Our Trip to Powell River January 23rd to the 25th 2015
It's not often I get the whole family involved in the story telling of our trips. Grab a cup of coffee or a tea if you prefer, and enjoy this tale of adventure from the Wild West!
Thursday night...
Rene's Ramblings:
It was a dark and stormy night. My only plans were to not make plans. Smeg' covered the windshield and it obscured my vision like a good bottle of sherry. I had a car full of dames and was lookin' for a place to dump em'.
My choice of flop created a chorus of fear and panic with visions of
Bates Motel dancing in their heads. I had to move on. They wanted 5 stars, but I only had 2 stars worth of coin. I mosey'd into the
Driftwood Inn look'n to score a deal. Ten bucks off was all I could get.
I huffed the princess's bags up the stairs like a two penny slave. I was tired and wet, and looking for grub, but the princess's wouldn't serve. My mind was thinking of foreign shores and fine exotic foods but only chicken salad sandwiches were on the menu that night.
I was look'n for comfort, but the company was thick and I had to keep it P.G. I moved to relax my body on the motel bed and was quickly reminded of my 2 star wallet. It would have to do. I needed distraction from the discomfort and picked up my dime novel. To my surprise the pages supplied me with the distraction I sought. I looked around my humble kingdom, that first night, and was well pleased to see my princess's engaged in a similar endeavor.
Rene has a thing... a fetish really for clean windows on the car. "Smeg" he called it, and I thought he was making up a word for the dirty smudge that the mist outside left on our windshield. You know that fine mist? Where there's just not enough water to clear off the dirt and it smears across the windshield and you have to use up all your windshield washer fluid? Well, when I got home I had to look it up. For those of you who are as curious as I am, Smeg is actually a real word. It's 1930's slang for smear. Go figure? I don't know where he pulls these bits of trivia from. He has a pretty amazing memory . He's not just a pretty face after all!
Friday...
Alora's Twitter (written by Kalina because Alora would rather tell the story through pictures):
I love my sister soooooooo much, she is the bestest!!!!!!
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| Mr. Cheese is the cow in the middle |
Kalina's Views:
Mr. Cheese is the best pillow ever!
Anuschka's Babbling:
"Just holler when you're ready to order." the bakery clerk behind the counter said as Rene and I took our time looking over the delicious baked goods before us. There were a lot to choose from and they all looked good.
"How loud should I holler?" Rene asked me. He had a gleam in his eye and I had the feeling he was in a mood to cause a little trouble. Visions of him bellowing so loud that it would stop all conversation in that bakery with all eyes turning in our direction. The locals would shake their heads at us and whisper, "Main Landers!" Luckily the clerk came back before we were ready to holler.
Two medium roast coffee's, two tea's, two croissants, and two scones, and we were $18 and some change lighter. I know Timmy's would have been cheaper, but the ambiance and the good conversation with great company was worth it.
Our conversation moved from Guinea Fowl to pick-up trucks, and swimming pools in your bedroom to camping, it was wonderful. A great way to start the battery re-charge, for each of us.
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| On the ferry from Earls Cove to Saltery Bay |
It was a wet and windy ferry ride from Earls Cove to Saltery Bay. We caught the 12:30pm and arrived at our friends home in Powell River around 2ish. Then the sun peeked through the clouds and the rain disappeared. We lucked out and had wonderful weather for the rest of the weekend. I guess it really is sunnier on the Sunshine Coast.
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| Joe's Garage |
Joe was working in his garage and Nadyne was preparing a grand feast upstairs in the kitchen. Joe's old VW Bug looked like it was peeking around the corner of the garage, waiting for a chance to sneak out and go on an adventure, as we pulled up to the house.
The feast included Coquille St. Jacques and Amore Salad with french dressing.
Joe was on mashed potato duty that evening and he and Rene improvised a .25 cent version of a $10 icing bag with tip, so the outer edges of the Coquille could be decorated with the fancy smashed spud.
Well, the make shift bag and tip were too small for the mashed potato to pass through, and the zip-lock bag burst while mashed potato oozed out the side. Luckily, Rene saved the day with an artful application through the ruptured fissure in the bag.
Tartin Apple Tarte with homemade vanilla bean ice cream was on the menu for dessert. The smell of the sweet apples cooking with the homemade crust was divine, and we were spoiled.
We were all mesmerized by the ice cream maker sitting around it like a campfire poking, prodding, and stirring it; watching the cream, sugar, and vanilla turn into a frozen slurry. After only 10 minutes of stirring, and with Joe's approval to eat, we found ourselves entertained by the machines simple action and continued to stir and talk for another half hour.
It was so nice to see our friends again, we talked all afternoon and late into the evening. The kitchen was filled with amazing aromas and good conversation with tales of Yukon endeavors.
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| Eddie |
Saturday...
Kalina's Views:
Eddie, River and Licorice are cute!
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| Licorice |
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| River |
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| Me and River taking a nap |
Alora's Twitter (written by Alora):
Dinner and breakfast were amazing. The dogs are super cute! It's nice seeing Nadyne again.
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| Marina in Lund B.C |
Anuschka's Babbling:
We drove to
Lund and walked around town together.
The board walk by the new community building, where Nancy's Bakery moved to, was a little slippery. This was our 3rd trip to Lund and Nancy's was right by the wharf the last time we were here. I'm glad to see it was still up and running and moved to a bigger place.
Above Nancy's bakery was a shop producing beautiful woolen sweaters, poncho's, and tuque's that was called the
Pollen Sweater shop. These sweaters will do for Lund what the
Cowichan sweater has done for Vancouver Island.
We then stopped in at
Nancy's Bakery and bought some Asiago onion bread and a beautiful looking Foccacia bread for our lunch that was hard not to rip into it.
Lund gets better and better with time, and there are still some residual old buildings left standing of days long ago. I can
just imagine one of those dilapidated buildings turning into a smoky 1930's blues
cabaret and bar.
At the
Tug-Guhm Gallery, just below the
Old Lund Heritage Hotel, local artist Debra was busy making a beautiful statue of a whale's tail. The gallery was filled with lovely statues, wood carvings, paintings, bowls, and jewelry by local artists. I purchased a uniquely styled glass starfish from a
Salt Spring Island artist who uses only recycled materials.
While I was dazzled by the art work inside the shop, Alora was enchanted by the art of nature happening outside, as humming birds flitted back and forth at one of the gallery's feeders.
We drove to Okeover and walked around the beach at the
provincial park, the beach was rocky and difficult to walk on, but it was worth the effort for it was filled with fruits of the sea. Oyster's were plentyful! As I found out later, while passing a sign half way between Lund and Okeover, it is B.C's oyster capital.
We didn't stay there for lunch. Nadyne knew of a spot that would be better, and less populated (there were already 3 families there with dogs running loose).
We continued south down hwy 101, the longest hwy in the world, and a few minutes outside of Lund(down a F.S.R road), was the perfect spot. Dinner Rock was quieter(we were the only ones there), and no one came around to collect money for our camp spot, but I suspect they do in the summer months.
We built a campfire at one of the rec. sites on a cliff face overlooking the the Inlet. The girls took the camera and went off exploring down the beach while the adults stayed behind by the fire and roasted campfire panini's with smoked Brie and Tabasco oysters. They were delicious!
We left Dinner Rock at dusk and were back in Powell River a 1/2 hour later. Beautiful drive along the coast but there were some crazy corners, especially the last two before the bridge into Powell River. When it says 20KM or 30KM on the sign, they really mean 20KM or 30KM! Don't want to think about the consequences!
Sunday...
Lazy morning in our P.J's with an amazing brunch made by Nadyne, homemade croissants(some with chocolate), scrambled eggs, kale/apple smoothie, homemade chocolate muffins, and fruit salad. We didn't want to leave, but we had to eventually, so we could catch the two ferries to get home.
It was difficult to say goodbye to our hosts, we would miss their company, and the great conversations we had with them.
Alora
has motion sickness like her Dad and she was trying to keep nausea
away. I see Rene and her fighting over the stirring wheel when she
finally gets her "N".
It was a long journey but the time passed easily, we had a great book we listened to on CD called,
"The man who broke into Auschwitz". An engaging book about the horrors of mankind and the resilience of men, the good and the bad.
We left Powell River around 1:30pm and drove into our carport at home around 8pm.
For those traveling with B.C Ferries, it is cheaper if you buy a prepaid(the minimum to put on is $115.00),
"Experience" card; it saved us approximately $25 dollars each way.
"I'm hungry." said a tired husband to his wife at 8:15pm after a long journey on the road.
"What do you want to eat." his wife was cleaning out the cooler and had already pulled something simple to make off the shelves.
"Food." he said and walked away bringing up the overnight bags to the appropriate bedrooms.
10 minutes later...
"Nadyne cooks better than you." Rene spooned another bite of Kraft Mac 'n' cheese into his mouth as his wife shrugged and rolled her eyes at him.
"My next day off I'll make you something special honey." she huffed and walked away, a little irritated that her family had been way too spoiled up there in Powell River.
"Next thing you know." she thought to herself, "they'll be wanting
gourmet food every day! I suppose I can't stop them from dreaming."
"Hold fast your dreams!
Within your heart
Keep one still , secret spot
Where dreams may go
And, sheltered so,
May thrive and grow."
Louise Driscoll
Alora's Pic's in slideshow:
Dog's Blog:
I did not go. It was my choice. Nadyne and Joe did invite me, but I did not feel so comfortable to go, because they have 3 dogs. I always thought Nadyne was a cat human. You know the kind I mean... the Pack Leaders who like cats more than dogs. But I think Pack Leader Joe brought her over to the "Dog Side". I know she loves me now. I just didn't know if Licorice and River would love me. They are sled dogs from the Yukon, you know, and I'm a city girl. They eat porcupines just for the fun of it! What if they heard that I was afraid of Yoda? My crazy pack cat. He bites my ankles! I do not care for sharp and pointy things. Licorice and River would have made fun of me, so I stayed with my cousin Maggie. She doesn't like sharp and point things either. We ate warmed up bones in bacon fat together and we ran together at the dog park. It is safe at Oma and Opa's. I love them, but I am glad my pack is back.
Thanks to:
-Nadyne and Joe for opening their home and spoiling us Main Lander's
-Oma, Opa, Sabrina, Jeff, and Ella for taking such good care of Angel
-Krista, Andrew, Averi, and Ari for taking care of the cats, fish, and paper route
