On the first day at the resort, I’d gone on a nature walk led by a member of the staff, the same fellow who maintains the several “water features” on site, including a gigantic aquarium in the restaurant and a tank of Coho salmon, which I got to feed.
It had been pretty good weather – in the fifties – but a little cloudy, so hearing the first prediction of sun, I decided to drive across the island to the West Coast, about a 2 hour trip.
Started in Ucluelet, a pleasant little town with few tourist amenities, but with easy access to the Wild Pacific Trail, where I took some of the nicest photos of the trip.
We’d talked on the nature hike about the tectonic plates to the West and even the East of the island. That week, after years of inactivity, Mt. St. Helens erupted, and there was a report of an active volcano in the ocean off Vancouver Island.
I’d heard stories about the West Coast having some of the most turbulent waters in the world, and on the day of my visit, the waves were particularly high.
I’m glad to have seen it before the whole thing slides back into the sea.
Stopped briefly up the coast in Tofino, then went back to the resort.
I’d stupidly missed visting the Cathedral in the Pines, a grove of 300+ year old, gigantic trees, so the next day, I headed back on Route 4, the road through the mountains between the East and West Coasts.
Travelling through the Pacific Rim National Park on the way to Tofino, I’d listened to the Ranger weather and tide reports on the radio. Their repeated warnings to hikers about encountering wild animals were an ominous recollection as I walked through the woods, which were described as the forest as it was before the arrival of European settlers.
There were very few visitors that day, and even though the entrance is on the highway, after a short walk, I realized that I was far enough away from the parking lot to be completely by myself in what was, in fact, the edge of a wilderness area.
It had rained earlier in the day, and there were fresh prints, not only footprints, but paw prints, and big ones at that, with distinct claws. Not being much of a naturalist, I couldn’t tell if the prints were from a big dog – or something else.
With only a small camera as a weapon of possible intimidation, I got back to the parking lot as fast as I could.
BC Trip, Part II: And Now, Sports. First: Curling
Maybe it’s because the NHL cancelled its season, but curling led the sports news just about every night I was in Canada.
The major news story was, of course, the murder of the 4 “Mounties” in Alberta.
Even so, American programs dominated the TV, even on the local channels, and except for a French-speaking station, most of the music on the radio is US pop. And even the French station played US jazz.
Being the Pacific Northwest, it feels like home here. In fact, the prospect of going back to the US feels like foreign travel. Here means escape from the constant stress of there being “not enough” of everything – not enough money, certainly not enough civility, and too many people, especially in traffic.
Vancouver, of course, is a huge city, and it feels like any big city in the US – hurried, crowded, lots of cars.
Vancouver Island – even Victoria – seems to be on a different schedule. Even so, I noticed right away that where I was staying, about 2 hours away from Victoria, people drive fast, consistently exceeding the speed limit.
They probably get away with it because there are, literally, no speed traps. The only times I saw the police on the roadways, they were either adjudicating accidents or directing traffic because of construction.
Continue reading BC Trip, Part II: And Now, Sports. First: Curling
BC Trip, Part I: To Canada and Back
I’ve been wanting to voyage for my birthday, and this year, it happened by chance.
There was an old timeshare week to be used before the end of March, so last November, I made arrangements to travel to British Columbia the week of March 6.
Getting ready for the trip was a little nerve-wracking: the passport arrived only the Friday before, along with a couple of checks.
The day before the trip, Emme was performing in a production by the traveling Missoula Children’s Theater, an honor to be sure, and I was glad to be able to see her.
I had to get up at 3:30 am on Sunday the 6th to make my flight with the recommended 2 hour lead time.
After a lot of indecision on my part about how to get back and forth to Logan, Peter suggested I call a limo service – an unheard of luxury – but it turned out to be a good decision, for a lot of reasons: no bus service at that hour, and I got to leave my car in the driveway rather than risk being towed or plowed in should there be more nasty weather (and in fact, there was) during the week.
Holding His Own, And More
This past weekend, I caught the debate on C-Span’s program “On American Perspectives” between former Presidential candidate and new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, and former member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle.
Threes
Providence
We’ve all got to move to Providence.
Smack
Executive Summary:
Yahoo: good
Google: bad
I’ve read a few of the “controversial” excerpts from the blog of Mark Jen, the person who left Microsoft to take a job at Google and was fired after less than a month of employment – and as a former HR person, I have NO idea what got his boss’s knickers in a twist.
We Will Miss Him
Arthur Miller died today at age 89.
Silly Premise
I’ve been thinking about this for days and still haven’t come up with an answer: do you have a long-term wish that could be fulfilled with $3,000 and 3 free days?
A Twist and a Miss
With its 10 pm time slot, ER is on too late to make it one of my regular views, but I was intrigued enough by the promos (“What was she thinking?”) for last night’s show, about the reunion of Dr. Kerry Weaver with her natural mother, that I gave it a look.