John and Aileen sometimes on the road: BACK AND FORTH

That seems to be how our summer is going. We were back down to our son's to park for a few days while Aileen had the surgery in her other eye July 3. That surgery also seems to have gone well. She now has excellent distance eyesight but requires glasses for closeup which is opposite to how her vision had been before. She bought a pair of cheap reading glasses to get her through until she can take a proper eye exam in about six weeks.
Since I had purchased a season's pass at Butchart Gardens, I made another visit there one morning. I had wanted to go on an overcast day to do flower photos but although it was cloudy when I went, before long the sun had come out. Then the tour buses started arriving and it was time to get out. Actually, it was difficult getting out as the tourists were surging along the pathways more that filling the full width. At times I just stood there waiting for a gap. Some places are just too popular!
On Friday July 6th, which happened to be Aileen's birthday, we moved from North Saanich up to Cousin Bill's at Willow Point, near Campbell River. With a stop for gas, another for dumping our tanks, another for lunch in a pull out along the highway then finally a longer stop for Aileen's nap and Mitzy's walk, it took us about six hours to make the drive. Richard and Georgia drove up that evening and spent the weekend with us.
On Saturday, Richard and I did a bit of geocaching and poking about checking out possibilities for future RV rally activities. On Sunday, Richard, Georgia and I went up to Paradise Meadows at Mt Washington and walked around a loop trail. Sunday was Georgia's birthday and we and Bill went to Bill's son Tony and Rita's for supper. We had a great evening visiting. Tony and Rita joined us another evening for supper at Bill's.
Small world moment here this morning. Rita's niece was getting married this weekend over on the west coast of Vancouver Island and she and Tony and others of her family were going there. So Rita is related to Aileen as Tony's mother was Aileen's cousin. Then we heard this morning that my brother's son was going to a wedding in the same area. It turned out to be the same wedding! Maybe it isn't that far a stretch since Rita and I both come from large families.
I did some geocaching several days but only a few each time as some were quite difficult or impossible to find. Yesterday, we went to Courtenay to buy a new CPAP mask for Aileen as her's started coming apart in the night and leaking. She found a sleep apnea center in Courtenay that we will probably use in the future as they seem to be very service oriented. Since the place in Salmon Arm we have always dealt with changed hands, the service has not been great.

The walkway over the highway below our son's house

I spotted this cat lazing in the evening sun on a trail near our son's. This is what's known as backlighting in art and photography.

On another trail near our son's, I found this Calla Lily that someone had tossed over the hedge and it was growing in the ditch

Closer examination revealed this little frog tucked down out of sight

On the other side of a non-opening window upstairs in our son's house

I was able to put my camera lens right up to the glass so I could do a close up. The spider felt safe as it seemed to know I couldn't get through the glass. In the comments below, my son has identified this guy as a Cross Orb-weaver (Araneus diadematus)

A man made carved out fish ladder on the Puntledge River at Nymph Falls

Lower section of Nymph Falls

Campbell River waterfront

Subalpine Daisy at Paradise Meadows. There were many nice flowers blooming along the walkway in Paradise Meadows

Since you're not supposed to step off the walkway, this is how you get photos like the one above. This is a cell phone image our son took of me. Using the small Canon SX60 with a tilting screen makes for some flexible photography. Shoot with one hand and balance with the other!