Monday, July 15, 2013

LEAVING VANCOUVER ISLAND

What are you looking at?

We’ve had a very busy week since arriving here at Cousin Neil’s and Carol’s.   We attended a belated birthday party in Victoria for Georgia on the 10th of July.  Her other grandparents were there as were Robin’s sister and husband.  Richard and Georgia came partway out of Victoria and joined us for a very good supper at the Olive Grove. 
James Bay area of Victoria

Harbour at Oak Bay, Victoria



On the way home, Mt Baker in Washington State was visible across the Saanich Peninsula north of Victoria and the American Gulf Islands.  It isn't all that often that one gets to see Mt Baker anymore


On July 11th, Aileen and I drove out to Port Renfrew and walked down to Botany Bay and Botanical Beach.  We sat on the beach with our lunch and the weather was gorgeous.  A highlight on the drive home was discovering a set of waterfalls alongside the road that we didn’t know existed.  We’d caught a glimpse while driving so turned around and looked over the bank.   I was able to crawl down and get a partial view of the pools and falls.
The Friday of that week was a catch up day doing laundry and shopping.   Saturday saw us once again on the road to Victoria where we attended a 65th wedding anniversary for Aileen’s Cousin Pat and Irene, which was the reason we stayed a couple weeks longer than planned on the island.  Aileen got to meet several relatives she didn’t know she had.  Again, the weather was beautiful and the view from the deck of the house where the party was held was exceptional.

The patio view where the 65th anniversary party was held

Aileen in the purple with some newly found relatives.  Pat and Irene, the two in front celebrating their 65th, were the only two we'd met before and that was only about four years ago.

We had dropped Mitzy at Richard’s so she had a cool house to spend the afternoon in.  After the party was over, we went into downtown Victoria and picked up Aileen’s school friend Bev.  Bev brought along a flash drive with a batch of photos she wanted to share with Aileen so I downloaded them onto Aileen’s laptop before we went to supper.   Since we’d had such a good meal at the Olive Grove Wednesday evening, that’s where we went.  Supper was very good again.
Sunday was a day of recuperation then we joined the party going on here.  Carol had her Dad, two sisters and a brother, two spouses of them plus a couple other relatives over for supper.  Neil did ribs on the grill while others prepared potatoes and a couple different salads and deserts.  A visiting good time was had then most of us gathered around the fire pit for a couple more hours.

Tomorrow, our stay on Vancouver Island comes to an end.  We are heading back to home base near Salmon Arm for a couple weeks or so to take care of some business and visiting.  Sorry if we missed you and at this time we have no idea when we will return for another lengthy stay on the island.

Trees grow a little crooked along the west coast.  Aileen and Mitzy posing for me

Aileen, Mitzy and me on Botanical Beach


The Olympic Peninsula in Washington State is just visible in the distance

More scenes from Botanical Beach


Some of the pools and waterfalls along the road from Lake Cowichan to Port Renfrew


2 comments:

  1. Beautiful pics of Botanical Beach and of Victoria too. Glad to see your celebrating was fun and especially how you had such great weather for your visit here.

    I'll have to look for those waterfalls and pools the next time we take the Lake Cowichan to Port Renfrew Rd.

    Next time you're on the Island we'll have to get together for a coffee or something!

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  2. Rick, when going from the Lake Cowichan end, the waterfalls are on your left just past the sign mentioning the point of interest ahead, which is the Harris Creek Spruce.

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