We went camping!

For a change of pace, we went to an ocean site. You would be surprised how few and far between the undeveloped ocean recreation sites are! But we did our research and found a site a couple hours (plus) North of our town on the Discovery Passage. Instead of posting tonnes of pictures (it was a beautiful place) I will post the permalink to my new shutter fly book that I just made up for it!

Here it is!

The days were lovely and warm enough in the sun, the evenings were breezy and cool (keeping the trailer fresh even with 4 unwashed bodies in there). We enjoyed a waterfront spot all private and clean. The water was sparkling (though much too cold for me) and the sea life was really active with sockeye jumping right out in front of us (no fishing gear though!) and even a pod of orcas within sight.

We were way out there. Long, treacherous road up and down to get to the site. The bush was closed to logging because of the dryness, so there was NO traffic with the logging trucks not running, that made it very quiet on land. On the water, it's a busy shipping lane with boats of every shape and size going by all day and night. Tugs, log booms, cargo ships, cruise ships (HUGE), pleasure craft, many kinds of fish boats, sailing, military, and wickedly fast whale watchers.

The water was silky smooth so kayaking was marvellous. Even more interesting sights to see out on the water than on shore. And there was no shortage of interesting beach combing!

The only downside was there was so much interesting stuff that I got barely any reading done LOL.

Have a look at the link, the photos say so much.

Bikes of Italy

As we arrived at the beautiful hues and relaxed lifestyles of the Cinque Terra(on that most wonderful expedition to Italy), I realized that bicycles are an important part of life there. And they are beautiful and functional ways of transport, especially on the tiny streets and among the throngs of pedestrians it really seems like the way to go!

Cell phones (complete with talking with their hands) , cigarettes, shopping bags, wearing high heels have all been accepted as something to do while pedalling the streets and avoiding the many obstacles.

I was enraptured by the simple grace that these machines were employed, and the stunning settings in which they were so casually parked. Here is my photo journal of just a few of the bikes I saw there in Italia....

*** Originally posted 09/11/07 *** Reposted because of Wolfgrrl's story

I'm back! (and so is my computer)

The weather was ideal as we headed out at an early hour to catch the Tswassen ferry... Many hours later up the Fraser canyon, the scenery (and cloud formations) started to look unfamiliar

to me... Later in the afternoon we stopped at my Uncle's on Green Lake (near 100 mile House). The lake was a stunning vision of tropical green, and the temperature was BEAUTIFUL!

Steve and Cam dusted off the old pedal paddle boat and rode it until sunset...

But we had a REALLY early start on the road the next morning (T had us all on the road by 5!) But the lake looked pretty in the mist.

The Highway was ours...

We got to T's brother's by dinnertime. And set up our cabin-on-wheels in his back yard. I LOVE poplars!!!!!

Dave has over 40 acres about 1/2 hour South of Fort St John, just beautiful land with a couple ponds, some forest, some meadows, trails cut all the way around, a big shop, and enough room to play at whatever he wants without disturbing the neighbours. The boys wasted no time driving the lawn mower everywhere.... it was a game that didn't wear thin even after almost 2 weeks.

Dave and his girlfriend's hospitality was excellent. Their small log house (700 sq feet) is very well appointed. Even though it's small, it has everything you might hope for in a home for 2. And a nice big deck off the back with a generous hot tub (fantastic for watching the lightening at 11 pm). I had free run of the tiny kitchen and happily cooked a few of the dinners. There was no TV and no internet, so I had lots of time to go outside or just cuddle into a chair and read!

We didn't stick around the house the whole time, we ended up putting almost 1000 more kilometers on the truck while we were there running around to see what we could see (and getting supplies).

There is no mistaking that it's big sky country. It felt a little bit upside down to me. The horizon is so flat, but the terrain is still very interesting, dropping down into coolies, river valleys, gorges, etc. Not boring at all! I am used to the terrain rising from the sea, not dropping from the horizon.... it felt weird and wonderful.

One of our road trips took us to the new Bear Mountain Wind Farm, the first major wind farm in the province. 34 giant windmills perched facing the prevailing winds contributing 102 Mw of power to the grid. They are AWE inspiring in their enormousness! The photo doesn't do the scale justice! They are a good 20 feet across at the base, the blades whirring well above the tree heights. I was a bit disappointed in how much noise those blades generate. I really though they'd be quieter... after all noise means they aren't being perfectly efficient doesn't it?

Another field trip was to the massive W.A.C. Bennett hydro electric dam.

The weather was yucky that day. Very soggy, so perfect for going 600 feet underground, right?

We paid the small fee to take the tour. We watched a cool 60's educational video to give us some background and loaded onto a small bus to head into the very workings of the facility way underground. It was quite impressive! They sure knew how to impress visitors back in the 60's. The proportions of the tunnels, the big displays, the amount of knowledge from the young guide were all very good. We all had to wear high-vis vests and hard hats, and it was thunderously loud where the 7.4 billion cubic meters of water is expelled after falling 600 feet into the giant turbines to send over 13000 mega watts/hour of power out of the faciltiy all over BC (maybe even my house!). Even so, I really didn't quite understand the scale of the dam until we went to the far side and looked back at it.

(those are full sized trucks -- the white dots, and full sized excavators -- the red dots!!!!)

But it wasn't just playing on Dave's property and road trips. We also enjoyed swimming in the Kitscatenaw River (about 5 minutes from Dave's on the old Alaska HWY) and lots of dirtbiking in what can only be described as a dirtbiking paradise! The funny thing about being that far North in the Summer.... the days are long -- I mean L-O-N-G, we were out playing at 10 pm some nights. There was no regular rhythm to the days. Eat when hungry, sleep when tired, play when the opportunity comes and relax when you want. It was a fantastic vacation in every way. Even the dog had fun with no fences, no neighbours, Dave's dog to play with, long runs behind the bikes, and endless swims in the pond!

Up and down, round and round. See how far you can climb, see how fast you can go.... or putt contentedly looking at the scenery, taking pictures and eating fists full of Saskatoon berries. (that's for me)
Oh yeah! The berry picking was glorious!!! Wild raspberries everywhere, big, juicy and plentiful! Wild strawberries so tiny, so good they are worth the effort! And I found enough gooseberries in Dave's woods to make some Gooseberry syrup for our pancakes --- mmmmmm!

(Back to riding...) Cam was a riding machine, he went up and went down and jumped and turned, and rode and rode and rode. So on the short times he stopped to get hydrated, I had to get a picture.... (see the pump jack in the background? They were all over the place).

I have to say though.... the VERY LONG climbs and drops were way steeper than these photos let on, I was terrified that I would lose it and go tumbling downhill for miles. I had to concentrate will every fibre of my being, and then do a "happy happy victory" dance at the bottom (or the top) I stretched my comfort zone and came out unharmed!!!

Here we are! Happy family resting in the sun after a long and fun ride. It was so beautiful.

But, it couldn't last forever.... we had to go home eventually. (Oh man we all had so much fun there!)

Eventually we had to go (so sad) so we packed up Tuesday night and left early Wednesday morning (another 6 am thing). We were making excellent time... done the pine pass portion and starting to enter some deserty looking terrain, then suddenly a big clanking and a bump. It sounded like T had run over something metal. Then T said he didn't have any power to the steering! We pulled over with difficulty because the brakes had gotten hard too.

T looked under the truck. Nothing looked unusual. So he opened the hood.... the gigantic serpentine belt that runs the water pump (cooling engine) and the power assist to the brakes and steering was dangling uselessly nest to the engine. BUGGER. One of the idler pullies (there are 3 on that engine) had seized and ripped right off the front of the engine (that's what we ran over). A stupid little part that is vital to the running of the vehicle. We were not quite in the middle of nowhere, but there was no cell service.

I walked to a nearby off road and found a nice lady that was home. She kindly gave us the use of her home phone, the phone book and the blissful shade of her garden for all of us (and the dog). T used the book and phone to great effect! And within 2 hours of getting stuck, T had tracked down the necessary part (and tools for installation) and paid over the phone, got a cab to bring the parts out from William's Lake (about 40 minutes way) and had them on the truck ready to roll!!! It set us back over $200, but that's a fraction of the time and money it would have taken if we had to have the truck (and trailer) towed to William's Lake and a shop working on it!!! Oh how I love my handy husband!!!!

While we were in this lady's garden, we watched water bombers and helicopters with buckets flying by... she found out there were five fires in the hills behind her house. We couldn't see or smell anything, so we weren't too worried. But, as we got back on the highway, we saw more of what was happening. This is just one of the several blazes we saw being fought for the next few hours of driving. The thunderstorms were crazy the night before.

Though we may have been able to push through to the last ferry before our breakdown, the delay had us looking for a spot to camp. We pulled into Marble Canyon at about 7:00pm (13 hours on the road). We set up, I made a nice Butter Chicken dinner and we slept in the small noisy site. It has unique with the groundfed lakes and protected lake bottoms of unique freshwater stromatolite formations (microbial structures that look like coral) though we couldn't see those from the surface. Our visit there was short, but sweet.

We hit the road again by 8:00 am Thursday morning and drove the VERY windy and treacherous highway 99 down through a crazy mountain region. Stunningly beautiful and steep and white knuckle switchbacks with the full truck and trailer. Things smoothed out as we got closer to Pemberton, and we stopped to stretch our legs and take in the views...

Look! It's the ocean!!!! We are practically at the Horeshoe Bay ferry terminal!!!

We arrived in Horeshoe Bay around 2:00. BUT we had to wait for over a sailing to even get to the ticket booth!!! Oh man, it was a parking lot out there. We got into the lot and had 2 more sailings to wait. Full sun, 2 kids and a dog.... not exactly fun. But at least we had our cooler with some beverages and snacks to tide us over. I felt most sorry for the dog he was cooped up a LONG TIME.

(this is the "highway" outside the ferry terminal....)

But we were home by 9:00 pm.... Home! The automatic sprinkler system that T put in my garden worked GRAET, the cat was happy to see us and nothing broke while we were gone. I slept good that night, I can tell you that for sure.

The whole trip was fun, and was relaxing.... I had time to read, play, explore, all my favourite things.

(and I got my revived computer back Tuesday... I haven't got the bill yet, I am scared. I spent yessterday afternoon reloading all my software ug, what a chore. And now my preferences are all gone of course, so it will be a long and labourous process getting it back up to speed -- I still hate computers)

Trip in Pictures: Day 2: London

My day in London! Starts with a real English breakfast... the egg was so greasy that my "brown sauce" (aka HP sauce) was slipping off it. Those brown & red things are tomatoes. I confess that I gave my sausage to Nick.... but the bread was VERY fresh and good!

Then my sis and I started walking and quickly stumbled accross spotting the Millenium foot bridge... and from there I saw the London eye -- I squeaked with glee at how easy it was to find a sight!The hour was early. So the eye was not yet open for the day. But the wind was brisk so we kept moving along the wide promenade along the river Thames.... withing sight of the Eye was this postcard perfect view!

As we got closer, the light struck gilded Big Ben beautifully!

And as we crossed the bridge for a closer look at the Parliment Buildings and Big Ben, I was dumbfounded by the exquisite detail on those buildings... just stunning!

Next to the HP, there was the Westminster Abbey, and next to that was a "small" Romanesque church called St. Margeret's... free admission, and very pretty!

The weather was getting very cold by now... and though we hmmmmed and hawwwed about the admission price we decided to go into the Abbey where so much history is buried.

We weren't allowed to take photos inside, too bad because the architecture! Grand foyers, glass, woodcarvings, and chapels and so many different nooks and crannies where royalty of the ages is remembered as well as nobility, anf famous artists, poets, writes, etc.... amazing stuff!

I did take some photos in the chapter house... it was off down a hallway, and really unique. Round, vaulted and bare of furniture....

Soaring above, the ceiling was a marvel of brick and ribs!

Here is the cloister hall... (I posted that archway looking into the cloister already)

And a door to the little cloister...

And after hours of browsing memorials, reading many dozens of plaques, gawking at corridor after corridor of marvels and soaking in the massive amounts of historical signifigance that went on in there... we stumbled out onto the brisk London Street once more.

Our destination being the Museum of Natural History.... from the outside it's almost as impressive as the Abbey, and inside they let us take pictures! Admission is free! WooHoo! Here is the foyer, a nice big dinosaur to greet us.

Even the stairwells were marvellous!

Here is the mammal exhibit....

Blue Whales are HUGE, like reallllllly big!

I was blown away by the foyer... the details in the columns, all patterns in nature, animals climbing the colomns and crouched at the bases, vaulted glass ceilings, broad stone and iron stairs.... just so awesome!

By this point we were pretty hungry, so we went to Wagamama's on Kengsington. My friend Wolfgrrrl recommended it highly. Oh ya!!! It was SO INTENSELY YUMMY! And the decor was refreshingly minimalist after the amazing experiences og the morning.

Back onto the streets.... quaint buildings and bicycles at every corner.

We hopped on and off of busses with our passes, and really enjoyed getting back to the trainstation (below) where we were to meet our host after work to get back to their home for the evening. It had been a long, full day!

The sun made another appearance on the long commute home... it made the rapeseed fields glow!

A late dinner of curry take-out (mmmmmm....) and we hit the hay, visions of cobblestones, stained glass, red busses and other sights in my head as I quickly drifted to sleep.