Saturday, 29 October 2011

Campbell River & Courtenay, BC

October 29, 2011

Drove up island to Campbell River on October 24th with the sun shining on the beautiful colors of fall. The Georgia Straight sparkled below us and the Cascade Mountains on the B.C. mainland glowed. 

Visited with good friends, Chris Francis and Brad Smith.  A very hospitable pair, although Chris is still recovering from a water skiing accident 6 weeks ago.   Tuesday we wandered around Campbell River, although Chris and her crutches stayed behind on some of our walks.   After a lunch of amazing leftovers (greek salad and cheese melted over baked potatoes) Gord and I said our goodbyes and paid a visit to the National Historic Site of the BCP45 (B.C. Packers purse seiner fishing boat).  The boat is in a building built by the local Rotary Club and the boat took 3 years to rebuild.

On to Courtenay to visit my brother Kevin and Diana and again, more excellent meals (especially the curried prawns) and excellent company.  We head a great time together and after one night there we headed up to Chris and Brad's condo on Mount Washington for two more nights.  A foggy drive up to their condo on Blueberry Hill and chilly weather awaited us, but we went out for a walk on some of the boardwalk paths available.  Ice or mud underfoot on the trails! 

The rum flowed, we played crib and Attack Uno.  Lots of fun.  Friday morning we woke to about 3 inches of wet, heavy snow!!!  Hopefully, that was the beginning and the end of winter for us!  As we drove down the mountain the snow changed to rain and after saying goodbye to Kev and Di we carried on to Victoria.  Stopped at the Crown and Anchor Pub somewhere on the highway for lunch of very good seafood chowder for me and an excellent steak sandwich for Gord. 

The days are slipping by and we have only one week left here before heading south for the winter.

Thanks again Chris, Brad, Kev and Di for a fun week.

Love Colleen and Gord

1 comment:

Anna said...

hey you guys. Meant to get on here before you left Victoria. By now you will be en route to California. Hoping the weather holds out and that the snow held off for your travels thru the passes. Mary-Lyn and Bruce have moved to California, and celebrated Avery's 2nd birthday there on Thursday. They are in Placerville, if you happen through there, I bet they would be thrilled to see faces from home!
We are fine. I am back to work after my month of real retirement, and am enjoying the new tower. The spacious work environment with its airiness and fresh air, and spectacular views from the big windows, is really a treat while doing work that I like as well. So its all good. We are hoping to head south come February or so. ML and Bruce are coming home before Christmas for a week or two.
Anyhow, be safe, have fun and enjoy yourselves! Stay in touch!
Love, Anna and Bob