I spent the Sunday of the long weekend with sister Barb and her partner Chris, Barb's daughter Meghan and her partner Leon. Meghan and Leon organized a craft brewery tour - we went to four breweries near False Creek in Vancouver, walking between each one to counteract the effects of the beer. Each one had a different focus and different snacks to accompany the beers. It was loads of fun! After we regrouped at Meghan and Leon's apartment for a lovely dinner.
Sunday was a visit with my friend Erika. Erika and I met when she lived in Guelph, and our kids grew up together - they were best pals. It was so nice to catch up with her. We explored the Pitt River area - I wanted to find the dykes I had seen on the cruise. We did find them, and had a lovely walk. If you're spending any time around Vancouver Pitt River and Pitt Lake would be 'go to' places, particularly if you have a bicycle. The dyke paths are long and flat - the scenery is gorgeous. I wish I had discovered this area on Saturday with my kayak - it would have been easy to put in for a paddle since there are access points at the end of each road.
After lunch we went to the trailer so that Erika could see it in person, and then I delivered her home and was fed a lovely meal by her partner.
Tuesday I headed to Horseshoe Bay to catch the ferry to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.
There was a haze which I discovered was not smog, but the smoke from the wildfires which are currently burning in the south Okanogan. It made the mountains even more beautiful!
A short drive down island from Nanaimo is Crofton, which has an operating sawmill so the harbour is a working harbour.
Caught a small ferry from Crofton to Vesuvius on Saltspring Island, and friend Tannice's place was only a short drive away.
Ever since I made plans to stay with Tan on Saltspring, I've been a bit anxious about how I was going to be able to get the trailer up a fairly steep, curved, and narrow driveway into a sloped area big enough to accommodate a small trailer. By the time I arrived, I'd worked myself up into a fairly good sweat about it.
My message to Tan (who was travelling back from the main island herself) when I saw the driveway again was "OMG". I decided I wanted to approach from the other direction and in the process of trying to do so turned the wrong way and found myself back at the ferry landing with very little room to turn around. I dreaded turning around so much that I half considered getting back on the ferry, but I did manage to pull it off with much too'ing and fro'ing. I headed back to Tan's from the right direction this time.
When I got there I just took a deep breath and gave it a shot. The pictures do not really show how hard this was and when I finished up, I felt pretty darn good. The trailer was in, leveled, and I didn't jack-knife once.
I'm snuggly tucked in now, hooked up to water and with some electricity available (we're working on it). Unfortunately Saltspring has no sani-dump available and I'm going to be here a while, so will be using the house. When Tan arrived from the ferry I had appetizers ready in the trailer and we toasted long friendships and talked until we were both ready for bed.
This morning we worked at tearing a shed off the side of her house. She has painters coming on Saturday and wanted this shed gone. I also helped prune weeds (and Tan's prize tree as it turns out) back from her rhododendron bushes.
After a busy morning, it was nice to relax on her deck.
A family of deer came for a visit - doe and two fawns still with their spots - enjoying the blackberries which are ripe.
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