PARKSVILLE, VANCOUVER AND JUST LIKE THAT, OUR ADVENTURE IS AT A CLOSE

Black Swan Pub in Parksville.

The back of the pub and the outdoor seating

The view from our RV taken at sunset.

Parksville, with a population of about 12,000 people is about 37 km/60 miles north-west of Nanaimo (where the delicious chocolaty Nanaimo bar was invented and where we took the ferry to Gabriola Island) and was the location of our last two weeks on Vancouver Island. Once again we had access to a beautiful beach but, alas, not the dogs. In March and April local beaches are closed to pets, even pets on leash, as the Black Brant geese make their way back to Alaska and use the shores around Parksville and Qualicum Beach as a stop. Local folks have told us they would just as soon our dogs took a run at some of these geese as they are not on any endangered lists and, besides being incredibly noisy, they leave a remarkable amount of droppings behind.

Because it's also the spawning season of the Pacific herring, thousands of other waterbirds, seals, eagles and sea lions hang out on the coast line hoping for a meal of herring.

Together with Parksville, the neighbouring towns of Qualicum Beach, French Creek, Coombs/Hilliers, Errington and Nanoose are collectively referred to as 'Oceanside'. Our RV Resort was smack in the middle of Parksville on the beach and next to an enormous municipal park that had everything a community could require including outdoor gym equipment, walking trails for dogs and their owners and a book exchange. Parksville enjoys a very moderate climate with temperatures rarely dipping to freezing in the winter or going much beyond 20c/70f in the summer. Tourism makes up most of the economy of the area.

The beach during the day at low tide.

If you visit Vancouver Island and venture up to mid-island you really must go to Coombs. This tiny little town, population 1,300 or so, is about 10 km/6 miles west of Parksville and is home to the Old Country Market.  www.oldcountrymarket.com  Not only does this market sell some wonderful and unique produce, and has the best ice cream in the world, they also have a family of goats living on their roof. Truly, I would not make that up!

Goats on the roof.

Taking a ferry from the small hamlet of Crofton, population 1,100 or so with a pulp and paper mill being its main source of economy, we went to Salt Spring Island for the day.

Salt Spring Island is the largest and most populous of the Gulf Islands (population 10,300) and has more tourists visiting than any other.  Like most of the Gulf Islands, Salt Spring enjoys a very moderate climate.

Harbour at Vesuvius, Salt Spring Island

A cafe in Vesuvius on Salt Spring Island

We visited with friends of Erik's for the afternoon and, once again, had lunch outside in a very beautiful and pastoral setting. There's nothing like having a nice lunch with a glass of wine outdoors when you know friends back home are still shoveling out from that horrible last snow fall of the season.

A little bit of interesting and not well known history about Salt Spring Island: In 1858 blacks from California moved to Salt Spring to escape new legislation in that state that discriminated against them.

After a month on Vancouver Island, two weeks in Metchosin (just west of Victoria) and two weeks in Parksville it was, once again, time to pull up stakes and visit Vancouver that most sumptuous of cities to see cousins and old friends. The ferry ride to Vancouver was from Departure Bay in Namaimo to Horseshoe Bay at the most westerly tip of the city of Vancouver and is a 2 hr 30 minute ferry ride. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed out of vehicles on this ferry so Erik and I sat in the truck with them and played cards and talked. No, the dogs did not play cards owing to not having thumbs but they did offer advice. Horseshoe Bay is pretty gorgeous, surrounded by mountains and spectacular homes dotted on those hillsides.

Horseshoe Bay

Our RV Park www.capilanorvpark.com was close to downtown Vancouver, within walking distance to a shopping center, some beautiful walking trails through woods and parks. Our social scene was pretty good too: One evening I had dinner with my three cousins at a local restaurant and Erik took the dogs to the home of one of his ex-colleagues for dinner. The following evening some mutual friends (actually old friends from Brockville) came to our RV for dinner and brought the entire dinner with them.We had one full day to take in Vancouver, which is just fabulous, went through Stanley Park and had lunch at Granville Island.

On Granville Island, mountains in the background.

Lion Gate Bridge seen from Granville Island.

Vancouver traffic.

First stop, after leaving Vancouver was Kamloops for the night to have dinner with old friends of Erik's. Kamloops is actually a pretty little city, about 85,000 people, interesting topography and is at the junction of the north and south branches of the Thompson River.

Beautiful Rockies. Leaving Vancouver and heading east.

On the Cocquihalla Highway on our way through western BC.

This was our only brush with winter the entire time we were gone.

The summit of the Coquihalla.

Other than the summit of Coquihalla where one would expect snow in mid-April we experienced pretty nice weather all across BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In fact, until we crossed over into northern Ontario we did a good job of avoiding winter.

From Kamloops, where we stayed just one night, we continued on the Trans-Canada Highway. Some interesting stuff about the Trans-Canada Highway:  The Trans-Canada Highway connects all ten Canadian Provinces, spans 8,030 km/ 4,990 mi and is one of the largest national highways in the world, right up there with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Number 1. Ferry rides are part of the Trans-Canada. Construction started in 1950 and was completed in 1971 but was officially opened in 1962.

The part of the trip that was terrifying for me - and I do mean Totally Terrifying - was just east of Golden, BC. We were certainly high up in the Rockies and I was pretty busy taking lots of pictures and taken in by the sheer magnitude of the mountains and the gorgeous gorgeous scenery all around me. We stopped at the little town of Golden, population 4,200, and high up in the Rockies, 800 m/2,600 ft to be exact, for a bit of lunch and a walking break for the dogs. When we left Golden we were still on the gorgeous new section of the Trans-Canada and then, suddenly, we weren't. Suddenly, we were driving on two lanes, huge transports trundling around the many corners on this narrow narrow roadway toward us where truly there was barely enough room for one small car let alone huge transports and us, a truck and a fifth wheel. It felt as though we were going to just fall over the side, the side, I might add, that was very steep, a sheer drop in fact, with nothing but a tiny little metal barrier that was supposed to keep us on the road. I think not. I wish I had some photos to show how creepy it really was but it's hard to take pictures when your eyes are closed and you are hunched over the seat trying to hold onto the lunch you had just eaten.

With excellent driving skills and an enormous amount of patience Erik cleverly kept us safe and away from the sheer drop of the edge and to safety. We took the Trans-Canada through the remainder of BC and started our descent through the Alberta Rockies and stayed the night in a town in Alberta called Cochrane, just a bit north and west of Calgary. We were still pretty high up, 1,186m/3,891 ft,, but kind of on a plateau. The RV Resort we stayed in was one of the nicest and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Mid-April is not prime time for RV Parks to be opened in Canada even though the weather was really very nice and mild and the snow in that area was all gone.

The Rockies are breathtaking.

Completely awe inspiring.

Entering Alberta.

Our spot at the RV Park in Cochrane

We were on Lion's Lane - get it - Freddy is a Ridgeback

 

Our rig. It really was a nice park. Too bad we were only there for one night.

An enormous off leash walking trail with a creek adjacent to the RV Park

Looking back on Cochrane as we headed toward Calgary.

          Crossing through the Badlands of Alberta. www.canadianbadlands.com

Heading out early in the morning, from Cochrane we head toward Saskatchewan and the town of Swift Current where we would stay for one night. Along our route we pass Medicine Hat, Alberta and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, two of my favourite place names after Dildo, Newfoundland. Both towns are pretty small.

Crossing into Saskatchewan.

The prairies.

In Saskatchewan we visited Indian Head, apparently the home of the television show Little Mosque on the Prairie

The Indian Head at Indian Head, SK.

In the television show the fictional town was called Mercy but Indian Head claims it.

Driving quickly through Moose Jaw.

One night in Swift Current and then east toward our next destination of Brandon, Manitoba where, once again, we would stay for only one night.

Not quite sure what or why but there were what seemed like man-made shallow lakes along the side of the TCH

About to enter Manitoba

You don't often see one, let alone two, telephone booths these days. But in Brandon, MB you do.

Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, along the Assiniboine River in the southwestern portion of the Province and has a population of about 56,000. The RV Resort we stayed in felt strangely familiar; we had actually stayed there in 2009 when we rented an RV to move back to Ontario from BC. When we checked in they still had our information on file and even asked if we still had the three dogs - sadly we only have two left. Quite a little pang in my heart.

Kaede and Freddy and you can just see HarryBoy's head peeking behind Freddy. 2009 trip

The RV Park was adjacent to woods and farm land with open fields for the dogs to run in. As they did in 2009, but without their pal HarryBoy, Kaede and Freddy once again ran the fields. We also saw a few jack rabbits.

Next morning, off we go again with Dryden, Ontario our destination for the night. Beats me why it's so much colder and more wintry in Northern Ontario than it is west of there but it is. As soon as we crossed over into Ontario near Kenora it felt colder and there was snow still hanging around. In Dryden, our first stop it was close to freezing with rain and snow.

I have to say, though, I can imagine what this RV Park would be like in the summer months or in the fall when all the leaves are still on the trees but bursting with autumn colours. This time of year, not so inviting.

After Dryden we were pretty much in a southerly direction until Thunder Bay when we had to kind of go north around Lake Superior before heading southeast, following the lake to Marathon. It was still very wintry there and we parked in the driveway of the RV Resort and plugged our electricity into a little cabin on the property. We had the awful feeling that we had not missed winter entirely.

We were actually pretty lucky because so far, in northern Ontario, we had found RV parks that were not actually opened up for business yet but allowed us to stay for one night. We had no services other than electricity as the water was not yet turned on and the sewer systems were not open for business. The trip was winding down now and we were essentially just thinking of getting home as we drove through snow.

Last, and final stop, North Bay where we did the ultimate exciting thing you can do while in an R.V. - yup, we stayed in the parking lot of the local WalMart. There was not a single park in that area opened due to there still being a substantial amount of snow on the ground. I retract my statement of not having seen snow other than on the mountains; good old Ontario made sure of that.

And so, after having left home on November 3, 2014 to start this adventure we arrived back home in the afternoon of April 25th, 2015 having driven through or stayed in 17 American States, 5 Canadian Provinces and a total of 15,000 km/9,000 miles. That's a lot of traveling. There were some high points, some not so high points, lots of laughs, plenty of scenery to look at, interesting, tasty food, and a whole ton of memories. It would be difficult to pick one favourite and least favourite or one experience that stood out over the others; it was all good. I would not hesitate to recommend this mode of travel to anyone out there who would relish such an adventure.

STUNNING VICTORIA, BC

If you ever get the chance to travel to the west coast of Canada, Vancouver Island in particular, do it. It's beautiful, plain and simple. The island is 460 kms/290 miles in length and is 80 kms/50 miles wide at its widest point; has a population of about 760,000 with 345,000 living in Victoria. Victoria, incidentally, is the capital of the Province of British Columbia. The climate on the island is mild enough in a few areas to grow subtropical crops such as olives and lemons and the odd palm tree has been sighted.

From Port Angeles in Washington State the ferry that we took takes you right downtown to Victoria harbour; from there we immediately drove to our RV Resort in Metchosin, about a 30 km/18 mile ride out into the country. Metchosin is right on the coast and is home to about 5,000 people, many of whom run small farms while the majority are retired. Metchosin is a haven for folks who like the outdoor lifestyle with tons of walking and hiking trails that offer some amazing scenic views. Don't look for places to buy your souvenirs along these walks as you won't find anything of that sort anywhere in Metchosin. You will, however, find a pretty high end restaurant and a general store that truly is a general store and sells some of the best home made meat pies, in the English tradition, and fresh, local sausages.

Weir's Beach RV Resort, was gorgeous. A stone's throw from the ocean and with magnificent views of the mountains to the west and a glimpse of Victoria to the east it was pretty much perfect. We spent hours each day walking up and down the beach while Kaede and Freddy ran and played to their hearts content.

As it was in San Diego, our social life in Victoria was pretty much guaranteed. Erik's son, Adam, lives in Victoria and having lived there for about 15 years Erik has friends with whom he had stayed in touch over the years.

Adam and Erik having lunch at a bistro on the Inner Harbour in Victoria.

The weather in Victoria was pretty stupendous for pretty much all of our time there. Stupendous weather in Victoria means no rain which, in turn, means eating alfresco.

Lunch at our RV site, Weir's Beach, Metchosin

I watched a Dad and his daughter build something in the drizzle.

Victoria is the home to The University of Victoria, a world-class university, but also Royal Roads University, a former military college that now is a learning facility for working professionals who want to further their education while continuing in the work force. The grounds of this university reminded us of a beautiful estate with magnificent lawns and a quiet peacefulness. 

The buildings are in a little gully hidden behind tees and massive lawns and are quite impressive.

Some of the jewels of Victoria, that most people are already aware of, would be The Fairmont Empress Hotel, Victoria'a Inner Harbour, The Legislature Building, Butchart Gardens and the many, many, many pubs.

The Fairmont Empress Hotel:
http://www.fairmont.com/empress-victoria/ is one of the oldest and most famous hotels around. It is on Government Street in Victoria and faces the inner harbour and has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Afternoon tea at the Empress is an indulgence that you owe yourself at least once in your life. If that doesn't appeal to you then a martini in the Bengal Lounge accompanied by some of their tasty curries certainly will.

The Harbour:
Victoria harbour is a seaport and seaplane airport as well as a cruise ship and ferry destination for tourists and visitors to Victoria and Vancouver Island in general. Along the harbour you will see the Empress Hotel, the Legislature Buildings, seaplanes landing and taking off, people dining at various outdoor restaurants and pubs. Here are some pictures of life on the harbour.

This is a water taxi that takes you around. Kind of cool.

Legislature Buildings.
The BC Parliament Buildings, home to the The Legislative Assembly, face the inner harbour and are diagonally across from the Empress Hotel. You will find a statue of Queen Victoria on the front lawn and a statue of a soldier to commemorate WWI, WWII and Korean War casualties from the Province of BC. The legislature offers free guided tours throughout the year if you would like to see how Provincial government works.

Stock photo of the Legislature taken from the harbour.

Butchart Gardens.
www.butchartgardens.com There is nothing that I can say here that would do justice to the Butchart Gardens. The gardens receive more than a million visitors annually, are a National Historic Site of Canada and offer 55 acres of absolute beauty.

One of many professionally done stock photos taken at Butchart Gardens.

Many, many pubs. Victoria is a city that is oozing with pubs. You find them almost on every corner downtown and scattered about the many Victoria neighbourhoods. They range from tiny and cozy to large and decadent but most offer darned good food and an assortment of excellent beers.

17 Mile House.

We had our lunch in this quaint little room.

It was a crazy sunny day in Victoria and the sun kept shining through windows.

The 17 Mile House.
www.17milehouse.com is a pub that is ...... yup, 17 miles or 27 kilometers outside of Victoria. It has an interesting history - was once an inn for travelers going west from Victoria and even had a reputation of being a place where married gentlemen could bring their lady friends who were not their wives with insured privacy. We enjoyed a couple of hours here when we stopped for lunch.

Just north of Victoria is the charming seaside town of Sidney. www.sidney.ca When Erik and I married in 2007 we lived in this area for nearly two years before returning to Brockville, ON and retirement. Sidney has a meager population of 11,500 people but has an infrastructure of a much more populated town, is minutes from Victoria International Airport and the BC Ferries to Vancouver at Land's End and is accessible by ferry from Anacortes in Washington State.

 

Interesting sculpture of a diver on the extensive boardwalk in Sidney-by-the-Sea.

A fish market and to the right a restaurant that serves excellent sea food.

Me (in red), the dogs and one of the sculptures along the boardwalk.

Sidney spit, taken from the end of the wharf.

Looking back at Sidney from the end of the wharf.

We spent a day in Mill Bay, Cowichan Bay area; it's a beautiful drive north on the TransCanada highway that takes you north out of Victoria and up and over the Malahat, 356 m/1,156 ft at its summit. The drive takes you along the Goldstream Provincial Park where you can see salmon spawning in the fall months as they make the long arduous journey homeward.

Mill Bay (about 3,200 population) and Cowichan Bay (about 2,400 population) are both small towns in the Cowichan Valley and are characterized by their beautiful scenery, proximity to the ocean and their attraction in the summer as tourist destinations. 

Mill Bay

Mill Bay

Float Homes in Mill Bay

Float Homes in Mill Bay

Incredibly beautiful Mill Bay

Speaking of pubs, this is the Six Mile Pub which, strangely, is located about 6 miles/10 kms from downtown Victoria. There is also a pub called The Four Mile Bar and Grill which we passed several times on our travels but I didn't get a picture. You will probably have to take my word on that one.




If you are wondering how many pubs there are in greater Victoria try a google search. However, when googling pubs in Victoria you get a variety of answers and, of course, not all of them are on the various sites that show the pubs but my guess would be there are LOTS.

From Victoria to Nanaimo (yes it's the birthplace of the Nanaimo bar) is about 110 kms/66 miles and only 58 kms/36 miles north of our last stop, Mill Bay and Cowichan Bay where we saw the lovely float homes.  Nanaimo, population about 84,000 is known as The Harbour City due to its location on a wonderfully scenic harbour. Nanaimo is only 96kms/55 miles west of the city of Vancouver on mainland BC and is serviced by a ferry terminal and float planes that link to many of the Gulf Island and Vancouver ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay.

Erik, Kaede and Freddy at the little seafood restaurant on the harbour.

Boats in Nanaimo Harbour

Harbour at Nanaimo.

From Nanaimo Harbour we took a ferry across to Gabriola Island, to spend the afternoon and to have lunch with one of Erik's ex-colleagues who lives there. Gabriola is one of the Gulf Islands, is only about 5 km east of Nanaimo and a short 20 minute ferry ride. This video is of the ferry that we will be taking as it enters the harbour.

I also wanted to show you this video I took on the ferry of the scenery going to Gabriola Island and a very special guest sighting.

Gabriola Island is small, only 57 sq km/22 sq mi with a population of just more than 4,000 and, as our hostess for the afternoon put it, living here is a lifestyle and not for everyone. If you love solitude and don't mind taking a 20 minute ferry ride in order to do shopping then your lifestyle would fit in here. 

More dining alfresco on Erik's friends' gorgeous property.

Kaede and Freddy love roaming the two fenced acres.

The view from their property. Tranquility at its best.

Our island  hopping is not done. Next we go to Saltspring Island, the most populated of the Gulf Islands ,and a stay in beautiful Parksville, halfway up Vancouver Island. Then, off we go to the glorious city of Vancouver and home again, home again, jiggedy jig. See you next time.