Sunday, September 21, 2008

September Holidays

Just mid-way through a few weeks holidays I decided to take. It's been a while since my January time off (when I was in Vegas) and really needed some time to de-stress. My Mother-in-law was down for some surgery so came over to visit us after that procedure. She is from Terrace (Northern BC) and unfortunately they have had a crappy summer up that way. While she was here we had fantastic weather, I was really happy that it was so nice for her. We took her to the Butchart Gardens, something we have been meaning to do for ourselves for the past 5 years, it was a beautiful place, made my rose garden look pretty petty. It's amazing what the Gardeners and staff have done out there. We are looking forward to taking in all 5 seasons, with a membership.

We then loaded the "Caddy-Wagon" up with our gear and headed off to camp for a few days. This was a bit of a nail-biter for me, considering the track record of our Westfallia, (Last October we blew the engine, as well as not one trip where the machine did not break down.) Well the Caddy-wagon performed flawlessly, ran like a top, no issue at all.

This was also our first camping trip without Andre, and was in our thoughts frequently as he had camped with us so many times. It was also our new Pup's first camping trip and his first long drive. Odin was incredible and is going to be a great camping and hiking dog, he also travels well. When it is just us (him and I)  in the van he usually is sitting in the passenger chair, but when the chair is taken he then sits/lays on the cover for the Sink behind the Drivers seat.  A lot of 1st's.

We took off on Monday and went as far as Parksville where we stayed at Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park. This was an incredible place, even for those who are not big on camping, as the facilities included flush toilets and free showers... it was also right on the beach with many trails and long walks out to the water when the tide was out. Very reasonably priced at $24 /night. They have big campsites so you have lots of privacy too.

The next day we were heading for Quadra Island off the coast of Campbell River, we had camped at We Wai Kai Campsite near Rebecca Spit Provincial a few years back, unfortunately though they had closed for the season the day before we had arrived. The other two campsites on Quadra were not to my liking, so we decided to head to Cortes Island, where we had heard of Smelt Bay Provincial Campsite. It is a very secluded Island, but something right up my alley. We spent two nights there, and it was well worth the trip up and cost of the ferries (we had thought the ferry to Cortes was free but it turned out to be an additional $30+ dollars... Still worth every penny though).

So my Mother-in-law left this morning, her flight left at 05:30  man what a crazy time to have to be at the Airport, and should be back home in Terrace by the time this gets posted. It was a fantastic time!

Pictures posted on my Flickr site here.



EOF  ----   LC

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