February 13 & 14, 2015
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| "Island Sunsets are A OK", says the Giant Gnome |
Are you superstitious? Do you avoid ladders? Black cats? Cracks in the sidewalk? And the big one, Friday the 13th. I don't know that it's possible to avoid Friday the 13th. It almost always comes after Thursday the 12th! There's a theory that it's related to the Jesus story. They say 13 represents the number of people attending the last supper. That seems relatively benign. Friday, while it was not a good day for Jesus, is the start of the weekend for everyone else. I'm not superstitious at all. I don't walk under ladders because things fall off of them. I don't like Cats of any color and cracks in the sidewalk are just another example of our crumbling infrastructure. There shouldn't be a Mother left without a broken back if you check out the sidewalks in my neighbourhood! That being said, I was up early, prepared to confront the forces of fate with a smile on my face, a cup of fancy coffee I had to grind myself, and a song in my heart.
The lovely Lisa and I snuck over to the Island on Thursday for a surprise retirement party for Karen in Campbell River. We have friends all up and down Vancouver Island. There is no way we could see everyone on our two day, whirlwind visit. So we kept our plans "need to know " We were here to celebrate Karen's retirement from the bank. We took over 300 pictures the last two days. They may or may not fit into the story line. Live with it!
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| The lovely Lisa at Deb and Spencers |
It took us about an hour to get the lovely Lisa caffeinated and Otto loaded with our belongings and the Rat dogs.
Miles and Murphy followed us to the gate and we headed down to the old Island Highway. The new one is way faster but you don't see the ocean at all. What's the point in that? We only take the inland highway after dark.
It rained the whole way up to Campbell River. Some times hard but most of the time just drizzling.
We stopped in Parksville at the beach to let the Rat dogs stretch their little legs and do what dogs doo doo.
It was a nice beach but the wind was chilly.We stopped at Fanny Bay
The floats were covered in Sea Lions. They never stop barking and that got the Rat dogs barking too.
At the wharf in Fanny Bay we met a couple of girls who work their own Oyster beds.
We tried to buy some off the boat but they were sending us to Mac's Oysters up the road a ways. We never did end up buying any oysters. We stayed on the Ocean highway, enjoying the drive as we folllow the coastline north. Bowser, Fanny Bay, Oyster Bay, Royston and Courtney all slid by.
In Courtney we had a drive through lunch at Burger King. Two Whoppers for six bucks.
That's two burgers in two days. I will definitely need to get back on track when I get home. It's so hard to eat well on the road. After lunch we rolled through Merville, Black Creek, Miracle Beach, Willow Point
and then a straight shot through Campbell River
and on up to the the Devlin place on the other side of Elk Falls.
Daryl was waiting for us when we got there and Meaghan rolled in a few minutes later. Meaghan was down in Vancouver taking a course a few weeks ago and while she was gone, Daryl had the floors replaced. New Lino and carpet all around. They have been living in a construction zone since they first got married. They started out in a trailer then they built their house around the trailer integrating it into the new building and removing the parts they didn't need as they went. The bathroom and the kitchen is all that's left of the trailer. Daryl is a hunter and their home is a monument to his prowess.
The walls are adorned with the heads of his delicious victims. His latest acquisition is a Buffalo that he shot in Alberta last year.
He made amazing salami. Now, I myself am not a hunter. I am an eater though. Over the years Daryl has given me venison, buffalo, and elk meat. This time I got nothing! WTF Daryl! After I let you marry Meaghan ten years ago! I thought he understood I was supposed to have meat for life! Okay, maybe I was just hoping for meat for life. I still have some Elk T bones in the freezer. When Cadance got home from school we made a little music before we headed out.
The party was being held at the Royal Coachman.
Stu took the night off work, he has worked the bar there for twenty-five years or so. Stu faked going to work at 5:30 as usual so Karen wouldn't be suspicious. The lovely Lisa and I helped decorate the room and then sat back and waited for Karen to arrive in about two hours.
We had a couple of Appies and talked to everyone as they wandered in. Some of these people I haven't seen in years. Karens sister Sandy and her husband Dave, showed up at about 7:00 with Mama Yvonne who at 86 still has it together pretty good.
We caught up and it was so nice to see her doing well. Her husband Bob is in a care facility with severe dementia and was unable to be there. It sucks that our bodies are outliving our brains. He was such a nice man. Stu and I used to play golf with him once in a while. He would just shake his head and laugh as Stu and I traded jabs and pokes at each other as we hacked our way through a round.
It's not easy to keep a secret in a town as small as Campbell River. But they did it. The look on Karen's face was a beauty. She was caught totally off guard! Though some how the lovely Lisa didn't get a picture of her coming in. She said when she walked in she was embarrassed because she thought she had walked into someone else's party!
The drink flowed, coffee for me, and the food appeared at a tremendous rate. As these things go it was a good one. Everyone knew each other and the room was constantly moving. It was after midnight by the time it wrapped up. We went back to Stu's where we got into a heated discussion about who is a sniper in hockey and who is just a great player. Bossy was a sniper, Brett Hull was a sniper, Gretzky and Lemieux were so much more. After half an hour and already having driven the girls to bed, I called him an idiot and went to bed as well. Stu thought I was coming back and sat there for another half hour waiting for me to return from the bathroom. I win again Stu! It was a good party and we are always happy to see the C.R. gang.
Happy Valentines day! Yeah, Yeah I know. I was up at 7:30 and to my utter amazement so was Stu. He was driving his friend Bill to the Comox airport for his trip to Puerta Vallarta. They fly direct from Comox. It's practically the only destination they fly to without changing planes in Vancouver. He was gone just after 8:00 and Karen worked on her pile of lotto scratchers and I pushed words around the screen trying to find a clever way to start yesterdays blog. I couldn't. So now, what you see, is what you got! There was so much going on in my head I was having trouble keeping it flowing. The lovely Lisa awoke from her slumber after 10:00, just as Stu got back from Comox. We decided to go out for lunch and we slowly got ourselves ready to go. They have a Rat dog too. Sadie. She's a Pappion and they all get along great. After they finished their business we took two cars to the Ideal Cafe.
It's on the way out to the now defunct mill in Campbleton. When I lived here I was in the Bar Business and we used to show up there after the after party at 6:00 am, just in time for the shift change at the mill. The place would be filled with Mill Workers coming or going to their shifts and one table of highly inebriated bar workers reeking of liqour and being way too loud.
We called it the Raw Deal in the day and went there for their BFO's , that's a Big Fucking Omelet. They still are the place to get breakfast in CR. The lovely Lisa had a BFO and I had sausage and eggs. Karen does a spa day with the girls every other Saturday so she left us at the Cafe and Stu was with us. We meandered through the town marvelling at how much it had changed. The Bar I first worked at, Bobo's in the day, was now a pawn shop. The forest that once encroached on the town from every where was now strip malls and condos. Back at the house we decided that we would leave early enough that we could see the scenery on the drive back to the ferry. We started packing up our gear and saying our goodbyes. Stu loaded us up with Halibut and Salmon from his freezer and we were gone. As grey and bleak as the weather was on the way up today was the exact opposite. Blue skies and sunshine all the way down Island.
We stopped at a number of beaches to see what we could see. Beaches!
We rolled into Nanaimo just past 6:00. We thought about going to a restaurant in Nanaimo but decided to just get on the ferry and get something to eat on the other side.
Hard to believe BC Ferries is losing money. There must have been a hundred people and tens of cars on that giant fuel sucking hole in the water. It was great for us. We could sit where we wanted. We could eat when we wanted. Hell, I could have even drove the thing for a while! I'll tell you, those things move pretty quick when they're empty! We could see the lights of Nanaimo behind us and the lights of Vancouver ahead of us the entire voyage and we were there fifteen minutes early. Of course that just allowed the crew extra time to ignore us as we sat in a cloud of our own exhaust for ten minutes! One idiot starts his engine and everybody gets into the act! Off the ferry the lovely Lisa turned off the Upper Levels highway over the Lions Gate bridge and swung us through a romantic tour of Stanley Park, Robson and Denman streets and part of Chinatown on our way to dinner at Tentatsu, which we missed. We grabbed a quick bite at home and crawled into bed to celebrate what was left of this Hallmark Holiday. When you live with me, every day is like Valentines Day!
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| Otto |
It rained the whole way up to Campbell River. Some times hard but most of the time just drizzling.
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| Yo Dude, where's the grass?" |
It was a nice beach but the wind was chilly.We stopped at Fanny Bay
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| The F B I |
The floats were covered in Sea Lions. They never stop barking and that got the Rat dogs barking too.
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| Sing my pretties, sing!! |
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| Oyster Maidens |
In Courtney we had a drive through lunch at Burger King. Two Whoppers for six bucks.
That's two burgers in two days. I will definitely need to get back on track when I get home. It's so hard to eat well on the road. After lunch we rolled through Merville, Black Creek, Miracle Beach, Willow Point
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| Shagpokes at Willow Point |
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| The Big Rock |
Daryl was waiting for us when we got there and Meaghan rolled in a few minutes later. Meaghan was down in Vancouver taking a course a few weeks ago and while she was gone, Daryl had the floors replaced. New Lino and carpet all around. They have been living in a construction zone since they first got married. They started out in a trailer then they built their house around the trailer integrating it into the new building and removing the parts they didn't need as they went. The bathroom and the kitchen is all that's left of the trailer. Daryl is a hunter and their home is a monument to his prowess.
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| Watching the news as the dead things watch me, at Meaghan and Daryl's |
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| Mmmmmm...Salami |
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| Twinkle Twinkle |
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| The Royal Coachman |
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| Erika made the cake |
We had a couple of Appies and talked to everyone as they wandered in. Some of these people I haven't seen in years. Karens sister Sandy and her husband Dave, showed up at about 7:00 with Mama Yvonne who at 86 still has it together pretty good.
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| Yvonne and one of her dozen or so Grandkids. |
It's not easy to keep a secret in a town as small as Campbell River. But they did it. The look on Karen's face was a beauty. She was caught totally off guard! Though some how the lovely Lisa didn't get a picture of her coming in. She said when she walked in she was embarrassed because she thought she had walked into someone else's party!
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| Karen, Meaghan with one of Yvonne's great Grand children! |
The drink flowed, coffee for me, and the food appeared at a tremendous rate. As these things go it was a good one. Everyone knew each other and the room was constantly moving. It was after midnight by the time it wrapped up. We went back to Stu's where we got into a heated discussion about who is a sniper in hockey and who is just a great player. Bossy was a sniper, Brett Hull was a sniper, Gretzky and Lemieux were so much more. After half an hour and already having driven the girls to bed, I called him an idiot and went to bed as well. Stu thought I was coming back and sat there for another half hour waiting for me to return from the bathroom. I win again Stu! It was a good party and we are always happy to see the C.R. gang.
February 14, 2015
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| On the beach. It's kind of Heart shaped...Human Heart! |
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| BFO |
We stopped at a number of beaches to see what we could see. Beaches!
We rolled into Nanaimo just past 6:00. We thought about going to a restaurant in Nanaimo but decided to just get on the ferry and get something to eat on the other side.
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| Stop and by something! |
That's all I've got
Till Next time
Peace out Y'all
©2015 Dave Squatch Ward
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