Amelia and Kristi come to stay. April 16 - 24

BABY PICTURE ALERT!  LOL

Saturday is quite cloudy. but we decided to head into Duncan to pick up a few things at the Farmer's Market, Canadian Tire and Walmart before heading to Cowichan Bay's Mud Works Pottery. Colleen made us more coffee cups to match our set. Going to Cowichan Bay also meant lunch at the Rock Cod Café which just reopened under new management. Ray took this picture of the Museum Docks which is close to the angle of view our new painting. The correct angle location is marked off due to undermining and would feature an ugly looking catamaran. 

Driving down Highway 18, it was 5C here at the lake and once we got into Duncan it's already 11C with sunshine. What a difference. Coming back home at 1:30, the temperature kept dropping to 2C at the top of hill 60 and snowing! Fortunately, when we came back down into Lake Cowichan, it warmed to 8C. This weather is something. Of course it wasn't long before the rain and wind began again. Glad we went to Duncan for some sunshine. :)

I purchased a couple of ornaments for my front garden to accompany my bird bath given to me as a gift last summer. It's been too cold to plant so I will plant metal instead. :) and of course they will light up at night.

The perennials I planted last spring in the back side garden have all started to grow and some flower. Fortunately the tags were correct they were deer resistant and bunny resistant since we have lots of those animals come through the yard at night all year long. More so now that a dog smell doesn't permeate the yard. Downside which I did not know is that the reason they did not get eaten is they are a little toxic ... we will have to watch Amelia when she gets more active and walking.

Hellebore

Shrimp on the Barbie lol I could not believe that's the actual name of this plant.

Larny, my dad's old caregiver, visited his grave in Port Coquitlam yesterday. She was so good to him. I miss him every day. Thanks Larny for visiting him.

Sunday after the fog burned off it was quite nice outside. Great for people with kids for their Easter Egg Hunt. Mainly chores today, laundry etc. How exciting. I managed to get my planter boxes filled with potting soil in the front of the house while Ray worked on the irrigation. Still too cold to plant my herbs though, they sit patiently waiting in the garage and I just open the garage door during the day when it warms up so they can get the odd ray of sunshine. :)

Monday the predicted rain storm arrived. What a miserable day. Glad we saw some sunshine this weekend to last us for the next few days. :) At least the temperatures have warmed up. Supposed to get 25 mm of rain today which is 1 inch. By 4 pm it definitely poured all day.

Roy, our next door neighbour, suggested Ray take our new "slab" for our bistro table to their cabinet shop so they could run it through their sander and even gave him some epoxy to use. Ray had to be there at 7 am before the guys all got into the jobs for the day. Nice neighbours. What a shop and what a sander! This is Jim who fabricated and installed our dining room buffet and clothes cabinet in the front hall. He even cut it to size before running it through their sander.

Ray took me out to lunch at Jake's at the Lake for Seniors 25% off. lol Rest of the day we just stayed sitting in our chairs watching the rain fall onto the lake.

Tuesday Kristi and Amelia arrived at 10 am. Someone did not have a good sleep the night before or a  nap on the way to the lake, so was a little cranky. We managed to distract her with playing with the "new toys" she hadn't seen since the last time she here.

I made ham and scalloped potatoes for dinner so I would have leftovers for tomorrow's dinner after looking after Amelia all day. Beef stew for Amelia as she cannot eat processed food yet.

I decided we would all go to Jake's for lunch for their fish and chips special. First time at a restaurant with Amelia for us. She did fabulous and she really loves french fries!

Back home more toys.

While she was down for her afternoon nap Ray's new saw arrived. One happy camper. The sales guy even took it right into Ray's workshop which saves us a lot of figuring out how to move it. It weighs 350 pounds. His old saw of 30 years finally gave up the ghost. This one has the "saw stop" so no chance of him losing fingers. 

She loves rolling on beds with pillows.

Amelia investigated our whole house over the next few days. lol Kristi helps her climb stairs as this is part of her physiotherapy for her left hip and knee. Boy can she move!

Pretty pleased with herself.

Someone left the bathroom door open and look what she found!

Wearing Grandma's rain hat.

Wednesday we looked after Amelia all day as Kristi left early for work in Nanaimo. She sure keeps you busy following her around. Fortunately for us, she was a happy camper all day, absolutely no tears. She insisted I walk with her instead of pushing her little table. It won't be long before she is walking by herself I think.

Thursday, Kristi is home with us. What a different baby when mommy is home, very "needy". She sure keeps Kristi hopping and doesn't want anyone else for the most part unless we are feeding her food. lol Tonight's dinner is prime rib on the barbecue with Yorkshire puddings. Kristi's favourite dinner. Also Amelia loves gravy and did really good with the beef. This way I have leftovers for lunch to feed Jason and Adrian when they arrive tomorrow.

Zeus always by Grandpa and of course Amelia.

Playing with old wooden puzzles that I kept from Garrett's baby days.

Kristi went back to Nanaimo Thursday evening after Amelia went to sleep as she is in surgery first thing Friday morning. I slept downstairs with Amelia. Fortunately for me, she slept through the night and other than my "cooking to death" trying to sleep with the bedroom temp at 21Cm we had a good night and morning. 

Jason and his fishing buddy Adrian, arrived at 10:30 after packing up from Kissinger Lake. He arrived just in time to wake Amelia up from her nap. She wasn't too impressed with being woken up but eventually came around. It was funny she was kissing and talking to Jason's picture we have before he arrived, but after he arrived she ignored him. lol She put her arms out to me and Ray and shook her head no to him for the first bit. Poor Jason after not seeing her for 3 days. He's never been away from her since she being born.

Here she is playing with Jason's friend Adrian.

The boys filled their bellies with beef dip sandwiches and Jason packed up all of Amelia's things and drove them in our car down to his truck and trailer that was parked outside our subdivision. At 1:30 they were all on their way. What a busy few days.

Once they were gone, Ray headed to Nanaimo to pick up our boat as we are away for a week starting Monday. I collapsed with a beer and sat on the dock for a bit. The repair shop diagnosed our tilt mechanism and ordered parts with won't arrive until the end of May. No sense keeping it in their yard and exposing the boat to theft.

Friday night I was in bed by 9 pm and slept 10 hours straight. Yes I was tired lol

Here are some new pictures of our other granddaughter, Stella and her new puppy Charlotte.

Learning to play guitar with daddy. (Garrett)

Stella and Kat

I slept 10 hours Saturday night after being so busy with the baby. Saturday morning I it's up early and on the road into Duncan to provision for the coming week at Pedder Bay. Once back Ray, took me out to lunch at Jake's. In between doing the last of the laundry Saturday and Sunday were spent loading up the motorhome for our departure Monday morning. 

Sunday morning Ray was tasked with putting bleach in the water hose and hooking up to the motorhome to disinfect the lines after sitting for 8 months. He filled the end of the hose with bleach. Unfortunately, this hose had a kink and when he rolled it, the bleach splashed up into his eye. Mad panic into the house where I had him flush his eye at the kitchen tap for several minutes and noticed the colors on his jacket and shirt were bleached too. Off with the clothes and into the shower to flush his eye some more and make sure no bleach was on his skin. Checked on Google ... yup I am supposed to call 911 and have him looked at immediately. Well I called 911 while he was showering and they said our town's ambulance was already in Duncan and could I drive him!!! I filled a squirt bottle with water and had him irrigate his eye the 25 minutes to the hospital. They took him straight in. 90 minutes later he reappeared. Apparently "Debbie's first aide" was the right thing to do and although he has a first degree burn on his eye, and will be sore for a couple of days, no permanent damage. Whew!!! He was given some eye Polysporin to prevent infection and off we went back home to finish packing for tomorrow!

Barbecue squeeze bottles for sauces came in handy!

April showers? (SNOW) and Company for Easter Dinner April 8 - 15

Friday morning woke to rain and wind outside. Fortunately it quit before I left for Nanaimo at 8:30 am. for a doctor's appointment and then a Costco run for a few things. No stopping to visit the kids as they were in Victoria for an appointment. 

Home by 1:30 pm. It was sunny with clouds in Nanaimo with a temp of 12C. Back home at the lake it was cloudy, windy and a balmy 6C only. It started to rain later on in the afternoon. Certainly not warm April weather yet. Sure glad we had nice days for our mini vacation on Salt Spring Island.

So cute hugging her bear.

Saturday the sun was out in the morning but very windy with white caps on the lake and 1C. Burrr. I picked up some herbs from Country Grocer yesterday to plant, but with this weather I will have to wait a week as overnight temps are scheduled to be below freezing and possibility of some snow!!! Very windy cool day. The clouds came in around noon and continued to thicken all day.

Sunday morning, yup a skiff of snow over everything. Yuck, winter still on April 10th! It snowed off and on right into the afternoon. Finally a brief glimpse of the sun before clouding up again. The wind died off though as the lake is flat calm. We may have only had a skiff but up island 20cm fell, which caused a huge power outage for over 40,000 people for most of the day with broken trees from the heavy snow.

Monday, another skiff of snow on the deck, but the skies are finally clear with sunshine cold though at 2C. Seeing the sun definitely cheers one up. Ray headed out with the boat in tow, up to Nanaimo this morning so that the hydraulic lift on the big motor could finally be fixed. This is a warranty issue that has been a problem since we purchased the boat 3 years ago. Hopefully it finally is resolved.

While Ray was away(and since it was nice and dry outside) it's time to open up the motorhome and get out all the bedding and towels to wash as they have been in there for 8 months. In two weeks we are going away in the MH to Pedder Bay for a week so I need to be ready. The weather is so wet so far this month that I have been putting off going in there and tracking water in and out of the house and MH. lol That's my excuse anyways. I also unscrewed the carpet runner under the table and Ray's chair that have been there for 8 years to protect the carpet. Now without the dog I am not worried about exposing the light beige carpet. 

Our daffodils are looking great in spite of the on and off again spring weather. Our lilac tree has tons of buds forming for blooms, so should look very pretty in a few weeks. 

In between loads of laundry I was able to sit outside, out of the wind in the front of the house enjoying the sunshine and waiting for Ray to come home. He arrived at around 12:30 and off we went to Jake's on the Lake for lunch ... Senior day and 25% off :)

View from Jake's patio. The lake just flowing over the top of the weir.

Once back home we both sat outside in the sun. It really got warm up next to the garage door. Ray's first time in shorts this year! Felt like 25C but in reality it was only 9C. lol

A great day. We needed to store up the sun's warmth after such a long wet winter.

Tuesday, back to showers and cloudy skies. There's another skiff of wet snow on the deck again this morning. It cleared up for a couple of hours later in the morning, so I went into the MH to start putting back all the bedding and towels I washed. Back in the bedroom, I noticed some stains on the carpet that I just noticed since I put the jacks down and deployed the slides.  I guess with us not levelling the MH after moving it for pressure washing allowed water to come in the slide even with it in. Our rubber gaskets on the bedroom slides were not replaced when we did the 2 big ones 2 years ago. We definitely tip to that side in the driveway when not levelled, evidenced by water running down that side of the coach. Fortunately the "mold" was not black so this definitely is new and not from all winter. Out came the carpet cleaner and hopefully that will take care of it. Ray did not level it after moving it for the pressure washing as we expected to move it again in 2 weeks with the wash and wax appointment. (We cancelled this until May as it's just to wet and cold for the motorhome to get waxed.) Lesson learned, now he will have to properly level it every time we move it.

Wednesday, another wet dreary day at 2C. No spring in the air yet! Today I started getting ready for our Easter dinner with the neighbours for Friday. While I played in the kitchen, Ray washed the inside of one of our garage doors (three more sides to do later as his back gets really sore doing the "wax on wax off). They are filthy and with the condensation from the wet car all winter some black mold started growing on the bottom of the door .... yuck!

Thursday the sun is finally back. Glorious morning but cold at -1C. It's still way too cold to think about planting anything yet. I guess my planters won't get done now until May since the weather is so crappy. Spent the day cooking up the last things I could do before tomorrow's dinner. Checked inside the MH and the rug was dry and looks pretty good, so Ray helped me make the bed and put all of the towels etc. back into the cupboards. One more thing off the list before our first trip of the year April 25th.

The sun is still out in the afternoon so Ray and I managed another 90 minutes or so sitting in the sunshine on the front of the house.

Friday, clear and a cool 2C. A great day for a dinner party. Ray went fishing while the sun was out but nada. He had fun though. First time out this year.

Unfortunately the clouds rolled in and we had another snow/rain shower by 2 pm.

I certainly got a chuckle out of this poster.

By noon I put the turkey in the smoker,  Here she is in all her glory before cooking, All 20 pounds of her.

Company is slated to arrive at 5 pm. I am ready! :) 3:45 and the turkey is coming up to temperature perfectly on the smoker in spite of being such a cold afternoon.

Table set and I think the Easter Bunny arrived early. lol

Company arrived at 5 pm. It's nice catching up with everyone. The turkey cooperated and was done right on time. Whew! (Of course I forgot to take a finished picture of the turkey!) It turned out to be the best turkey I've ever made after all the brining and lots of butter. Served with sausage and herbed stuffing, whipped mash potatoes, lots of homemade gravy and of course cranberry and orange sauce known as "turkey jam" (Steve's name for it). lol

Pat provided the 2 kinds of veggies and June brought over a great danish dessert. We all enjoyed great evening of conversation and sampling wine (Ray here, SAMPLING you say???). Although I was busy for 3 days pulling the dinner together, it's sure nice to entertain again after such a long time. We also delivered 2 plates of food to Ron and Donna, our other neighbours doorstep, as Donna is sick and had to cancel their Easter plans to host their family here at the lake.

Happy Easter!

Movie Night and Mini vacation to Salt Spring Island. April 1 - 7

 April Fools Day. Friday morning showery although the rain quit and is just cloudy for the rest of the day. I spent the day creating "munchies" for movie night next door tonight. Had fun in my kitchen making unusual things to me, including beet root chips and tomato chips. Carmel and peanut popcorn and mini banana chocolate chip muffins. 

Ray picked up our big boat as the wiring is complete for the downriggers and motors all tuned up. His 3HP motor for his little floaty boat was unable to be fixed though and is a warranty issue so we will have to take it into Duncan to a mercury dealer.

We for movie night at 7 and had a fabulous time watching the new James's Bond movie. Great evening. They have a 120" screen and reclining theatre seats. Home and in bed at 11.

The picture below shows Roy and June's newly renovated fireplace and rock wall. Gorgeous. They also have the movie theatre room done as well. With Roy being a cabinet maker, his millwork is gorgeous.

Saturday morning a slow start as we did not get up to almost 7am. lol Breezy on the lake, but the sun is trying to come out. At 10 we decided to head into Duncan and enjoy some sunshine as well as drop the little motor off for repairs and a few things to pick up at Superstore, including potting soil for my planters. Spring is calling me.

After our errands we tried out a new little place called Fresh Kenny's, a little bar and grill downtown Duncan. Delicious fish and chips for a reasonable price. I ordered cod and Ray halibut. Huge portions that buried the Kennebec fries. 

Back home by 1:30 to finish up the laundry. Started raining shortly after we got home.

Sunday we got out of bed an hour too early! Our "smart clocks" did a time change overnight for the old change date! Pouring rain outside, definitely a hunker down inside kind of day. I did empty and clean the hot tub though, as it was under cover and that took half a day to get it all done. Here is me waiting for the water to empty. I clean the inside in stages with the hot water in the tub as it goes down. The water is pumped out and dumped into the bathtub inside the house which also cleans out our sewer system from any grease as the water is hot. This was about a 4 hour job total. Glad it's only two or 3 times a year depending on usage.

It continued to pour all day and overnight.

Monday morning the rain eased off somewhat. We packed up and headed to the ferry by 9 am for our trip to Salt Spring Island. With the heavy winds last night and early this morning there are tons of debris on the roads. The ferry left Vancouver Island 20 minutes late with the wind. Dark and stormy seas. 

Crofton Harbour with wind gusts on the water

Whitecaps on the other side of the channel.

We landed on Salt Spring at 11:30 am and drove to Ganges to have lunch at Moby's Pub. Great meal.

With the rain continuing, we decided to just drive (Ray now driving as I drank a beer lol) to the south end of the island and see what there is to see and plan for the next couple of days when the sun is forecast to be out. Check in time isn't until 4 pm, so there's lots of time to kill. Here are some pictures we stopped for on the way to the park. We took a short side road to Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park which is "part of a contiguous protected area network that, along with Mill Farm Regional Park Reserve, forms one of the largest blocks of protected areas in the Gulf Islands. It provides protection for several ecosystems-at-risk and low-impact recreational opportunities as well as the incredible viewscape of Burgoyne Bay, Mount Maxwell and Baynes Peak."

You could see why they farmed here with the protected valleys.

The end of the road.

On the way back up the road, here is a glimpse of the cliffs of Baynes Peak on Mt. Maxwell. There are lots of hiking trails in this area.

We turned back to the "main road" and continued to Ruckle Provincial Park. The residents definitely have a power outage due to the storm as the crew is out fixing a snapped power pole.

Look at the rain on our windshield, a nasty day.

Pretty Trilliums in this old church, St. Mary's Anglican Church. Our kids went to Sunday school in a church somewhat similar in the Queen Charlotte Islands. (Haida Gwaii)

After driving for 2 hours I tried the resort number while back in Ganges and they had been trying to get ahold of us to say we could check in early. lol Cell service on this island really sucks. It's too bad, as we have no TV and thought we could stream some stuff ... nope. Should have brought our cell booster from the motorhome. Even though they have wifi, it's not strong enough for streaming and cuts out all the time just looking at web pages. Oh well, we will have to read books instead. :) and watch the wood stove fire. 

I brought some stuff for dinner from home (steak) and we picked up some Salt Spring Island mussels in Ganges for our appy. Turned out we only ate the mussels with garlic toast and were full due to the big lunch we ate. Maybe steak tomorrow. :)

Once we were checked in at 2:30, the skies lightened and we were able to go for a walk down to the rocky beach before the next rain squall came through. It will be a quiet 3 days. :) except for Ray's music on his JBL boom box.

We noticed a burnt building on site and found out from the manager that their main residence went up in flames during the heat dome last June. 

Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue Contain Structure Fire at Mineral Springs Resort on 1460 North Beach Road

By Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue  Fire & Police - June 29, 2021

On June 28th, 2021 at 18:45 Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue was called to 1460 North Beach Road, Mineral Springs Resort for a report of a commercial structure fire. Due to the distance from the firehall, the building construction and the abnormal temperatures, fire growth was rapid, and the initial crew faced an in trenched working fire. The four-story building was compartmentalized and built down a slope making access more difficult.

Eight apparatus and twenty-two firefighters worked well into the night extinguishing the fire and ensuring it did not spread to the surrounding buildings or interface forest. The dry water hydrant at St. Mary Lake was utilized for the tender shuttle operation delivering over 30,000 gallons of water to the fire site.

This is all that is left after the fire. Still waiting for insurance money to clear it up, I suspect. Fortunately they only had 2 guests staying at the time in the cabins so everyone was ok. The fire started from a faulty new fan. Apparently the RCMP were aholes, separating the owner and manager and questioning them like it was arson.  Even the fire chief was unimpressed and talked to the staff sergeant who made an apology later.

Off for our walk. These stairs across the street were too steep for us as they spiraled around and around to the beach.

We carried on walking down the road and found another lovely trail that was much easier.

The views from here are of Trincomali Channel, looking across at Wallace Island and behind is Galliano Island.

Lots of oysters attached to the shale. Of course harvesting is closed.

Interesting striated rock.

Walker Road Hook House, across the street from us.

Back to the cabin and "assume the position" lol It just started to sprinkle when we got back and then some squalls came through.

Our view out the front window.

The huge mineral springs jetted hot tub in the bathroom. The picture does not show how big the tub actually is, 3 feet deep. Took 30 minutes to fill but was lovely. Definitely made our backs and legs feel great after a day of travel in the car. With the hot water the whole room steamed up like a sauna. The owners drilled for a water well and instead at 150' they struck a (lightly) salt water mineral spring.  Duh, of course the island isn't called Salt Spring Island for nothing.  Apparently there are seven of these springs tapped on the island. 

In between rain showers, Ray managed to get a picture of this rainbow out our front window.

After our dinner of mussels, wine and cream, we just stared at our ocean view and watched the wood stove. Lovely day in spite of the rain.

Tuesday morning we were shocked it was 7am before we woke up after turning the lights out at 9:30 pm last night. The sun is out, but still quite windy. Over night it is very quiet here listening to the rain and wind on the roof. We woke up pretty stiff though, as it's one of those beds where you both roll into the middle and it's only a queen. I think tonight Ray will sleep on the single bed (couch) instead. It is pretty cool in the cabin this morning as I had turned the heat down and the bathroom window is open. Great for sleeping, but quite chilly when you get up. We got a fire going again and the heat turned up and within 15 minutes were were toasty warm sitting watching the water having our coffee.

At 9:30 am we headed out to the breakfast café near the cabin and start our exploring of the main township, Ganges, and the north end of the island today. We will save the south end for tomorrow when the winds are forecast to be less.

The Fernwood Cafe

Fernwood Point and public beach just a short ways down the road from Mineral Springs Resort.

After coffee and a breakfast sandwich, we carried on to Ganges downtown and walked around all of the little shops, buying some chocolates and bakery items (for tomorrow's breakfast). It's been years since we walked Ganges when we were there on my Dad's boat and our kids were really small.

Chocolates for Ray.

Centennial Park where they hold the Saturday market

The island is very eclectic and is full of old hippy's and free spirited younger people.  Our last time at the market, Ray commented on not seeing so many unshaved women's armpits!

For "off-season" there still is a lot of boats at the docks.

Treehouse Cafe

Outside patio seating for the Oystercatcher Pub and Grill

Before leaving Ganges, we bought a smoked meat sandwich from Buzzy's Luncheonette where they smoke their own meat, for our further travels. (It was delicious)

After wandering around for a couple of hours, we jumped back in the car and headed down to Long Harbour. There sure are lots of huge new homes down this spit of land. We stopped to take a few pictures.

Yup huge house.

Back on the road past Ganges turnoff, we headed northwards, stopping at a Glass blowing, fusing gallery called the Glass Foundry. Of course we bought a couple of things. lol 

That feather came home with us. lol

The artist also showed his museum of insulators. He has the largest insulator collection we've ever seen. He claims it to be the biggest collection in Canada. These were used for telegraph and telephone lines in the past. Unbelievable colours and shapes.

Some very rare artifacts

These show the fiber optic cable now compared to the lower picture of the past.

Fibers all wrapped in paper.

His outside display.

Look at the old tools displayed on his workshop. All painted yellow I guess to prevent theft. :)

Just outside Ganges is the historic Harbour House Hotel. We couldn't see the hotel but these statues are in the front yard. Very interesting.

Back in the car to Sunset Sheep Farm. Our purpose is to buy some lamb shanks to take home. Many butchers on Vancouver Island carry their product. We managed to get two packages and a few other things, wool mittens and a scarf. :) They have some cute baby lambs to pet and the larger sheep, Rocket, came running hoping for a handout of hay.

Here he comes!

Cute baby that loved sucking my fingers.

They send their wool to Prince Edward Island to have it woven into woolen blankets and sent back.

Lots of wool for knitters available in various colours.

Ba Ba Black Sheep :)

Next stop Southey Point, the most northern tip of Salt Spring Island. Again down a very windy and up and down road to a small kayak launch. 

Definitely time to head home after a day of traipsing around. :) Time for beer. We managed to sit outside on the lawn for a half hour before the wind came up and chased us back inside.

 As we only had a small lunch, I grilled up a steak with shrimp in cream sauce, veggies and a slice of  fresh bread. Tried to use the BBQ provided for the steak but it's out of propane. Good thing I packed a cast iron fry pan. :) (Ray here... of course she did and knives, spices, whisk, etc. Not complaining though!)

Wednesday morning, after having coffee and a couple of baked items and of course a mineral bath ... we jumped into the car for our south end tour. Earlier than yesterday as the forecast is for high clouds in the afternoon and not the best for Ray's pictures. 

First up is Ruckle Provincial Park. Gorgeous views and trails. You first drive through the working farmstead within the park.

In addition to its natural beauty, Ruckle Park is an area rich in cultural history. Irish emigrant Henry Ruckle first homesteaded here in 1872, marrying Ella Anna Christensen in 1877. Their descendants have farmed the Salt Spring property for more than a century. The Ruckle family donated their land to BC Parks in 1972 for the creation of Ruckle Provincial Park. The family still operates the Active Farm area of Ruckle Park and maintains several residences through a Life Tenancy Agreement established with BC Parks at the time of the donation.

They have a heritage farm stand here where the goats are, that you can purchase goods and coffee before heading into the park.

We carried on down the road to the parking lot for the trail and then to the campsite where you access other trails.

Ray took a bit of a spill trying to get a picture from the rocks ... they were covered in green algae and he did not wear non-skid runners. (Love my new boots I bought this winter for just this thing. lol) He sported a wet bum and legs for an hour or so until he dried. lol Luckily other than a small cut on his hand and a skinned knee he survived. One second I was watching him and then his head disappeared and a big thump! Fortunately the camera survived as well even though it spat out it's battery onto the rocks.

We saw a couple of sea lions but they were too quick to get a picture.

This area has gorgeous walk-in campsites.

The slippery rocks that got Ray and a little waterfall.

BC Ferry to Long Harbour

A couple of deer graced us with their presence on the way out. :) No pictures though. 

After an hour or so of hiking around we headed back to the main road and stopped at the Salt Spring Island Cheese Factory. They have quite the operation there. Several Goat kids to pat if you wished. They have glass windows through which you can watch the cheese making process. I normally do not like the taste of goat cheese, finding it too "gamey" the few times I have tried it. However, this cheese is so fresh it tastes amazing. We ended up buying 3 different kinds.

Very cozy accommodations for those goats. :)

Walk around viewing window

Cutest little kids.

They have a lovely garden to eat your purchased cheese and crackers.

Lovely to see all the spring flowers.

Next up is the very hairy drive 9 km up Mt. Maxwell to the view point overlooking the Gulf Islands and further points south. Our car did great with AWD, but you have to watch you didn't get high centered in places or hit a rock on the bottom of the car. :)

Glad we did our touring before lunch. You can see the clouds coming in and making it look hazy.

Lion Rampant Pub centre right, Maple Bay centre left, Duncan centre, Lake Cowichan behind the mountain top left.

Samsung Narrows bottom right, Cowichan Bay top centre.

Looking down on Burgoyne Bay

Looking down at Burgoyne Bay Heritage Farm

Happy tourists!

Last time we were here was in 1996. Here we are looking down at the Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park Historic Farm Site from the top of Mt. Maxwell. 

By the time we walked around taking pictures and back down the 20 minute drive down the mountain, we were starved, so back to Ganges to the Oystercatcher Bar and Grill for lunch. We missed the lunch rush and ended up being the only ones eating. Perfect. :) Good thing we did the picture taking earlier as by 1 the clouds had really rolled in. Ray enjoyed a tasty lamb burger and I the crispy chicken.

Great view of the marina from this restaurant.

On the way back to the cabin, we stopped at Wild Cidery to taste their product, well I did. :) They also have a bit of a restaurant so you can eat while you sample their product but of course we were full of lunch. 

4 large bottles of cider were quickly stowed in the car and on our way again to our last stop back to Sunset Sheep Farm. Kristi saw my pair of woolen mittens via video and decided she would like a pair for Christmas. I picked up a pair for her and we also grabbed some racks of lamb to take home. The last item was a woolen duvet for our bed at home. Our current one's stuffing is all flattened out and after 5 years is not as warm. This one I'm told will not do that and will last us for the rest of our lives as long as we keep it covered with 2 duvet covers to keep it clean as you cannot wash or dry clean it. It's warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Home by 3 pm to enjoy a glass of Saskatoon Berry Hard Cider. Yum. Ray of course drank his non-alcoholic O'Doul's beer. Dinner is fresh bread and butter. :)

Another great day. We drove every "main" road up and down as well as sideways on this island, so I think we have pretty much exhausted all the things we wanted to see. There is a map featuring 20 little shops and even after all the driving we only had time to visit 5 of them! Home tomorrow. It's been a lovely mini vacation. I'm glad we did not bring our e-bikes. The roads are so narrow and very windy all over the island. In fact, we saw very few people riding bikes. Some of the hills are quite steep and our e-bikes would not like them.

Thursday morning we were up, packed and out of the cabin by 9 am. We headed back into Ganges for another coffee and cherry turnover at Barb's Buns before heading to the ferry. Glad we left early for the 10:50 ferry as the lineup was quite long when we got there. Home by noon. 

After unpacking and finally sitting down in our chairs, we are exhausted. The best way to be after a great vacation!