switzer Provincial Park

2009-02-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

Greetings at Toad River Lodge.

2915 km - We're having a pleasant drive on Hwy. 97, we've seen six more sheep, a black bear, and some deer. We also made a pit stop at Toad River and had some scrumptious cookies.

Hey sheep!

Space sheep.

That'll be close enough, thanks.

Bears are best from a safe distance.

3004 km - Foiled! Or maybe 'saved' would be a better word. A friendly gas station attendant told us the road in the NWT was in rough shape and apparently it has been closed and washed out for awhile. We are disappointed to miss the NW but we'll try to take advantage of the time in Jasper/Banff. For now we will make do in Fort Nelson.

What more could you want in a store?

Stay classy, Fort Nelson.

3005 km - After a nigth at the Lakeview Hotel, we are heading out on our altered route. We showered, which was great. And Dan's Neighbourhood Pub supplied us with a hot meal. Life is good.

3308 km - Our detour route is a pretty boring drive, there was even an odometer check at one point. We have seen some wildlife though. We saw a mother bear with three cubs putting our black bear count up to 17. We saw 6 wild horses but what we've really been looking out for are moose or caribou. Unfortunately we saw one a few minutes ago, she was dying a slow death on the shoulder of the road.

It was strange to see horses just wandering around by the road.

In Dawson Creek.

3480 km - We have spent much of our trip on Hwy. 97, but after reaching Mile '0' of the Alaska Highwway we are heading southeast on Hwy. 2. This will be our last BC highway. We're almost in Alberta.

3521 km - Weeeeee! We are in Alberta. We will miss BC. BC Parks and Tourism sure made planning the first leg of our trip easy. Thanks to all the wonderful people we've encountered so far in BC, AK and the Yukon.

Province #2!

My, that's a big beaver you've got there. (In Beaverlodge.)

Grand Prairie is the proud home to the 2nd biggest Sun Dial in N.A.

3852 km - So, Cam and I are chickening out. We drove over 800 km today to camp a couple of hours out of Jasper, only to decide to drive another 100 km and find a hotel. The reason? Crazy lightning and intermittent downpours. Rain we were ready for, we have the tarps to prove it. But the lightning scared us off. Are you supposed to sleep in a tent among the trees in lightning? I guess the truth is that Cam and I are still fine tuning our camping skills. We still have many camping nights ahead of us - let's hope we actually camp.

3937 km - Ok, I take back some of my last entrry. Cam and I did camp after all. We drove about an hour closer to Jasper and the lightning storm seemed to stop - so we set up camp. And saw a moose, completely alive and everything. Now we are off to Jasper.

Moose at night.

Cam at night.

Cam's hair at dawn.

The Big Trip: Boya Lake to Muncho Lake

2009-01-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

2334 km - Not much to see on the road today. We did see a fox, and the welcome sign to Dease Nutz . . . I mean Dease Lake was pretty awesome. We're just leaving Boya Lake P.P. now. It is a gorgeous spot, the water is coloured like Lake Louise and it is surrounded by thousands of trees and some mountains.

Technically leaving BC for the third time on the trip . . .

. . . This time for the Yukon.

2482 km - We have now been to the Yukon . . . and left it. The last stretch of highway in BC was pretty dodgy, but our tough as nails Loon made it through. We toured the sign forest, picked up some essentials (gas, ice & chips) and now find ourselves back in BC. We have our eyes peeled for buffalo and are looking forward to some hot springs. The people sure were friendly in Watson Lake, maybe one day we will be back with a sign of our own.

The sign post forest's size is mind-blowing.

No towns named Cam, but I bet your hometown is there.

Salt Spring and Waterloo content.

2628 km - The Alaska Highway is a pretty smooth road. So far we have seen two buffalo and stopped to see a whirlpool on the Liard River. It's a pretty hot day for buffalo so the ones we have seen weren't interested in doing much besides wagging their tales.

Whirlpool action.

En route to the hot springs.

Steam coming off the pond.

Awesomeness.

2683 km - We just saw a buffalo pee. It is going to be a good day. The Liard River Hot Springs were all we expected and it was great to relax in them. They were too hot for us at the source, so we chilled near the middle with all the American RVers. It was another great night. It was still light out when we packed it in at 11:30 last night. And after calling home and filling up with gas, we are on the road again.

Buffalo pee action shot!!!

Trout River valley.

2720 km - We are now in Muncho Lake Provincial Park and have just returned from an unsuccessful sheep hunting expedition. The Trout River is home to a mineral lick which sheep frequent, just not this morning. It is likely that Frito Lays Muncho snack is named after this park since Munchos are basically salt licks.

Tasty minerals.

Approaching Muncho Lake.

Muncho is the first big lake in the Rockies . . .

. . . And it is gorgeous.

2741 km - Muncho Lake is beautiful. It is certainly a rival to the other famed lakes of the Rockies. The water is a stunning aquamarine caused by jade and other mineral deposits, and on a clear Sunny day like today the mountains and trees all reflect clearly on the surface. AND!! As I am writing we spotted two sheep! A female was right in the middle of the road and the male (with big horns) was off to our left. We stopped on the road because we didn't know what to do, but an impatient truck driver pulled out from behind us and drove right between them. That was enough to get the sheep off the road and now we are once again heading south.

The waters of Muncho Lake.

Road sheep.

Apparently she has the right-of-way.

I'm a ram.

The Folded Mountain.

The Big Trip - Bear Glacier to Dease Lake

2008-12-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

At Strohn Lake.

Bear Glacier cutting through the valley.

And emptying into Strohn.

Entering Stewart.

1702 km - Stewart, BC and we have just now reached gas more expensive than Victoria at $1.40/L.

The paved road ends at the border.

Good advice while in the Tongass National Forest.

This pylon is all that marks this particular border crossing. Easily the least intense American border crossing we've ever been a part of.

End of the road. Even in June the road to the edge of the glacier was snowed in.

The Salmon Glacier in all its awesome glory.

Marmot sighting!

Trapped! There was just enough room to manoevre around this rock slide.

Swords?

1767 km - Just leaving Stewart now. So far today we've crossed the Can-U.S. border four times and seen two glaciers and some marmots. Hyder, AK is the dustiest town I've ever been in, the Loon has gone from green to grey. Glaciers are awesome to behold, massive rivers of ice. Parts of them are white, some are a vivid light blue and other parts are dark with the earth they are dragging along. The road to Salmon Glacier from Hyder was pretty treacherous but we survived and the scenery was worth it. Today Alaska, tomorrow the Yukon, our trip kicks ass.

1840 km - Our black bear sighting count has increased to 6 so far. No grizzlies yet. But we did see a porcupine.

Bears like it near the road.

Bell II?

1856 km - Make our count 9!

1926 km - Ouch! 148.9 ₵/L for gas in Bell II, one of B.C.'s most ridiculously named communities.

1991 km - Finally we have escaped the clutches of the nefarious CBC, we are unable to pick up any radio signals and the MP3 player is out of juice. I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, switch.

2011 km - Holy fuck! Brenda's swift action just saved the trip, and the Loon's brakes saved us from injury. A black bear bolted out on to the road and we just missed it, seriously, like within a foot or two. Holy fuck. Our bear count is now at 11.

Setting up at Kinaskan Lake.

Another gorgeous spot.

Nice pokey stick.

2046 km - We have our first campfire of the trip going now, it was too windy yesterday. Once again we are right on the water, today we are on Kinaskan Lake. Also once again we are the only intrepid explorers with a tent, everyone else has RVs or are sleeping in their trucks. We are also into the vodka for the first time on our trip and I am full of hot dogs, life is good.

Angry grey jay.

Brenda at dusk.

2063 km - Day 6 & we are Yukon bound. We had a great night despite the valve to the air mattress not being closed properly. We saw some new birds and I survived an attack from a couple of angry birds. I wonder what today will bring.

Breakfast on the beach.

DEASE NUTS!!!!!!!

The Big Trip - Vanderhoof to Meziadin Lake

2008-12-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

1005 km - Day 4 and we have just entered Vanderhoof, "The Geographical Centre of BC."

1145 km - We just stopped for a quick lunch in Burns Lake. Burns Lake also lays claim to being the geographical centre of BC. Driving through all these small towns is a lot like driving through Northern Ontario. Why is it okay to leave rusted out cars, buses and tractors on your lawn?

World's biggest Fly Rod!

1292 km - Right now we are in Smithers. It's a pretty little place with mountains on both sides and a busy downtown area. Today's journey has been interesting in unexpected ways: In Houston we stopped for a walk in a park and discovered the world's largest fly rod. As we drove into Telkwa we saw the "Rainbow Adult RV Park." I thought, "Wow, what a welcoming community for being in the middle of nowhere." But on the way out of town we saw a sign that implied you would get breast cancer if you had an abortion, so maybe Telkwa isn't so tolerant. In Smithers we saw a black dude with a huge 'fro, big chops and pink pants and there was not a disco in sight.

A sense of humour in Smithers.

1311 km - After a brief detour we are back on 16 heading west. The Loon just hauled us up and down an old dirt road so we could get a look at Twin Falls. One fall cascades down the mountain and seems to turn to snow at the bottom before gushing out into a stream. Pretty crazy.

Disappearing waterfall.

Twin falls.

Nice spot for a rest.

1522 km - We are now on Hwy 37 and just entered the Nass Region, though according the sign we just entered ANASS.

1622 km - More fun with signs: We just crossed the Ass River.

At a small museum near The Hazeltons.

A suspension bridge over the Bulkley River.

View from the bridge.

Our AWESOME camp site at Meziadin Lake.

Living the good life.

1635 km - Wow! What a great camping spot! We just camped right on the lake. We had our first bear sighting but we were safely in our car when we spotted 2 black bears. It was a windy night last night but a very still morning with only loons making noise. And no bears stole our food, only a pesky crow attempted.

Perfectly still.

We were the first ones up. Everyone else hid in their RVs.

Getting a little exercise in.

Making toast.

Eating toast.

The Big Trip - Mount Currie to Prince George

2008-10-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

258 km - Just the other side of Pemberton we approached an area of what we thought was construction, but turns out the road was flooded. We made it through and would be once again flying down the highway if we weren't behind a school bus.

We were behind this bus for miles.

Lillooet Lake Rodeo.

345 km - We just entered Lillooet, "B.C.'s Little Nugget." It's a pretty crazy drive to here from Pemberton. I am amazed by the rivers here. We crossed Cayoosh Creek on one-way bridges four times on the way here; I'm not sure of the difference between a creek and a river, but Cayoosh should be a river. The mountains here are also awe-inspiring and there is almost no human development to get in the way of your views.

Lillooet Lake.

On the road to Lillooet.

I miss B.C.

353 km - 508 km to Prince George. It's going to be a long day. Ouch.

430 km - Finally off of 99 and on to 97. Prince George here we come!

771 km - Finally 'the guy' played the Beatles. Brenda's torture has ended. We are tied at 3. This note needs some explanation. 'The guy' is my mp3 player and we had a competition to see who could pick which band 'the guy' would play next, it was on random play the whole trip. Brenda had the Beatles picked for most of this day, and there were more Beatles songs on 'the guy' than anything else so she got pretty angry when it didn't play any for most of the day.

878 km - We made it. It is the morning now and we are at Jessie's. We covered almost 800 km yesterday, that should be the longest day of our trip.

We decided to lighten the Loon's load and ship some stuff to Barrie.

894 km - Today we went to Exploration Place which is P.G.'s museum. I learned lots more here than I did at Science World, but Brenda and Jessie mostly just played with waterboat toys.

Okay, I played too.

901 km - Delicious! We just came back from an incredible meal at Shōgun, the Japanese restaurant at Jessie's hotel. I think it was the best beef I've ever tasted. It blows my mind that now two of the best meal's I've ever eaten have been in Prince George. How can a town look so lousy but taste so good? Big thanks to Jess for taking us out and thanks to all the great staff at Coast Hotels.

Our awesome chef Andy lights it up.

Thanks Jess!

Ending the night at Jess's place.

The Big Trip - Horseshoe Bay to Pemberton

2008-09-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

Picturesque Horseshoe Bay.

174 km - We just stopped at Shannon Falls Provincial Park. The falls are awesome and high. We missed the turnoff and HAD to double back after seeing them from the highway. Day 2 is off to a great start.

Shannon Falls.

More Shannon Falls.

Shannon Falls, the video.

Brenda at the look-out point.

196 km - Our latest stop was the Brandywine Falls Provincial Park about 30 km outside of Whistler. The falls shoot straight down into a canyon with concave walls. It is amazing how the trees stay alive at the top of the concave walls. Unfortunately the suspension bridge was closed, but we did see the Whistler Mountaineer train pass by and waved to happy tourists.

Precarious trees.

Brandywine Falls.

The slowest moving train ever.

215 km - Stopped for lunch at Citta in Whistler. Whistler is a gorgeous spot. Every thing looks new and expensive. Our lunch was tasty but the service was poor. The Whistler lager is nothing special. It would have been nice to spend more time here and it would also be nice to be rich.

Missing Victoria beer already.

246 km - En route to Pemberton we stopped at yet more falls. This time we did a short 1.5 km hike to Nairn Falls, which flows into the Green River. These falls were very powerful. Now off to Pemberton to get some gas.

The upper section of Nairn Falls.

Green River, photo credit to C.C.R.

Making friends on the trail.

The Big Trip - Victoria to Vancouver

2008-09-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hi! It's been a love you long time since we last posted but here we go!

Since moving back to Ontario our lives have been pretty hectic. We ended up living apart much of the summer, Brenda in Hamilton and Toronto, and me in Barrie and Oro. That certainly wasn't the plan, but a torturous apartment hunt, and job circumstances made it difficult for us to be in the same place during the week.

Now we're settled in our new apartment right near the water in Toronto. Looking out from our tiny balcony we can see a little sliver of Lake Ontario and planes coming in to land at the Island Airport. Now that we're together in one place we're excited to share our trip home with you.

Like on our trip out to B.C. we had a journal with us and recorded some details and highlights in there. If you see blue text, that is me writing, and purple text is from Brenda. Anything in black is something we're just adding in today.

0 km - And we're off! Bye Bye House!

Just about everything we own is in this picture.

6 km - We just stopped at Mile 0 of the Trans-Canada Highway. We thought it would be a symbolic start to our journey. Of course we're only on Hwy. 1 for about a kilometre until we get off and on to Hwy. 17.

The journey begins!

The greatest Canadian! (So says I.)

Our home for the next two-and-a-half weeks.

Our farewell ferry trip.

40 km - We're getting ready to get off the 9 a.m. at Tsawwassen. Back on the mainland. Part of me always feels like going to the mainland is returning to Canada. That part of me is somewhat right I guess, since we do go through U.S. waters for a bit. Bye Bye V.I.

TELUS World of Science in Vancouver.

OH NO!

Big thanks to TELUS for pointing us towards the anus.

Blue skies, from Rose and Kate's apartment.

Relaxing at Graham and Caroline's.

90 km - It is 8:38 a.m. and we have safely made it out of downtown Vancouver and are headed towards Whistler on Hwy. 99. We had a great time in Vancouver. Our afternoon was shared with a couple of hundred kids at Science World, which, as it turns out is really just a huge arcade. But it was a good way to spend a grey afternoon and when we left, the Sun had come out. We then went to check out my cousin Graham and his fiancée Caroline's place. We had a great visit and dinner at Timbre. Overall, it was a great way to spend our last day in Vancouver. Thanks again Rose and Kate for your hospitality and the Dove chocolates, Yum!

Saying Goodbye

2008-05-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

Like most of our recent weekends, this one was a busy one. Unlike the recent weekends, we only had two days to cram everything in. Friday night we headed up to Sombrio Beach to celebrate Josh's birthday.

Life's a beach.

After some early struggles with the fire were out of the way, we relaxed with some beers. The weather was just about perfect. As night fell, the skies cleared and there were countless stars to be seen.

Josh fans the flames while Gion gives it a poke.

Cozy Brenda.

Happy birthday Josh.

Saturday we hosted a little party at our place and then went out to see Five Alarm Funk downtown. Brenda's skating coach even came and gave Brenda a trophy! Apparently Brenda is very sportsmanlike, good job B!

The award ceremony with Coach Heather.

Heather, Brenda and Amy.

Five Alarm Funk rocked. We had high expectations and they surpassed them. If you see that they are coming to your town you have to check them out. Their energy level was incredible and how they kept up with the constant tempo changes of their drumming frontman is a mystery to me. The lead guitar player in particular stuck out, not only for his ridiculous outfit, but his wild solos.

The guitar player in all his short shorts/gold jacket glory.

The band, featuring Larry Bird.

Sarah and Brenda down by the water after the show.

Sunday was a recovery day of rest, packing, and landlord dealings. We went out for dinner with Ryan and Megan at the Canoe Brewpub down by the gorge. Ryan had just flown in from Switzerland the night before so it was good that we had a chance to catch-up with him and Megan before we left.

Ryan, Megan and I at Canoe.

Saying goodbye at Clover Point.

And that's it. Tomorrow morning we get up and leave the Island. We saw a ton of stuff while we here, met a lot of great people, and we will miss it all. At the same time we are eager to be heading home, back to friends and family we haven't seen enough of in the last couple of years.

We will continue to blog our journey home but then it is likely the blog will go on hiatus. Who knows, we could be back in B.C. some day. We certainly hope to visit, so maybe there will be sporadic posting in the coming years. So goodbye to some and to others, we hope to see you soon!

The Long Weekend

2008-05-20T19:28:00.001-07:00

Who am I kidding? Lately all of our weekends have been long weekends, Brenda hasn't worked a Monday in a month and a half!

This was our last official long weekend in Victoria and it was a good one. We were treated to a visit from Rachel and Zak and their two dogs Nero and Blaze. We also got our first use out of our new bike rack, and went for a ride on part of the Trans Canada Trail near Shawnigan Lake.

The end of the road.

Our bike ride took us to the historic Kinsol Trestle. The trestle finished completion in 1920 and is the biggest in Canada. It hasn't been in use since 1979 and while it's looking pretty rough these days it is still an impressive sight.

A lot of wood.

Looks like a fun crossing.

Having Rachel, Zak and the dogs around was a lot of fun too. We shared them with a couple of Zak's other friends on the Island, and we also got to know his friend Brook who just happened to live around the corner.

Sunday night Brook invited us out to a BBQ in the neighbourhood and it took me a whole day to recover.

Me, Rachel and Zak sitting by the fire.

Back at home, a late night with the girls.

It was another full weekend, but not nearly long enough. I'm not sure how we're going to handle this two-day weekend we have coming up. I guess it's a good thing that we both quit our jobs and only have to work one day next week. This summer is going to be awesome.

Up-Island Ho!

2008-05-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

Brenda and I truly had an adventure last weekend. We had a rough plan when we left the apartment, but we didn't follow it too much. We ended up in some interesting places, including a deserted campground in the middle of nowhere, and we had a blast!

Welcome to Denman Island!

Our first destination was Denman Island. Denman is one of the Northern Gulf Islands and has a population just over a thousand. I don't think we saw a man on the island without a beard and the place definitely had a hippie vibe about it.

Vancouver Island from Denman.

The heart of the shopping district.

We spent the night at Fillongley Provincial Park on the shores of the Pacific. The park was donated to the province by George Beadnell, and George is buried on site.

Thanks for the park George!

George's magical pasture.

Brenda amongst the flowers.

I don't know if it was the salty ocean air, or some concoction of hippie dust, but there is something about the clearing in Fillongley that is very inspiring, almost spiritual. There was no one around, and it was extremely peaceful there.

Hornby Island from Denman.

In the morning we headed to Boyle Point Provincial Park for a quick hike. We also stopped in Denman village and picked up some cute gifts from the local craft store.

Brenda investigates Chrome Island.

Chrome Island.

An eagle flying off of . . . Eagle Rock.

Back on Van Isle, we continued north, heading through Campbell River and on up to Lake Schoen Provincial Park. The last 13 km into the park was a deserted, pothole-marked road, and the rain pouring down on us made it all feel quite lonesome and eerie. We were not alone though, we spotted deer and had our first elk-sighting on route to the lake.

We discovered the campground to be devoid of human life, but there were plenty of signs of recent animal activity. I will spare you the pictures of droppings. Because of the rain, and our still modest outdoor skills, we decided to camp in the car for the night (it was also prettty chilly to be outside).

Cozy life in the Loon.

It was pretty awesome being on a lake in the woods and knowing you had the place to yourself. Even just watching a raven fly over the water presented a sense of grandeur. It would have been nice to stay longer, but Brenda was a little freaked out that we were so isolated and we left just as the Sun was beginning to fight its way through the cloud cover.

Where'd everybody go?

Car camping by the lake.

Life is good.

On the road back out to the highway we spotted three foxes as well as the first chipmunk we've seen on the Island. There were also some strange sights, such as a pipe graveyard and old constuction equipment hiding in the bush.

Croman Lake.

Where pipes go to die.

It was a bit of a relief to be back on the highway and have some solid pavement under us. We drove back to Campbell River and explored the town for a bit. It is a really nice town and they've done a good job of keeping most of the oceanfront as public lands and parks. Elk Falls Provincial Park is also just outside of town and that was our next destination.

Elk Falls.

Dam pipes.

The little running man makes this sign awesome.

Campbell River's Big Rock.

Heading south down highway 19 our adventure was mostly over. We took in a leisurely game of mini-golf in Parksville and had an easy drive home. The golf game was highlighted by my recording of not only two hole-in-ones for myslef, but also knocking in one of Brenda's wayward tee shots to hand her a hole-in-one. It was a jam-packed weekend and a great way to cram a bunch of exploration in before we head back to Ontario in a couple of weeks.

Brenda sizes up the pirate ship hole.

Cam wins!

The Marathon

2008-05-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

We started May off with a big adventure to Vancouver. Not only did we get to see Rose and Kate, but my Mom flew out to be the weekend's special guest. Why would she come all this way for one weekend? Because she's crazy!!

Just kidding Mom. We all gathered in Vancouver for some serious exercise, Mom walked the half-marathon, Brenda ran the half-marathon, and I took my best shot at the marathon. Brenda and I had been training for awhile, but we both came down with injuries or illnesses that really slowed us down in March and April and we were probably not at our best. Alas, I am getting ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning.

The Aquabus.

Rose and Emmy-Lou escorted us to Granville Island via the Aquabus, a small ferry that made for an enjoyable cruise. Enjoyable for most of us at least, Emmy was not so easily impressed.

Emmy has yet to find her sea-legs.

Rain in Vancouver? Imagine that.

We spent the afternoon exploring Granville, and then headed back to Rose and Kate's for a lazy evening of pasta and movies. Sunday morning came early as Brenda and Mom's event began at 7 am, and mine at 7:30.

Ready to go!

Running the marathon was a gruelling experience. I was good for about three hours and then I was a wreck. I jogged/walked the last ten miles or so, and even though I didn't do as well as I would have liked it was still quite an accomplishment just to finish it. Mom really enjoyed her walk, and Brenda still thinks she can do better and is already itching for another shot.

42.2 km in the books.

We were all pretty spent after the race but we managed to rally ourselves to go out for lunch and drinks at Sandbar with Rose and Kate. The food was delicious, but I think I was hungry enough that just about any passable food have been pretty tasty.

The ladies after lunch.

Monday was a day of recovery (I could barely walk), but it was also Cinco De Mayo and we happened to stumble in to a Mexican restaurant for drinks on W 4th Avenue. Afterwards we dropped Mom off at the airport and then it was back to work and reality for the rest of the week. Thanks to Mom for flying out, and a huge thanks to our most awesome hostesses Rose and Kate!

At Las Margaritas.

Captain Awesome's Vancouver Island Adventure

2008-05-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my little bro came out for a visit and it was great. Not only did we get to hang out with Jeff for 5 days, we got to experience the Island through fresh eyes. Jeff had never really seen the ocean or mountains or such huge trees before, so everything was a new experience.

Jeff's visit started on Thursday night with an intense game of Bohnanza, followed by a rousing game of Pit. Needless to say, I was victorious at both - albeit by the slimmest of margins.

Jeff, Sarah, Donovan and James - the Bean Farmers!

Friday morning Jeff and I headed out to Goldstream for a hike up to the train trestle. Jeff was a little braver than I once we were actually on the trestle, but I followed him out there anyway because we all know that one cannot be shown up by their little brother.

The train trestle.

Jeff at the top with Mt. Finlayson in the background.

Friday afternoon we hit the road for our weekend in Tofino. We took our time on the drive up to stop and check out the sites along the way. The highlights were definitely Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park for the big trees and the winding road from Port Alberni to Tofino.

Cam and Jeff.

The largest tree in Cathedral Grove.

The "picture tree" in Cathedral Grove.

Sunset over Kennedy Lake.

After almost 6 hours on the road, we arrived in Tofino and we were in need of a beer. Luckily, our hotel (The Weighwest Marine Resort a.k.a. The Days Inn), had a pub on the water. Not a bad way to start our weekend in Tofino.

Yay! We made it!

Beers at Dockside Pub.

Oh grandma...

We arranged a surfing lesson for Saturday morning. We met our surf instructors at Cox Bay and got all our gear on. It felt so nice on a cool April morning in Tofino to put on a damp rental wetsuit. Then we had the task of carrying our surf boards down to the beach - this was probably the hardest part of the whole lesson, at least for me. But alas, we made it to the beach for a brief lesson on currents, types of waves, surfing safety and etiquette and, of course, surfing style. After perfecting our surfing style on land, it was time to hit the water. We spent the next 2 hours attempting to surf. By the end, we were mostly just floating on our boards, which is also a fun way to spend the day in Tofino.

Jeff's surf style.

Ready to 'catch a wave'.

Cam perfecting the skill of wiping out.

Yay! I am surfing!

We were pretty exhausted after surfing, but also hungry. We ate a yummy dinner at Shelter restaurant before crashing for the evening. Sunday morning we awoke to rain - surprise, surprise. But we had planned a trip to Meares Island to check out Big Tree Trail and a little rain wasn't going to stop us. After a short water taxi ride, we arrived at Meares Island. The taxi driver pointed us towards the boardwalk and we set off. The boardwalk takes about 30 minutes to complete and goes over, through and around the trees on the Island. It felt a bit like being in a huge tree house. It is a great place to check out if you are ever in Tofino.

Part of the boardwalk on Meares Island.

Starting to understand why it is called "Big Tree Trail".

Did we mention the big trees? They are unreal!

Meares Island.

After a great weekend in Tofino, we decided it was time to head home. But not without a stop on Long Beach, a quick visit with Cam's cousins in Port Alberni and some ice cream.

Long Beach.

Our ritual ice cream place near Port Alberni.

Monday Jeff and I toured around Victoria taking in the local attractions like the Oak Bay seals, Mount Doug and downtown. I had a fantastic time with my brother and want to thank my mom for helping to make the trip happen!

Brenda and Cam's Olympic Adventure

2008-05-06T19:51:00.001-07:00

UVIC was home to a last-ditch qualifier for the Beijing games in Women's Field Hockey, Brenda and I went and watched Canada take on Malaysia in an opening round game. Of the six teams at the tourney only the victor would advance to China, so every game was critical.

Canada in short sleeves, Malaysia in long sleeves.

We had no idea what was going on most of the match and maybe that was a good thing. It is a strange game, the women have to stay low to the ground to control the ball so it seems like it is one of those rare sports where being tall would be a disadvantage. The Canadians controlled the ball for much of the match but had trouble putting the ball in the net.

Canada attempts a "short corner."

In the end Canada prevailed 1-0, withstanding a furious Malaysian rally in the last five minutes. It was cold and damp but a thoroughly enjoyable and different way to spend a Tuesday night. Sadly our team did not qualify for the Olympics, finishing fourth behind qualifier South Korea, Italy and Ireland.

Brenda taking in the match.

The Fuck Buttons?

2008-04-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

James invited us out to catch Caribou's tour stop in Victoria. While Caribou put on a solid show they were upstaged by a crazy and bizarre opening act - The Fuck Buttons.

The F.B.s are a couple of dudes from England with a variety of noise-making synthesizers and sound machines. Here is a quick and distorted sample, turn down your audio.

Madness.

I guess you'll have to take my word that they were pretty awesome and totally unexpected, I'd never heard of them before. It's tough for two guys pushing buttons and twiddling knobs to put on a good show, but the Fuck Buttons were full of thrashing energy.

The other great thing about them is their name, which led a fairly amusing exchange with my parents on the phone.

Parents: Who?
Cam: The Fuck Buttons.
P: What?
C: The Fuck Buttons.
P: Spell it for us.
C: F-U-C-K-B-U-T-T-O-N-S
P: The Fuck Buttons?
C: Yeah, the Fuck Buttons.

Caribou was good too, their drummer was awesome and really carried them for a few stretches. We didn't survive until the end of the set having been exhausted by the relentlessness of the Fuck Buttons.

Caribou.

James and I between sets.

Two people who could use some Sun.

PG-13

2008-04-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter weekend up in Prince George. When we tell people that, or when we told people we were planning to go, the common reaction is for them to ask why. They often ask it with disdain. I can see where they're coming from, but we had a good reason, Jessie lives there.

When I tell people my sister lives in Prince George they usually ask why . . .

We spent a healthy part of our trip sitting in Jessie's apartment watching the NCAA Men's Basketball Tourney, but we also got out and explored the city and surrounding area a bit. The highlights:

The view at the Purden ski hills.

Purden: The skiing at Purden is never going to rival the other famed slopes of British Columbia, but it was great for a bunch of novices like us. It was quiet, there were never any lines for the lifts and the staff were awesome.

The girls leaving Purden.

Dinner at Winston's.

The Cuisine: While eating at Jessie's apartment consisted primarily of frozen pizza, we had a remarkable meal at Winston's Dining Room in the Coast hotel. I had a halibut filet with scallops and it just might have been the most delicious meal I've ever had in a restaurant. Even the rice was excellent though I didn't have the stomach to finish it after gorging on tasty rolls and fancy butters.

Caveman!

The Guest Star: We spent a lot of time drinking and watching basketball and this inevitably leads to silliness. Somehow we were captivated by the hair of a UPS pitchman whom we dubbed "Caveman." Any time Caveman appeared on the screen everyone had to take a pull of their drink. Brenda had the cunning to film the Caveman commercial which meant that she could then unleash him at her whim.

Jessie showing off her gifts.

Jessie's Birthday: It wasn't Jessie's birthday while we were there but we celebrated it anyways. This section is only here as an excuse to run the following scary picture.

Jessie has the shining.

Mr. Prince George in all his glory.

The Local Culture: We were told by former Prince George residents that the one thing we had to see was Mr. Prince George. I can see why. He is clearly awesome. My friend Donovan lived in Prince George for seven years and couldn't think of anything else in town we should see or do, so I guess that's it then, we have truly experienced Prince George.

Dignity and Assman, finally together.

Day Tripper

2008-03-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we packed a lunch, hopped in the Loon and headed for the west coast. Our third and furthest trip to Juan de Fuca Park took us to Botanical Beach and Botany Bay just past Port Renfrew. We timed our arrival so we could explore the tidal pools left behind by the receded tide.

Heading down to the beach.

As you can see, there are plenty of puddles to explore. Each little groove in the rocks is like its own little ecosystem. We saw a lot of of large nymphy things, maybe they were fish, we're not scientists. We also saw some anemones, urchins, and that rarest of ocean animals - - - ducks!

Ducks!

There was plenty of plant life too, also crabs and lots of things that shall remain unnamed in this post.

Purple things.

These growths were abundant and quite pretty. The speckles on the edges look like gold when the lights hits them. Unfortunately we are not destined to have Sunshine, we are oh-for-three on that aspect at this park. You can get a sense of the weather and the crashing of the waves in the video below.

Panoramic shot of Botanical Beach.

Yes, our spirits remained high despite the foreboding weather. Here are some more shots of things we saw on our trip.

Concave cliff wall.

Nymphy, fishy things.

Purple sea urchins.

Green anemones.

A discovery by another intrepid adventurer.

Again, the Sun didn't do us any favours so a lot of the pictures are a little dull. We did get a couple of shots of the sea that made the weather look considerably worse than it actually was.

The surf meets the sky.

The tide coming back in.

The blue sky and Sun began to tease us as we prepared to go. We went for a little hike to Botany Bay before heading back up the parking lot and departing.

Where do these stairs go?

Yet another ridiculous tree.

Botany Bay.

Gowlland Tod

2008-03-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty envious of Brenda's adventures this year; she's already been to the mainland twice, venturing as far as Camrose, AB. Finally on Sunday we were able to get out of town together for a short hike at Gowlland Tod Provincial Park. The park covers a lot of ground up the east coast of the Saanich Inlet, but we only covered a small portion of trails in the southern end.

Out on the trail.

We saw lots of arbutus trees.

We hiked up to Holmes Peak which looks out over Finlayson Arm. Usually we're on the other side of the water driving on the Malahat, so it was neat to see things from the east.

At the top.

Tourism Victoria

2008-03-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend there was a special on a lot of the local tourist attractions. We checked out as much as we had time for, and here's a rundown:

♫ A Three-Hour Tour, A Three-Hour Tour ♫

Actually a twenty minute tour of the Inner Harbour. There isn't much to see in twenty minutes, and at any rate you can see everything from the shore. It was still nice to be out on the water for a little bit even if it was pretty chilly.

The real tour boat.

We saw a few seaplanes swoop in.

This boat is ridiculously large.

After our harbour tour we headed to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. In a lot of ways it was more of a museum than an art gallery, the largest exhibit was dedicated to Chinese archaeological artifacts. We saw hilariously small Chinese urinals which made some sense after we saw some thimble-sized goblets, another highlight was the funerary butt plug. Our thirst for Chinese history was definitely quenched.

On Sunday we toured the Pacific Undersea Gardens. I'd done some research on Tripadvisor prior and most of the reviews were pretty negative, but hey, how bad could a fish tank be? The answer is - awful. I would go so far as to say it was depressing. There was plenty of garbage and a poor scuba diver who showed us some (supposedly alive) local specimens. We didn't have to pay anything to get in and somehow we were still ripped off by the experience.

After that we wandered across the street to the Legislature. I work across the street and usually walk around the building every morning but we'd never been inside before.

Where they make the laws.

"Splendour without diminishment."

The "Leg" is a pretty impressive building and a popular photo on many local post cards. We'll have to get some more shots of the outside before we go. Inside is nice too, the gold you see in the picture above is really gold.

We finished our sight-seeing with some tasty burgers at Irish Times before heading home to catch a brutal thrashing of the Raptors by the lowly Bobcats.

Mmmmmmm . . . burgers.

One More Skating Post

2008-02-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

Brenda's skating season came to a close on Sunday with her club putting on a little show out in Esquimalt. I wasn't able to attend any of Brenda's competitons so it was nice to come out and see a live performance.

The opening number.

I am amazed that with so many people on the ice they can do these numbers without crashing into each other on a regular basis. I don't think I am alone in this opinion, the crowd's favourite part was when it looked like two lines of girls were on a collision course only to avert disaster at the last second (a planned manoeuvre).

Beginning their competition number.

Elegance and grace.

My cousin James came out to watch too, as well as a number of Brenda's co-workers. The show was short and they left the crowd wanting more.

Co-workers (the one in the pink is actually Brenda's boss).

The Yellow Dresses Return

2008-02-17T11:57:00.000-08:00

Camrose, Alberta was the site of our final skating competition of the 2007/08 skating year. The weather had dipped down to -50 degrees in Camrose the week of the competition, but that didn't scare us away... no, brave island girls we are, we packed 2 coats each and left the +5 degree weather behind. The flight there placed me back row centre on the smallest plane I have ever been on.

I sure do look happy with my seating arrangement :).

We arrived in Edmonton and hitched a shuttle bus to our hotel - the Nisku Inn. The Nisku Inn reminded me a little of the Wheels Inn (minus the water slides, Gorilla golf, arcade, bowling alley, go-karts, etc). Ok, so maybe it wasn't all that much like the Wheels Inn - but that is ok, because no one on my team had ever heard of the Wheels.

Nisku Inn.

Friday morning we headed to Blackgold arena for a 45 minute practice. Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the official practice ice. This practice ice went much better than the last competition, so we were ready to compete! Or so we thought... Saturday morning we took over a large area of the hotel and started the lengthy process of getting ready.

Pre-hair and make-up.

The finished product.

Our first skate didn't go quite as planned and we ended up a disappointing 9th out of 15. We didn't let the disappointment get us down, though, we celebrated the weddings of 2 girls on the team Saturday with bad hair and toilet paper. What could be better to bring a team back up after a disappointing skate?

Now that is a classy team.

There really are no words to describe this picture.

Sunday morning we got pumped up for a our skate by rocking out in the car to the likes of N'Sync and Backstreet Boys. It must have worked because we had a great skate! In the end we only moved up 1 position in the standings (and were still 4 points out of Canadians), but we were happy. And ready to return to the warmth of Vancouver Island.

My team at Encana Arena, Camrose, AB.

Charlotte's Web goes Synchro

2008-01-26T08:10:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I had my first skating competition of the season. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I was looking forward to it. The competition was in Langley, so Friday night we caught the ferry to the mainland and prepared for a weekend of skating.

Dress rehearsal before the competition. We love these dresses!

On the ferry, piling into the 15-person van.

Saturday morning we headed to the rink for our 10 minute practice, which turned out to be one of the worst practices we ever had! In those 10 minutes, we managed more falls and more bruises than we had all season. Luckily, bruises were the worst of the injuries, so we were all still pumped for our skate later that day.

We headed back to the hotel to get dolled up for the competition. We are skating to music from Charlotte's Web, so to go with our pretty yellow dresses, we had spiders in our hair and a spider tattoo on our shoulder. Oh, and don't forget the fake eye lashes. Gotta love a sport that requires you to wear fake eye lashes :).

Our team shirts and competition hair.

Our spider tattoo.

Our team mascot, Charlotte.

Getting ready to hit the ice.

Our first skate was much better than our practice earlier in the day. We only had one fall, which wouldn't have been too bad, except for the cast that resulted from the fall. Yup, one of our team members headed to the hospital after our skate and returned with her right wrist in a cast. We are still waiting to find out if it really is broken or not. But, she was a trooper and finished out the competition.

Our skate on Sunday was much better and we finished the competition with a silver medal. And honestly, we were pretty pumped with our silver and happy with how we skated.

Medal presentations.

The cast and the medal.

My team on the ferry ride home.

The Hunt for Red October is Over. We Found It. It was in Portland.

2007-12-29T23:03:00.001-08:00

Here's our guide to having fun in Portland for a day even if it pours rain the whole time:

1. Approach from the north.

2. Go to OMSI and tour a submarine.

Brenda is standing in front of the USS Blueback which is docked at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. The Blueback is the US Navy's last non-nuclear fast-attack submarine. It was one of the subs they used in filming the Red October, and getting to tour inside of it was pretty freakin' awesome.

Going up?

The Navy will take anyone these days.

The torpedo room.

Built for violence, not for comfort. (The boat, not me.)

You'd be a lucky submariner to find this in your bunk.

I particularly enjoyed the fake wood veneer on everything. The last thing I would want to be thinking while I was underwater and in a tight spot would be, "but this boat is made of WOOD! We're screwed!"

3. Check into a posh hotel.

We stayed at the Benson right in the downtown. Jessie didn't just get a great rate at this hotel for us, she paid for the whole thing! What a sister! Thanks again Jess! The Benson was fantastic. We chilled in the lobby lounge in the evening for a few drinks and the concierge staff was very helpful in helping us find our way around town.

4. Go shopping downtown.

6. Go to Fuller's for breakfast. (Have the French Toast.)

7. View local art installation.

Not shown is step 5, sleep. Our whirlwind tour of Portland was brief, but we had to leave so Brenda could quench her shopping thirst at the famed outlet malls of Washington State. Then it was back home to Canada.

Goodbye imperialists!

Raps vs. Sonics

2007-12-27T17:42:00.001-08:00

Friday morning we took the Coho ferry from Victoria for a weekend in the States. Our primary motivation was to see the Raptors play in Seattle on Friday night, but we also wanted to do a mini-roadtrip of Washington and Portland, Oregon.

On the Coho, still in the Inner Harbour.

U.S. Coast Guard, with the Olympics in the back.

Ogden Point, leaving Victoria.

It was cold, and I was alone on the upper deck.

The Coho dropped us in Port Angeles, a town which doesn't really bear mentioning. The mountains in the background are nice, but the the parts of the city we saw were pretty rundown. We had our first culture shock leaving town at the Subway, no 'sub' sauce, no barbeque sauce, and the cold cut combo meats were different. They did have a tasty roasted garlic bread though.

From there we drove south and east to catch another ferry at Kingston that would take us across Puget Sound to Edmunds. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a major terrorist attack in Washington, and the 9/11 hijacks were over six years ago but . . .

Washington State Ferries, living in fear since 2001.

It was a windy and rainy weekend.

We made it into Seattle without incident and checked in to the Coast Paramount at 7th and Pine. Jessie got us great deals at hotels for the weekend, thanks Jess! The Paramount is right in the heart of Seattle's shopping district and Brenda had some time to scratch her shopping itch before we headed down to Key Arena for the big game.

Outside the arena, a familiar fountain.

Blissfully unaware that the Raps had no plans to play D.

Would you rather be Jamario, or Rasho?

The Raptors lost. Their interior defence was non-existent. Kevin Durant torched them for one stretch in the third, and he threw down a vicious dunk on Nesterovic, but he wasn't the reason they lost. The Raps made lesser lights Chris Wilcox look like Shaquille (7 for 7 from the floor) and Nick Collison look like Vlade Divac with his interior passing (4 assists), and that's why they lost.

We still had lots of fun, and in the morning we got up and headed to Portland.

Striking a post-game pose on the Monorail.

The Cutting Edge

2007-11-30T21:31:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I somehow managed to convince Cam to do something that he hadn't done in over a decade. Here are some clues - it involved someone else's stinky feet, a shopping cart and some cheesy 80's music. That's right - last Saturday Cam and I went public skating!

We marched over to the closest arena where Cam bravely donned a pair of rental skates and hit the ice, determined to not fall down. And, amazingly, he did not fall down.

Deep in concentration.

Getting the hang of it - except for those ankles. Why can't he keep them straight? I hear there may be a genetic link.

Show-off.

Post-skating hair... pretty fantastic.

And while I don't think Cam is quite ready for 2010, I was pretty impressed. Let's just hope that he doesn't ask me to shoot some hoops with him as a trade-off, because unless I missed the announcement that basketball is now played on ice, I think I may be in trouble.

Dragonette

2007-11-26T18:28:00.000-08:00

Still exhausted from our trip to Ontario, we emerged from a wonderful Wednesday night nap and headed out to Sugar to check out the Dragonette show. Despite our low-energy levels, it was a thoroughly enjoyable concert. The club was full and the crowd in the front was really digging it. The band went through most of their material off Galore, and mixed in some INXS much to the crowd's delight. Brenda, who was not very familiar the band, is definitely a new fan.

Dragonette in action.

Joel, the drummer, is a familiar face from some silly nights out with the girls of 1047 Bathurst. Unfortunately we were so spent, Brenda and I cleared out of the bar the moment the band finished their set, so we didn't get a chance to say 'hello'.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see us in Toronto, Hamilton and Barrie last week. We had a great time and we'll hope to see you again in the summer!

Go Fish!

2007-11-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

We ventured out in the pouring rain yesterday morning to check out the salmon run up at Goldstream Park. The scene was a little different than last year, there were a lot more dead fish this year, and consequently a lot more happy fat sea gulls. The stream was also a lot calmer because we haven't had any of the crazy rainstorms that we had last year.

Salmon breakfast.

Go Fish!

We Are Not All Canucks

2007-10-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

When Brenda and I moved out here we just assumed we would cheer for the home team while we here (except when they play the Leafs of course), but we were so annoyed by the Canucks terrible marketing that we have actively cheered against them. Two weeks ago we went over to Vancouver with James to see his Oilers take on the Canucks. We would have loved to see a Leafs game, but they never play here.

Our trip started Saturday morning with us just barely getting on to the 9 am ferry. Then we just barely got into to the Pacific Buffet for breakfast on board. The buffet was excellent despite the stunning absence of bacon and made for a highly enjoyable crossing. It seemed like luck was on our side. It was not however on the side of the Oilers, they went down 4-1.

GM Place from Rose and Kate's.

The view from the back row, the very back row.

The travellers.

Rose and Kate were kind enough to put us up for the night and feed us dinner. We also got to meet their lovely new canine companion Emmy Lou. They have a phenomenal apartment with a great view of the city and the mountains. Thanks for everything ladies!

Sunrise in Vancouver.

Running Fools

2007-10-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

It was that time again . . . time for another half marathon. This time around we set our sights on the the Royal Victoria Half Marathon - a very popular event. Our training over the summer left a little to be desired, but we pulled up our socks and got back on track. Well, at least one of us did . . . Cam forged full steam ahead preparing for the race. I, on the other hand, decided to join a skating team (yay!) instead. With a 3.5 hour skating practice scheduled for the day of the race, I decided an 8K run would be sufficient.

Pre-race . . . looking calm and ready to run.

Mooooo.
(Yes, I realize this picture has nothing to do with running, but these pants were too awesome to resist!)

Cam ran an amazing race and finished strong - knocking 24 minutes off his previous time. I also ran a decent race, finishing well ahead of the man with the walker. Actually, all kidding aside, the man with the walker was pretty inspirational . . . it may have taken him as long to do the 8K as it took some to run 21K, but he did it! Pretty impressive, if you ask me.

Cam closing in on the finish line.

Doesn't Cam look like he is having fun?

Post-race. Still standing . . . always a good sign :)

Dick Dale for President

2007-10-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday we went out to Element Niteclub to see 60's surf-rock legend Dick Dale perform. Our expectations were low, as Mr. Dale turned 70 earlier this year and our knowledge of him comes mainly from an ancient greatest hits album. Our expectations were exceded pretty much from the first riff of the night.

Dick had more energy than just about any other performer we've ever seen in a bar environment. The first twenty minutes or so was just Dick and his band hammering out some of rock's all-time greatest licks, fast and hard. Cam's parents provided us with the tickets (they were a birthday present to Cam) and here's what he had to say in an email to them immediately after the show:

He must've played about fifty of the greatest rock riffs of all time, putting his own touch on all of them. Whether it was an old surf relic, Deep Purple, Bo Diddley, Sarah Vaughan or Stevie Ray, he was bang on. At one point he transitioned from some old 60's dance craze song, into some wild blues-harmonica, then grabbed a couple of drumsticks and played a drum 'duet' with his drummer (who was pretty good in his own right). After emerging from behind the kit, his bass player held up his bass which Dick proceeded to play WITH THE DRUMSTICKS. He threw some trumpet solos in at the end for good measure, then closed with about six minutes of Amazing Grace the likes of which I had never heard before.

None of the pictures we took could do the show justice, but we do have a clip of the bass drumming.

Dick's guitar.

The girls in the front definitely enjoyed Dick.

Dick Dale on the bass guitar.

Spectacular

2007-09-15T11:08:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we travelled up to Spectacle Lake Provincial Park for a picnic and to take advantage of some September Sunshine. The park is small and the lafefront is a nice quiet beach with a few picnic tables. We wouldn't really say there was much of a spectacle. The lake, like so many bodies of water here, was filled with rotting wood and not much life. Cam did chase a trout around for a little bit though.

Lunchtime.

Cam looking for little fish.

Cam out in the lake.

Brenda catching some Sun.

We had a very relaxing time and it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, even if we were missing opening Sunday in the NFL.

Abort, Abort!

2007-09-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

Our latest adventure didn't go so well. Brenda came down with a cold last week, and Cam caught it on Thursday. Friday night we stayed in, but Saturday morning we ignored the cries of our weary bodies and bravely ventured up to Lake Cowichan for a weekend of camping.

Prepare for takeoff.

We had a pleasant day by the water on Saturday, but there wasn't much to do where we were (Gordon Bay Provincial Park). Things went downhill at night, we should've listened to our bodies. Brenda endured a horrible night of listening to Cam cough for hours only to be greeted by pouring rain in the morning.

Sunday morning we tucked our tails between our legs and headed home. Not the best of adventures, but sometimes you should really just stay home and watch movies.

The skyline around our campsite.

The Rowes Attack Vancouver Island!

2007-09-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Rowe family swung out to Victoria in August for a whirlwind tour of the island. We made stops in Chemainus, Nanimo, Tofino and Port Alberni and had a fun and exhausting time. Here's how it went down . . .

Mom and Dad flew in Saturday around noon and we headed downtown to check out Aunt Marianne in the Victoria Dragonboat Festival. Uncle Bill and James joined us and made up a very vocal cheering section.

Marianne and her boat.

Sunday morning we went to the Oak Bay Marina, this time not to feed seals, but to gorge ourselves at their famous brunch. The food there was delicious and the service was exceptional, it definitely beat our usual breakfast routine of toast. Not to say that toast isn't great, toast is awesome, but brunch with bacons and shrimps and other tasty things is also good.

Brunch at the marina.

A skinny little seal at the marina.

Monday morning Brenda went to work while the rest of us went out to breakfast with Josh and Sophia. We took in an IMAX film in the afternoon, and Mom and Dad wandered around the Antique Row on Fort Street.

Jessie flew in late Monday night, and Tuesday morning we packed up the Loonmobile and headed up to Nanaimo. On our way up Highway 1 we swung through Chemainus to check out their famous murals.

Easily the funniest mural in town (read the caption).

Cam and Jess in Chemainus.

After lunch in Nanaimo we took a boat charter to Snake Island for some snorkelling near a seal habitat.

Getting into gear.

Creepy crawler.

A seal!

Purple starfishes.

It was a long day, and we crashed with Dave and Jill in Port Alberni. We didn't get to stay long because in the morning we were on the road again, this time to Tofino for some whale watching, and we saw a shark too!

Out on the sea.

Stellar sea lions.

Our best whale shot. (A humpback.)

After a stroll down the strip in Tofino, and a quick jump in the Pacific for Jess at Long Beach, we were back on the road. We stopped in Cathedral Grove to check out the big trees.

Anybody know what these are?

Mom and Dad in the woods.

Thursday was much quieter, Brenda was back at work and Jessie had to fly into Vancouver for meeting. The three remaining headed out to East Sooke Park to do some hiking by the sea.

Mom checks out some boats off the south coast.

Ewww.

Thursday night was our last time all together. We had something of a family reunion at our place with Bill, Marianne, James, Marie-France, and Josh joining us for a crab dinner. James also was our guest chef and did an awesome job. It was a lot of fun for us to see everyone and James and Jessie got to see each other for the first time in about 20 years!

James proudly displays his pressure cooker.

Who invited this guy?

Euchre and booze, a Carter tradition.

Sun = Fun

2007-08-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-04T09:25:00.001-07:00

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.

Adam Cole (Part 2)

2007-07-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

Adam made his triumphant return Friday night from his week of exploring the island. He covered a lot of ground, making it as far as Mount Cain in the north. He had some fun stories and some great pictures to share, as well as a great thirst for beer. We haven't really mentioned beer here on the blog, but there are so many great beers being brewed out here on the island, it's awesome. Perhaps we'll dedicate a future post to beer, there is a beerfest in the fall. Anyway, back to the drinking. . .

Brenda and her Vodka Cran.

Crazy drinks, as seen from table level.

We went out to the Reef to meet up with Sophia and Josh and for Sophia's birthday celebrations. Happy Birthday Sophia, hope you enjoyed it and had a lesser hangover than us.

Sampling the Johnny Cakes at the Reef.

After a lazy Saturday, we hit the road for Sombrio Beach on the Juan De Fuca Trail. It was hardly beach weather (the Sun has been absent for many days), but we had a fun day exploring the beach and chasing after little crabs.

Look out! It's Ariolimax columbianus!

Brenda strikes a pose on a bridge over the Sombrio River.

Trees are tall here even when they're sideways.

I'm the king of the rock . . .

. . . And this is my dance!

Brenda on the funky porous rock.

Say 'hello' to my little friend.

There was a lot of life to explore at the beach. We heard more crabs than we saw, you can hear them constantly scurrying away under the rocks. We also that big slug, some nymph-like things, lots of snails and lots of other weird-looking little things.

Rock juice.

More falls.

Where the Sombrio meets the Pacific.

Adam Cole (Part 1)

2007-07-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Adam spent the week touring across Canada and pulled into Victoria Thursday evening. We wasted no time commencing with celebrations. We headed down to the Skafest at Market Square and spent the entire night in the beer garden.
We can't say much about the bands, because we paid far more attention to our beers. We can however say that the organization was poor, Cam was kicked out of the licensed area for the grievous sin of having to pee. Eventually their license was pulled, and we went home.

Reunited . . . and it feels so good.

Brenda had to work Friday, but Cam and Adam cruised up to Goldstream for a small hike, and drank some beer down at Gonzales Beach.

Train! Freight Train!

No! Don't do eet!

Chillin'.

Saturday was decreed unhealthy day. We spent much of the day wandering around and drinking at different bars. In fact we spent so much time wandering that unhealthy day probably wasn't too bad for us.

Relaxing in the morning at the Oak Bay Marina.

Adam will drink anything.

Sunday morning we all went out Goldstream to hike up Mt. Finlayson. We definitely had a full weekend and we were pretty tired by the time we got home. Adam left to explore more of the island this morning, but we're expecting to see him back here next weekend.

Taking a break on the way up.

At the summit.

Mariners 8, Blue Jays 3

2007-07-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

Pretty much since MLB released their schedule for the year we have been planning a trip to Seattle to see the Jays play. Lucky for us they scheduled the games on the long weekend so we didn't have to take anytime off and we could spend some time exploring the city. Through no great planning of our own we caught some ridiculously good luck with this trip, here is our story. . .

We looked into booking a hotel downtown near the stadium but they were all out of our price range. We ended up settling on a place at the opposite end of downtown that was still pretty pricey, but rooms were filling fast and we didn't want to end up in the 'burbs somewhere or near the airport.

Friday night we boarded the Victoria Clipper in the inner harbour and were shuttled to downtown Seattle in less than three hours.

Brenda on the ferry.

The Seattle skyline from the boat.

We took a short cab ride to our hotel and settled in for a minute. Turns out the hotel we booked that we were worried was far away from the stadium was near a whole bunch of other great things. The Key Arena, where the Sonics play, was just two blocks away, and the Space Needle wasn't much further.

The Space Needle at night.

Downtown from the Needle.

The Space Needle is a rip off by the way. On the way up the elevator the guide says that it was the tallest structure west of the Mississippi when it was built in 1962. What he fails to mention is that there are taller buildings IN THE CITY. We were definitely looking up at tall black one in the distance.

After the Space Needle we hit the Experience Music Project which is kind of museum for modern music. They have a big exhibit on Jimi Hendrix and a lot of stuff on music from the Northwest like the grunge movement and did you know that the Kingsmen came out of Portland? Crazy eh.

The Experience Music Project from above.

"Excuse me sir, you can't take pictures in the museum."

That really only took us up to lunchtime on Saturday, then the real fun started. Because that hotel we booked, the one that was too far from the stadium, was right by the SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL BEERFEST!!! What luck! We plan a trip months in advance, and they throw us a beer festival.

We spent a solid four hours sampling from beers from all over the place (except Canada??). Cam even got free drink tickets from some dude for wearing a Jays T-shirt. (Free beer at an unexpected beer festival, could this be the greatest day ever?!?)

Cam doing what he does best.

Nothin' says Seattle beerfest like . . .

We are happy travellers.

Here some beer reviews from the festival, Brenda in pink, Cam in blue:
Kapziner Weisse - Looks like urine but doesn't taste like it.
Jenlain Biere de Mars - Okay, but not out of this world.
Samuel Smith Organic Lager - Am I drinking water?
Melbourn Bros. Cherry - Very sweet and tasty, but I can't imagine drinking six.
Kulmbacher EKU 28 - Makes my liver hurt, but isn't very tasty.
Traquair House Ale - I am Bob Dylan, I mean this beer tastes like the last, I mean you know what I mean.

Tsk. Tsk.

Yikes, it looks like Brenda had enough to drink. Remember kids, know your limits.

After a day of beautiful Sun and beer we headed down to Safeco Field to catch the game. It was a pitcher's duel until Halladay gave up a couple of two-out runs in the sixth and the bullpen came in and imploded. The stadium itself was pretty awesome, and they had so much different food in stark contrast to the SkyDome.

Plane overhead.

Too little too late for the Jays.

Whew. Saturday was a busy day and we sure had a lot of fun. Sunday we did a little shopping and wandered around downtown. Oh yeah, and Seattle has a monorail! (What'd I say? Monorail! What's it called? Monorail!)

Yippee!

The monorail track actually goes through the Experince Music Project.

The weather was perfect in Seattle, so guess what it was like when we got back to Victoria - that's right overcast. (So far this week the weather has been fantastic, here's to hoping it stays that way for a couple of months.)

My God, the glare! (Finally some Sun. . . ahhhh)

Antibalas with Kiltlifters

2007-06-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was an exciting night for a couple of reasons. The first reason was that we went to check out Antibalas as part of the Victoria Jazz Festival, the second was that we fianlly got to meet the mysterious Marie-France. This post will only deal with the show, so we'll leave a little mystery.

The show was at Centennial Square downtown and got started early. The opening act, the Kiltlifters, were already playing when we got there. They're a fun ska band from Nanaimo and fiercely proud islanders. They got the crowd warmed up well and there was a small crowd dancing by the time they had to wrap things up.

Rockin' it.

One interesting thing about the Kiltlifters frontman was that throughout the show he played a mean air guitar on his saxophone.

Antibalas were awesome. There were eleven of them, and they were all bang on. There were multiple incredible solos. The two main guys held the crowd in the palms of their hands. The crowd adored them so much that when the sax player did his last solo he barely had to do anything and people were screaming and throwing their hands in the air. It was one of those moments when it's a thrill just to be in a crowd and feel yourself fill with their positive energy.

Stage left.

Unfortunately it was darker when Antibalas was on so we didn't really get any good pictures. The only big negative from the night was that it was over too quickly. Because the concert was outdoors and downtown they had to wrap it up obscenely early. The median age of Victoria is somewhere around 73, so the show was over at 10pm.

Sax player.

Apparently the guy above in the blue shirt is named Dr. Acid Head Ted. We thought you should know that.

Big thanks to Uncle Bill and Aunt Marianne for treating us (and James and Marie-France) to the concert. We all had a great time.

Nan's BC Adventure

2007-06-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

We had a very special guest this month, Brenda's Mom! Her arrival caused much excitement here, even picking her up at the airport was an adventure since her plane came in at 2 AM, about four hours late.

Once Nan settled in we did our best to show her around and check out some of our favourite spots as well as make our first foray out to Salt Spring Island. Here are some highlights:

Checking out the bunny infestation at UVic.

Nan on top of Mount Doug.

Nan was a big fan of the Oak Bay Marina. Our blog already has a surpringly high seal content, but we'll put in one seal pic for Nan.

The smartest of the bunch, this seal will slap for food.

Some more of local wildlife. Mmmmm . . . crab.

Not local, but still pretty wild. Nan in the Pacific.

We wish we could say we got some great pictures from our trip to Salt Spring, but we didn't. For most of Nan's stay the weather was lousy and rainy.

Nan and Brenda on the ferry.

For our grand finale we went over to Vancouver to visit the aquarium. There's lots of neat things to see at there, but Nan was much more excited by the whales we saw off the side of the ferry on the way home.

Back off humans, it's nap time.

If you look really closely, you can find a whale.

See you next time Nan!

Running a long way even though we didn't do anything wrong.

2007-06-04T20:27:00.001-07:00

On Victoria Day weekend Brenda and Cam ran a half-marathon in Oak Bay. We're still not really sure why we did, but it had something do with pushing ourselves and trying to do new things. Our times might not have been anything spectacular, but our goal was to finish the race and we did.

Before the start.

We trained for six months (six months!), and I don't think we would've been able to maintain our dedication and enthusiasm without our awesome run group, so a big thanks to Brenda Lee, Mary, Julie, Heather, Heather-Ann, Kashmir and Jeff.

Julie, Brenda, Cam, Mary and Brenda are ready to roll.

With one big goal accomplished we're going to set our sights on running another half-marathon in Victoria in the fall. Wish us luck.

Showing off our finisher medals.

Waterloo Girls Take On Victoria

2007-05-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

After only 7 months, Cam and I got our first visitors!!! Laura and Meghan made the trek out to Victoria for a weekend. We started the weekend off with a trip to visit the local Oak Bay seals... and this time there were 4 seals!

Oak Bay Seals

After we did our part to fatten up the already fat seals, we went to feed ourselves at an Oak Bay pub, Penny Farthing. A quick trip to the grocery store and we were headed home.

Saturday night we enjoyed a BBQ and yummy slushie drinks before heading out for a night on the town. We attempted to check out a local favourite bar, Darcy's, but after waiting outside in the cold wind for a while, we decided to head down the road to the warmth of Sauce.

Sunday was all about Mount Finlayson. We put on our runners and comfy hiking clothes and set out. I must say that Laura put us all to shame as she powered up the hill, but we all had fun.

Cam shows us the way. Thanks Cam!

Just getting started.

The Girls at the Top.

The wind at the top proved to be quite chilly, so we made our way back down. Before heading out of the park, we went to check out Niagara Creek so we could compare the water levels to November.

Niagara Creek in November - check out the water rushing through the tunnel.

Laura, Meghan and Cam in a very dry Niagara Creek in May.

Monday we made the most of our last day together and spent the day strolling around downtown. We saw a few more seals, caught some rays over lunch and chatted. Overall, it was an awesome weekend - thanks girls!!!

Surfing, Running and Big Trees

2007-04-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we took off for a weekend vacation up-island. Cam's cousin Jill and her husband Dave were kind enough to put us up at their home in Port Alberni. They also offered to serve as our tour guides to the west coast.

Saturday morning we drove to Tofino and rented surfboards. Jill gave us a quick lesson on the beach and then Brenda, Jill and I attacked the waves.

We pose like we know what we're doing.

Cam falls, Jill laughs.

Brenda falls, Jill laughs.

We wrestled the surf with little success, but we had tons of fun doing it. We surfed at Chesterman Beach, then returned our boards and checked out the more famous Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park.

Brenda, Jill and Dave at Long Beach.

We saw this little guy on the way home on Highway 4.

Surfing, which looks graceful and effortless when you see the professionals do it, is actually exhausting. We had a quiet night back in Port Alberni, though we did crash a dinner party for a midget hockey team - don't ask.

Sunday was another busy day. The local running club was hosting a 10K and we joined Jill in running, while Dave biked around the course keeping us encouraged. Cam had never run an organized race before, and Brenda had only done the Nike 10K in Toronto. It was a fun experience, we met the mayor, and in a hilarious twist of events Cam won his age category (he was the only one entered).

Brenda closes in on the finish line.

Jill's friend Robin enjoys a celebratory drink with us after the run.

After the run we had one more big stop on our agenda - Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park.

Cam on the banks of the Cameron River.

Have we mentioned the giant trees?

It was one of the most active and fun weekends we've had together, and we offer many thanks to Dave and Jill for being such excellent hosts and encouraging us to take part in everything that we did last weekend. There are a couple more surfing wipe-out videos here and here.

Kissed By A Rose

2007-04-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning it was nice out so we went for a walk down to Oak Bay Marina. We had been told that there were seals that hung out there, but we'd never seen them. Turns out we were probably just looking in the wrong place. We were really excited to finally see a seal!

Our new friend!

Apparently there are other seals that swing by regularly, and some people at the Marina were disappointed to only see one seal. Those people are spoiled.

Stretching out for the camera.

For Brenda's birthday she got a new (larger) memory card for her camera, so we're hoping to take some more videos. Here is our first film for your viewing pleasure.

The seal is not skittish at all.

Here's Cam on Beach Rd. by the shore.

Mount Finlayson

2007-04-15T13:33:00.002-07:00

Last Friday we had our first perfect day out here in B.C. We decided to celebrate the gorgeous weather by scaling our local mountain. At an elevation of 419 m, this was no ordinary stroll.

Mount Finlayson.

At some points the trail disappears and you're just walking up rock. While we were initially fazed by some off the drop-offs beside us, you could spot regular mountain-hikers, bouncing up and down the hill like it was nothing.

Our adventurer takes stock of his surroundings.

Cam navigates the trail.

Near the top.

Almost there . . .

At the summit!

Upon reaching the top, we discovered many other hikers lounging around and taking in the Sun. We joined them in taking a break and munched down on some crackers and grapes.

View from the top.

It was a fun morning and only about two-and-a-half hours up and down. Another successful adventure, and one we imagine we'll repeat a few times over the course of the summer.

Kite-Boarders

2007-04-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

We shot these pictures while walking around Dallas Road last Sunday. We don't know when, or if, we'll ever get to try this, but it looks like crazy fun.

Three times the fun.

Flying solo.

China Beach

2007-04-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

A couple of Sundays ago the Sun finally came out. We thought we would drive out to the Juan de Fuca Trail and scope out China Beach. We were expecting a leisurely ten minute stroll from the Loon to the beach, but we were in for an adventure!

Trail to the beach.

Winter storms had laid waste to the trail, turning it into a maze of fallen trees. Brenda and Cam, undaunted by the obstacles in front of them, ventured through the jungle determined to reach the sea.

Brenda smiles in the face of danger.

After climbing through the wreckage at the start of the trail things got a little better. The trail was still pretty rough but posed no serious challenge.

Have we mentioned that the trees are big here?

We're almost there!

Unfortunatlely while we making our way through the bush the Sun went back into hiding. We should've known he couldn't last.

Sun! Where did you go?

Mussel Beach.

A closer look.

We searched for wildlife as we strolled along the beach. There wasn't much to find and the skies decided to rain on us, so we turned and headed for home.

A wall of fallen trees.

Big trees leave big roots.

We'll leave you with one more picture. It's not much of a picture, but those guys in the water are surfers, and we're going surfing this month and we're really excited about it!

Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in the distance.

Vancouver Nights

2007-03-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

We tend to think of Victoria and Vancouver, like they were Barrie and Toronto. Like Vancouver is just the big city down the road, but it's actually a hassle to get to Van. You have to show up early to get on the ferry, and the ferry is a long drive from downtown on both sides. Sometimes the ferry can be fun, but we were on a older ferry coming home on Sunday and it was ghetto.

We went to over To Vancouver on Saturday to see Tan before he moves back to Ontario, and go out for St. Patrick's Day.

Happy Tan.

Brenda knocks one back.

Cam is the greenest!

Somehow we ended up taking home a cake.

We were also in Vancouver in November for Brenda's professional certification exam. Brenda nailed the test and we drank some beers! A lot of beers.

Good times.

Don't mess with these guys!

Brenda, Cam, Tan and Kristi.

We're not sure when we'll be back in Vancouver, but we've got a lot of things planned for April so hopefully we'll get back to posting on a regular basis. We're going surfing!

Cherry Blossoms

2007-03-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

We haven't been up to much adventuring lately. We have been busy with things like starting new jobs, going to school and paying for car repairs. So here is a peak at some of what we have right here in Victoria.

Brenda under a tree on Wildwood Ave.

These tree blossoms are everywhere right now. Some are white, some are pink, and some of our streets are lined with them and can be quite spectacular.

Another 'White' blossom on Wildwood.

Container ship heading through the Strait of Juan De Fuca.

You can frequently see these big ships coming through. This is looking south towards the Olympic mountains from Dallas Rd.

Not a native bird.

We met this guy in Beacon Hill Park. He's a resident of the petting zoo, which hasn't yet opened for the season. Peacock isn't high on our list of things we'd like to pet.

Mmmmmmm . . . dinner.

You might want to take a closer look at this one. The red arrow is pointing to a bald eagle. It is eating a freshly caught seagull, and leaving a mess of feathers on the ground below. We'll leave you with some more trees of Beacon Hill Park below.

They sure have some crazy trees out here.

Brenda with a 'Pink' blossom in the park.

Cam in a tree.

Five Alarm Funk

2007-01-31T21:32:00.000-08:00

These guys rocked!

12 guys from Vancouver showed up at the Central Bar & Grill and showed sleepy ol' Victoria how to party. They brought drums, guitars, sax and horns - and they used these weapons to control the sold-out venue. With the lead-drummer keeping the beat going, one instrument after another would take turns with the solos. Occaisonally two musicians would take turns trying to one-up the other. They were as funky as advertised, though they inspired some highly questionable dancing from a fairly inebriated crowd.

If Five Alarm Funk swings through your town, we highly recommend checking them out.

Everybody having a good time?

Vancouver Visits Victoria

2007-01-25T20:45:00.000-08:00

Last Friday we went to check out a Vancouver 'funktronica' band at Steamer's Pub. "Themasses," pronounced 'the masses' not 'them asses,' are a typical four-piece with guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. They were billed as live house music a la "The New Deal," and they were similar though the constant guitar soloing certainly differentiated the acts. The guitar player served as the frontman although it was clear that the organist was bringing most of the energy and driving the direction of the music. Cam thought some of the guitar solos curious, some were not very dancey or funky they were almost 70's prog rock. Perhaps with the right drugs it might have made more sense. It was a good show, though we ducked out early because our vigorous training schedule has up running early Saturday mornings.

Themasses in action.

Oooooooh, trippy.

Saturday afternoon we went to check out the East Van Specials play at Oak Bay Arena. They were part of a massive hockey tournament being held at every arena in greater Victoria. The Specials went down early, but worked hard and settled for a 9-3 loss. One forward line played particularly well, finishing a +1 despite the lopsided score. The right winger on that line, James Rowe, scored a gritty Ryan Smyth-style goal halfway through the second period.

# 70 James Rowe.

Of course, the camera died before we could capture Cam's cousin James's goal celebration.

Craigdarroch Castle

2007-01-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

Last weekend's adventure did not take us far from home. We set our sights on Craigdarroch Castle. The Castle has quite the history, starting as home to the super rich Dunsmuir family in the 1890's. Since that time, Craigdarroch has seen many changes and many tenants, including serving as a military hospital, a college and home to the Conservatory of Music. Since 1979 the Castle been maintained as a Museum.

Crank that bass!

A picture of the smoking room. Please note the Hookah in the display plaque.

View from the tower.
The hills in the distance are Mount Douglas, left, and Mount Tolmie, right.

Sun, snow and a Castle... a rare day in Victoria.

Classic Rock, 90's Rock, New Rock . . . ROCK95!!!

2007-01-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

We went to see the Tragically Hip play last Sunday at the superbly named Save On Foods Memorial Centre. We're not sure what foods they were memorializing but they must have been delicious.

The Sadies opened the show and opened it well. Even though much of the crowd was still filing in the early-comers were rewarded and showed their appreciation. The Sadies bounced between surf guitar, bluegrass fiddling and straight up rock-and-roll and were impressive at each. They were a little wooden and were dwarfed by the large stage behind them, but musically they were fantastic and we'll definitely be exploring their catalogue.

Ths Sadies from far away.

The Hip started with The Lonely End of the Rink off the new album. The new album is pretty solid but it didn't seem like the crowd got behind any of the new numbers, perhaps just unfamialarity. When they followed that up with New Orleans Is Sinking the audience picked it up, everyone started screaming, that was what they were there for. It was pretty cool to hear a lot of these tunes live after hearing them millions of times growing up. Downie got screechy in some parts, and the band wandered a bit in their little jams but they were exciting all the way through. There were only a few songs we didn't know, and Cam was really happy that they played Wheat Kings. It's always fun to be in a crowd of hundreds when everyone is singing the same song.

The Hip from far away.

Our first Christmas away from home

2007-01-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

Our latest adventure took us "up island" for the first time to Mount Washington and the Comox Valley. We spent Christmas in style at the Crown Isle Resort in Courtenay.

A tub with a view.

We tried to go skiing on Christmas Eve, only to discover that a rain storm in Courtenay means a blizzard on Mt. Washington. Wisely, we decided our novice skills would be no match for the mountain and retreated to the warmth of our hotel.

Conditions at Mt. Washington.

To help us get over our aborted ski attempt we indulged in a family tradition shared by both our families and opened one present for Christmas Eve.

Thanks James!

Christmas morning we opened the rest of our presents (we were spoiled), before embarking on our second attempt at a ski-day. The previous day's snowfall left the hills deep in powder providing a soft cushion for Cam's many falls. We had a blast and with lift tickets left over from the day before we went back the next Saturday.

Trees after the storm.

Our return trip brought some Sunshine to the hills and more confidence in our skiing abilities. We brought the camera up with us not fearing we would destroy it.

Cam on the 'Reverse Traverse'.

Brenda at the top of the 'Hawk'.

The scenery up there is pretty breath-taking (much like the altitude). We will definitely be making another trip back. Happy New Year!

It's beginning to look a lot like . . . spring?

2006-12-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

Hello there! It's been a little while since we've posted. We've been pretty busy lately, but more with day-to-day stuff than adventures. We did see the Keytar Warrior, but words alone could not describe that experience.

Seeing as we live by an ocean, we thought we'd put a few shots up. Today was overcast and it was difficult to see the mountains to the south.

Looking west towards Sooke.

Siren on the rocks.

It's hazy, but those are the Olympic Mountains.

Sunny one moment, cloudy the next - that's everyday here.

It's worth noting that just because you hear about the rough weather we're having here in B.C. that doesn't mean it's rough in Victoria. Sure it's windy sometimes, but we haven't had any trouble at all. And of course it's two days before Christmas and people are jogging in shorts, and we saw our first robin of the spring today. Merry Christmas everyone!

Emcee Murdah

2006-11-26T21:39:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we ventured out for our first taste of the Victoria nightlife. Yes, it's a been awhile since we've been out. We caught the closing date of K-Os's Canadian tour at Sugar Nightclub. Red1 formerly of The Rascalz opened with the crew from his new label.

Red1 (in the stripes) and the KillaWatt crew.

It was a pretty good show, heavy on the new album, but with all the hits you would expect. He had a full rock-band on stage with him and the crowd was loving it all night.

K-Os is in the thick of things.

We didn't really get any good pictures. The crowd wasn't the friendliest and it wasn't worth the hassle to get up front. A fun night out though, and his new album Atlantis is defintiely worth a few spins.

Let it Snow!

2006-11-26T21:05:00.000-08:00

The weather in Victoria this November has been very consistent... it rains... everyday. While it usually does not rain all day, it definitely rains every day. From my understanding, we have set new records for rainfall in November.

That being said, you can imagine the surprise when we first caught a glimpse of the snow falling outside. And we are not talking a few snowflakes... I am talking several inches of wet, heavy snow. Of course, I made sure to snap a few photos. And let it be known that the pictures were taken well before the snow stopped falling. Actually, I am not sure it has stopped snowing.

View from our apartment.

We did venture out for a drive to the nearby mall, only to discover things like ploughs and salt trucks were nowhere in sight. A trip that would generally take only a few minutes took nearly 30 minutes. It is one big skating rink out there - good thing I brought my skates! I may need them for the walk to work in the morning.

The Road.

See the Salmon Run

2006-11-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

Now that the Canada trip is all posted and out of the way, we will start sharing more of the fun things we have been doing around here. We have been up to a few things, like checking out the view from Mount Douglas and spending a weekend in Vancouver, but here is what we were up to this weekend. We were in search of Salmon.

Our search first took us to the Sooke River. We succeeding in getting drenched from the rain but no Salmon were to be found.

Brenda on the banks of Sooke River.

We persevered in our search and headed to Goldstream Provincial Park. This time we would not be let down. There were tons (and tons) of fishies! Our pictures do not do the spectacle justice, but here are a few anyway.

Go fishies go!

Fish out of water!

George, George, George of the Jungle...

Remember our first post that showed a skimpy waterfall with Cam in the front? Well, that same waterfall has gained some force with the recent rains. Look at it now.

BC's Niagara Falls

Niagara Creek.

Cross Canada Trip - The End!

2006-11-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

Day 10 - Revelstoke to Vancouver

7:38 am - Well, we are in for a long haul today. Spent the night in Revelstoke which seemed nice although we didn't see much outside of the liquor store & Tim Horton's. They do like bears, they are everywhere.

9:13 am - We just stopped at a random rest area on the shore of Lake Shuswap to switch drivers. Mother Nature treated us to her best display yet, a still lake with a mountain backdrop, jumping fish, big birds and a solitary beaver. We have now travelled over 5000 km and will be saying goodbye to Hwy 1 in a couple of hours.

Nice beaver.

11:03 am - We are just now leaving Kamloops and heading south on Hwy 5. Much to our disappointment it is a toll highway as we were informed by the lady at the Visitor Info Centre. She was a little grumpy but all-in-all we have found the people at the various Info Centres to be very helpful and pleasant. Especially that dude in Regina, he acted as if we were royalty, even phoning restaurants to check menus for us, thanks dude.

Kamloops (Loops of Cam).

Runaway truck escape lane. Yikes!

12:20 pm - So we almost ran out of gas and took a detour off Hwy 5 to Logan's Lake. We had a pretty drive down a winding 97C highway and are almost back on track here in Merritt. Big thanks to CAA and the Triptik, we would be having a lot less fun without it.

2:14 pm - After a quick stop for lunch in Hope we are back on Hwy 1 to Van City. Our restaurant misfortune continues, welcome to McDonald's, we have no fries.

Day 11 - Vancouver to Victoria

3:40 pm - Wow, a lot of ground to cover: Upon arriving in Vancouver we were honked at and cut off by different drivers within 5 minutes, it was like we were back home in Toronto. We drove into downtown through East Hastings which is definitely not a good way to introduce someone to the city. Ghett-oh. We made our way to Rose and Kate's apartment where our Vancouver adventure truly began. Apparently they have small toilets in Vancouver. Plungers are $4.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart. This morning we went to the aquarium at Stanley Park and we both really enjoyed it. My favourite part was the BC Coast tanks and Brenda liked the Belugas. The Sea Otters were really cute too. Now we are parked waiting for the ferry to Swartz Bay.

Welcome to Vancouver.

Puppy love? No. Otter love.

Yet another Jesus imitator.

One happy whale!

Day 13 - Victoria

2:49 pm - On the ferry ride out we got to see whales, and Brenda was really impressed by the organization of BC Ferries. A little better than the Trinidad to Tobago run I guess. We spent yesterday trying to find an apartment -- and we did. Josh knows the guy we are renting from too. It is fully furnished and has a BBQ! We had breakfast this morning with my cousin James then went for a walk along the ocean. We saw some guys kiteboarding, it looked like crazy fun. There are so many things to do here it is overwhelming. Now we are off to meet Brenda's cousin Ryan in Esquimalt. Our trip is almost over.

Almost there.

Cross Canada Trip Day 9

2006-11-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

Day 9: Calgary to Revelstoke

8:47 am - After a 4 night stint in the Calgary/Edmonton area, we are once again enjoying the sights of TransCanada Hwy West to BC. Haley & Brock were excellent hosts. We enjoyed dinner at another of Calgary's not-so-finest establishments, but the drinks and conversation made the evening. After my minor (ok, maybe not-so-minor) freak out about the state of the inside of the Loon, we gassed up and filled our tummies with Timmy's (never did find a decent one in Alberta) - we are on our way to Canmore.

Haley and Cam in Calgary.

11:41 am - Whew! We just finished a small hike on the Grassi Lakes trail in Canmore. We took the easy route since we're still not in great shape and should probably buy some hiking shoes before we attack anything too difficult. It rained on us a little bit but the scenery was pretty spectacular. The lakes have some really vivid blues from violet to turquoise. Even the algae was a really bright green. Now we just have to figure out what to do for lunch.

The green of the Grassi Lakes.

12:54 pm - We made the right call for lunch. The Grizzly Paw Brewery was excellent, especially the fries. Now we are back on our old friend Hwy 1 heading to Banff.

1:23 pm - Driving this stretch of the highway is pretty awesome. Canada kicks ass.

2:56 pm - I still feel a little woozy from our last stop: The Banff Hot Springs. It's a giant hot tub with the mountains as a backdrop. The water is actually cooled before it gets to the pool because the springs are too hot. A compatriot from Ontario was unimpressed, but really, what do people from Brampton know about having a good time. Brenda and I enjoyed ourselves, next stop Lake Louise.

Banff.

4:13 pm - Nothing like a whirlwind tour through Banff. We just detoured to Lake Louise - and she sure is beautiful. Gorgeous turquoise shimmering water surrounded by snow topped mountains. It was amazing. Now we are back in the Loon and off in search of accommodations for this evening.

Mount Victoria and Lake Louise.

'When I own all this land . . . '

5:58 pm - Driving down the mountains in BC can be harrowing. Brenda enjoyed the scenery (which included a mountain goat) and I will look forward to seeing the pictures. There is construction everywhere and we saw one crazy new bridge that I can't even begin to guess at how high it was. We stopped in Golden to switch drivers and I rewarded myself with some ice cream. Brenda could not eat her sub outside because there was a bear alert. Welcome to BC.

'Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!'

'The Best Place on Earth' - We shall see.

6:01 pm - (PDT now!) Brenda is a much calmer driver than I and she is smoothly making her way through Glacier National Park. It feels like we have been going downhill forever.

Cross Canada Trip Days 6, 7 and 8

2006-10-29T16:17:00.000-08:00

Day 6: Calgary to Edmonton

8:46 am - So, they smoke in bars in Calgary but not on the patio & have confusing street names. What is up with that? We made our way to #### 16th Ave. SW (aka Andrew's apartment) to hang out with Sarah, Andrew and roommate Lenox & his friend Sherrie. After a disaster dinner where the drinks were oversized (& yummy), pizzas were burnt, salads were dry and Cam was left with 2 free pizzas, we headed back to the apartment for some Foosball. Luckily no one was pantsed as some things are best left under clothes. We then headed to a sketchy & smoky pub. The highlight being the car alarm set off by the car owner who was then unable to stop it. Now we are en route to Edmonton. Calgary was lots of fun & we shall return after a weekend in Edmonton. BTW: Don't visit the Timmy's in Airdrie - apparently 15-year-old boys are not the fastest at pouring coffee.

Day 7: Edmonton

7:13 pm - We have been in Edmonton for about 31 hours staying with my Uncle Bill and Marianne. They started us off with a light lunch and then walked us into the ground, leaving us to die along the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. Clearly Brenda and I need to get in better shape. We had some free range chicken and veggie burgers for dinner and then got a tour of Edmonton's trendy district and Uncle Bill's office. We got home and Brenda and I promptly passed out a little after nine. We might be on holiday, but we definitely aren't partying like rock stars and the time zone change hasn't helped.

Bill, Cam, Marianne and Brenda on the banks
of the North Saskatchewan River.

Day 8: Edmonton to Calgary via Drumheller

7:58 am - We spent most of yesterday at the gigantic West Edmonton Mall. I will never again think of the Eaton Centre as a huge mall, it is seriously lacking in the waterslide department. We spent a couple of hours in WEM's waterpark and the rest of the day just wandering the mall. They also had two sea lions and a penguin, the only thing missing was a Lick's. In the evening we lounged around and watched Sweet Home Alabama (not my choice, but it was okay, Brenda really liked it). This morning we said our goodbyes and are back on the road south to Drumheller. We hope Loon enjoyed her rest.

Yarrr, this be Cam at the WEM.

8:24 am - Some notes on our trip to Edmonton: In Edmonton the bikers don't hang out in front of bars, they hang out in a Tim horton's parking lot and drink coffee. Which is especially strange given the difficulties we encountered at Timmy's on the way. Nervous 15-year-old boys as counterstaff, broken toasters, and a serve yourself Tim Horton's at a gas station that had no bagels. We encountered a number of strange intersections including one where three lanes could turn right on red and another where the two leftmost lanes had to make u-turns.

10:17 am - After a detour in the north end of Red Deer, we found a gas station, filled up, switched drivers and are once again on our way. I have mixed reviews of this province thus far. I liked the waterpark at WEM and the walk yesterday (actually 2 days ago and I should note my shins are still recovering) but I have yet to find a satisfactory Tim Horton's. Sure I have only been to 3 but seriously. Also, after leaving one today in Leduc the road magically - with no warning & no way off - became an on-ramp for the highway in the wrong direction. Grr. But the weather has been grrreat & I am excited for dinosaurs so I won't write Alberta just yet. Ok, I won't write it off at all -- it does have mountains after all.

4:09 pm - What a spectacular day. After a morning of driving we arrived in Drumheller - a town that has fully embraced their dinosaur history as demonstrated by the museum, the World's Largest Dinosaur & many other dinosaurs around town. We also managed to fit some Hoodoo viewing into our schedule. Now we are en route for another night in Calgary.

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!

Brenda and an Alxasaurus.

Cam mocks a Dunkleosteus.

"Your wishes kill our fishes."

How do you do Hoodoo?

The View from Mount Tolmie

2006-10-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely we are getting the Canada trip stories up, but in the meantime we have been having some little adventures here. A couple of weekends ago we went for a walk up Mount Tolmie. This hill is actually just up the street from our house and it took less than an hour from our home to the top.

There were many tourists at the top, but they DROVE up. They are not cool like us.

The lovely Brenda is in the foreground with Victoria in the back. Downtown is to your right, and the mountains you see are in Washington.

Cross Canada Trip Days 4 and 5

2006-10-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

Day 4: Winnipeg to Moose Jaw

8:43 am - Well, we spent the night at HoJo's in Winnipeg. We really wanted to take in the city and get a feel for the culture, so we drove thru downtown, checked into our hotel, checked out Shoppers Drug Mart & Subway, then... went to bed. Okay, so we only did things we could have done at home. Now we are back on the TransCanada Hwy and shockingly it is still flat and boring. But, we were able to check the odometer again. Don't tell Loon, but she is a touch off. Shhh. She is still dealing with the windshield crack. Oh and breaking news - there are hills in Manitoba. And if there isn't, then I am hallucinating.

9:35 am - I am not sure why, but we felt compelled to detour through downtown Brandon. As Manitoba's second largest city, it is still smaller than Chatham. Having not taken any pictures yet today we found a strange sculpture at the University and then were on our way. Also of note is that the only police we have seen in Manitoba were in the Tim Horton's drive through.

Brenda mounts the Explorer.

11:19 am - Saskatchewan greeted us with no fanfare, just roadwork. Both of us were disappointed with the lack of photo ops. Apparently Saskatchewan is not big on signage.

4:26 pm - We stopped at the Creekside Pub and Brewery for lunch in Regina. It was easily the best meal of the trip to date. I also had a strawberry flavoured beer which was pretty tasty.

Cam highly recommends the pizza.

4:26 pm - Bye bye Vagina, I mean Regina, Hello Moose Jaw.

4:29 pm - The Royal Saskatchewan Museum was a nice way to kill a couple of hours in Regina. They had some pretty cool dinosaur fossils. And you can't beat the price - admission is a voluntary $2 donation and parking is free. Brenda notes that it is curious that 2006 is their 100th anniversary and it did not seem to be celebrated in any way. Tourism out west could definitely use an Ontarian's touch; it's hard to find anything and they are missing all kinds of marketing opportunities.

Cam with a Big Bone.

Brenda, Whitney and Mac the Moose.

Day 5: Moose Jaw to Calgary

7:44 am - Well, Cam and I have been awake for hours now as it is almost 10am in Ontario. We might want to learn to adjust to the time change because I don't want to be up at 5am all the time.

Brenda ponders the moose.

9:19 am - It hadn't ever occurred to me but I guess Brenda and I have been spoiled by our less traditional families. I'm sure part of the reason we were up at 5 this morning is becuase we were sleeping on different floors. We got to spend some time with Elmo the dog whose Prozac prescription has clearly run out before we arrived. We had a pleasant visit the night before with Brenda's Uncle Bill and cousin Whitney. Whitney seems to have a good head on her shoulders and does a good job looking out for her Dad. Bill took us out for dinner to a place famous for pizza in Saskatchewan, of course, none of us ordered pizza.

9:53 am - The road is still straight and flat. It is still raining, are we following a slow moving weather pattern to the west, I don't know. We also have fog today, hooray for us! Since we hit northern Ontario service centres have been so few and far between that most of them don't even advertise the price of gas. I guess they figure we're stuck with them.

Welcome to Alberta?

1:42 pm - We are just on our way out of Medicine Hat. We stopped to fill up the Loonmobile and ourselves and also swung by a giant tepee. I am consistently amused by the towns that embrace something silly or just really big as their cultural identity. White River, Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat, I salute you.

Small Brenda, Big Tepee.

3:07 pm - For some reason we don't think of Alberta as a prairie province, but some of the driving stretches here are brutal, there aren't even any trees in some spots.

Go Flames Go / Flammable?

Big drinks at Moxie's, Calgary.

Cross Canada Trip Day 3

2006-10-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Day 3: Thunder Bay to Winnipeg

9:20 am - On the road again... Cam and I enjoyed our complimentary breakfast this morning. We even managed to score some spoons for our cereal. Yippee! Then it was off to Kakabeka Falls, which was excellent. Despite Cam wanting to risk his life for a photo op (he was not allowed to do so).

Cam at the Falls.

9:37 am - Cam says bye-bye to Hwy 11. We will miss you!!!

9:53 am - Having travelled nearly 1500km from home, we have now left the Great Lakes water system. From this point, water flows to the Arctic Ocean. Guess we really aren't home anymore.

9:10 am - That's right. See ya later Eastern Time Zone, hello Central Time Zone.

I give you... Central Standard Time!

10:23 am - Not much to see here. I guess this is why Jonathan said Northern Ontario is when he started hallucinating on his drive from BC.

10:51 am - Stopped for a picnic lunch (ie. huddled up in the car due to coldness) at a garbage dump, I mean scenic outlook, in Ignace.

12:38 pm - We stopped in Dryden for gas and coffee. Apparrently a population of 7700 can support a Walmart and we checked it out. As much as I am not a big fan of Walmart, we walked out with a pair of sweatpants, 12 pairs of socks, and 2 packs of gum for under $40, delaying our need to do laundry for a few days.

12:43 pm - Exiting Dryden we were hit by a sizeable pojectile that almost made it through the windshield. We have managed to avoid the rain today but the meteorites have taken their toll.

Crack of the Loon.

3:20 pm - Kenora was a lovely place. Cam fought off a giant yellow spider, only to learn it was friendly. They made up in the end. Got some grub from a Whistling Monkey before befriending another Kenora creature, the Loonie Bear. I am sure the people in Kenora are nice too.

Cam's new friend.

Brenda's new friend.

Lunch - Whistling Monkey Pub and Grill - Friendly service and good food greeted us at the Whistling Monkey. As well as an interesting quote from the monkey on a Keith's poster, "Don't sweat the petty, pet the sweaty."

Cam at The Whistling Monkey.

4:12 pm - Yippee! Manitoba! Hooray!

Hooray! We made it out of Ontario!

4:47 pm - The Loonmobile got a long overdue window washing at a random Shell station in Manitoba. The road, Hwy 1, is straight and flat. Brenda had a confusing encounter with a gas station attendant, welcome to Manitoba.

5:24 pm - We are on the most boring road ever. A few miles ago, Brenda wondered out loud why they didn't have more signs or something to look at on the highway. Well, guess what, we are now 4km into an odometer check. So far so good. Brenda hopes we get a gold star at the end because the Loonmobile is doing so well. I can't decide if Manitoba is the most boring province or the most ridiculous.

5:28 pm - Apparently we just passed the longitudinal centre of Canada. In Manitoba the excitement never ends.