Outside the rain is coming in sideway off the harbour, but it only ads to the ambiance. Fresh cut flowers on the table, and fireplace ablaze, I’m sipping my mocha and typing out a blog post with my legs draped over the sides of this armchair that I wish would just swallow me whole.
Last night after the chicken topped with lobster and few glasses of a local red wine, we retired to the jacuzzi tub and popped in the Saltspring Soapworks bath bomb. The rest of the evening is pretty hazy after that.
45 minutes outside of downtown Vancouver we hopped on an hour-long ferry and arrived at this amazing gem of and island called Salt Spring. I haven’t been over here since a family camping trip when I was wee so I forgot how easy it is to get to.
This morning we drove down to Burgoyne Bay in search of the “beach access” we saw on a map. After a rolling 30 minute hike through towering arbutus trees, around gargantuan moss-covered boulders that peered down at the rocky shores of the Salish Sea below, we came to a clearing.
Following a trail of daffodils we then spent the better part of the morning perched on a collection of rocks above the shore watching a pacific white-sided dolphin cruise the bay, and frolicking otters who made appearances now and then. Natural areas and habitats are protected and numerous signs will make you well-aware of the reasons why you cannot trudge down on that beach at low tide – who knows whose nesting area you would be destroying.
This afternoon at Vesuvius Bay, we were treated to some of the best halibut and chips I’ve ever had the pleasure of devouring (at the Seaside Restaurant). These folks know good food – locally grown, organic, and freshly caught. Also, you probably can’t throw a hemp seed without hitting an artist around these parts. Pottery, woodworking, cheese crafters, bakeries and even glass blowing studios are peppered throughout the island.
Sheep grazing on the shoulder, the roads are narrow, muddy, and only a percentage are paved. Backpackers thumb for rides, there are no trolley buses crusing around, and there’s a serious lack of signage for out of towners – but that’s part of the charm.
The rain has stopped and looking outside the spotted window I see nothing but evergreens and blue skies. I just called housekeeping and they brought us another bath bomb for tonight. I had my choice between the goat milk and chamomile or mai tai – I went with mai tai. This was just probably the biggest decision I had to make today, do we ever have to leave?
This morning’s dose of random history bites is courtesy of VancouverHistory.ca.
In 1988: Point Roberts, the little tip of Washington State that’s accessible by land only through BC, finally got its own US-based telephone service. B.C. Tel had been serving the area up until this year.
In 1958: Under construction, the Second Narrows Bridge collapsed into Burrard Inlet. It would later be renamed to include the “Ironworkers Memorial” in memory of those who lost their lives during that tragedy.
In 1956: A baby penguin was born in the Stanley Park Zoo (the first in Canada) and postal service is brought to White Rock.
In 1963: Tolls came off the Lions Gate Bridge under its new owner, the provincial government, which had bought the bridge for $6 million.
In 1908: The first tourist bus services begins rolling through Stanley Park.
In 1930: The oldest surviving bowling centre in Canada, Commodore Lanes and Billiards, in the basement at 838 Granville Street, opened under the direction of Frank Panvin.
This afternoon as I was skipping across a street in Surrey something popped off my bag and bounced to the ground with a metallic *tick*. No cars were coming so I turned about and noticed it was my Surrey button that had unhooked itself and leapt from its perch next to the others. As much as I wish I could compose and entire post about my day in my hometown and kick it off with the cute little story of the button that also felt quite at home, that’s about all there is to that tale.
Tomorrow we hit the road, leaving Vancouver and the Lower Mainland behind, and I simply can’t wait. The last few weeks have brought on stresses of mammoth proportions that I haven’t felt since we were a single income family dealing with money woes, immigration, lawyers, and the Canadian government. Those times have passed but one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact that John and I rarely take vacations, have never been away more than 5 days from work as a married couple (… ever), and still have not had a honeymoon.
Sure, these weekend getaways are lovely substitutes, as are our informal Sunday walks in the park, but sometimes we just really enjoy getting a little further away from home.
Honestly, I didn’t even check if there was internet where we are going, although I’m sure if it’s not available at our place of lodging, it won’t be far away. I’m solely looking forward to some time with my husband, and anything and everything else that takes place is purely a bonus.
A while back anyone using the popular microblogging tool Twitter may have noticed that their contact’s avatars sported some peas. This was in support of the Susan Reynolds and the Frozen Pea Fund, and was actually for a good cause. Now a new trend has surfaced in recent days that has Twitter users pitted against each other in mini gangs, showing their colours.
What exactly is the war over or about? That’s yet to be determined. The very green team seems to be in the lead with a pretty extensive cast list thus far. I was tempted to join them too.. but I figured if we all joined their team, then there really wouldn’t be any competition! [iJustine]
iJustine also created team #FF1CAE, and her helpful template for anyone else wishing to join team pink was quickly overthrown by someone from team “Dodger Blue”.
So far this morning I’ve seen the rise of team “Red and White”, and Aqua Team, and also SheGeeks have an entire breakdown of each team’s manpower: red, green, yellow, blue, orange, pink, gold, off-white, and plaid.
Meanwhile over at Tech Moz, the have a detailed graph showing the support for each colour team to date.
It seems all you need to do to join a team is change your avatar to include your chosen colour in the background or under your image, across the bottom. The sentiment around the web so far seems to be that Tweeps or Twitterers (those on Twitter) have a lot of time on their hands, are bored, and must have nothing better to do. Quick! Time for a Steve Jobs keynote… or another Zuckerberg interview.
I was recently inspired to write another post of this nature based on how I was able to enlighten folks to the fact that there was much more to Joe Fortes than an oyster bar.
Whenever I hear the ad for Cyclone Taylor Sports on morning radio it gets stuck in my head for the better part of the day. Cyclone Taylor’s is one of those local stores that is rooted deep in Vancouver history and has managed to avoid being bought up by the giga-multi-plex sports retail outlets over the years. However, there’s much more to Cyclone Taylor than mouth guards, elbow pads and hockey sticks as Fred “Cyclone” Taylor was on the last Vancouver hockey team that raised the Stanley Cup over their heads.
Fred “Cyclone” Taylor Sr. was one of professional hockey’s first superstars. While Fred was playing for the Ottawa Senators in 1907, Canada’s Governor General was so impressed with his incredible Speed that he coined the name of Cyclone, and it stayed with him the rest of his life. Cyclone Taylor played in 4 Stanley Cup series during his 18 years of professional hockey. He won the cup in 1909 with Ottawa and in 1915 with the Vancouver Millionaires. The other two series Cyclone played in with the Vancouver Millionaires they lost to Toronto in 1918 and to Ottawa in 1921. Cyclone passed away in 1979 at the age of 94. [CycloneTaylor]
Taylor’s speed, skating abilities and scoring skillfulness lead him to 198 goals in 180 games and as noted on the Hockey Legends blog, “After playing eighteen years of hockey Taylor claims he never once got a scar or lost a tooth. The two biggest factors that contributed to that was his skating ability and that he wasn’t a rough or dirty player.”
You can find out more in the BC Sports Hall of Fame at BC Place or the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in Penticton.
As for the stores, they were established by Cyclone’s son Fred in 1957 and are still going strong as Western Canada’s largest independent retailer.
