Mainland State of Mind

The Island was even better than I was expecting. We got there Tuesday and dropped stuff off at my Nana and Papa's place and then headed into Nanaimo for dinner. Mmm Greek. The sunset that night at the beach was the best one of the vacation (the rest were wonderful but cloudy). My Papa was very cute and waited up until we got home, but I told him how unnecessary that was and assured him that we wouldn't get stolen by the bad guys if he went to bed.

Wednesday we headed out to Chemainus only to find that the Twisted Sisters Tea House was closed for the day. Instead, it was relaxing to sit by the ocean and take a couple self-portraits. On the way back we grabbed a bite at Timmy Ho's in Nanaimo and then walked along the harbour. It was a beautiful sunny day and I even got a bit of a burn.

We took my grandparents out for dinner that night. My Papa insisted on driving and I forgot to warn Mike about his driving (my Dad and Uncle refuse to let him drive when they are with him). Mike was sitting in the front seat and my Papa was pointing something out to him while we catapulted towards another car stopped at a red light. I wasn't sure how to navigate that one from the backseat, where I was entertaining my hard-of-hearing Nana, but Mike handled it alright. After dinner they took us on a little drive and it took forever to get back to the house. After all that I informed Mike that he might possibly be a saint. That night we had wine on the beach and we knew we had earned it.

Thursday was an impromptu 2 hour drive to Tofino which turns out to be a lack-luster shanty town. Long Beach, on the other hand, was spectacular. It's huge! And the sand can hold it's own against Australia's. We found a starfish and walked the beach for an hour. The water was pretty cold but that didn't stop the surfers. On the way back we stopped at Cathdral Grove, an old-growth forest. Mike figured out how to work his camera's timer and we took pictures with an 800 year old tree! I felt like such a nerd because I got way too excited about these trees, but I've waited awhile to experience and remember Long Beach and Cathedral Grove (the trip when I was 18 months old is fuzzy...actually non-existant in my memory bank). After all that driving we had another well-deserved bottle of wine on the beach.

Friday was our last day and after we packed up, ate some breakfast, and said by to my Nana and Papa we were off to Victoria before hopping on the ferry. Victoria was very pretty. We saw the Parliament Buildings and they were pretty impressive (again, it's been a while since I've seen them and I didn't really remember them). I ended up bailing off a sidewalk right infront of Parliament. I rolled my right ankle and I have a sweet bruise on my left shin with a little side of road rash. Luckily the Aura of Safety kept me from riding my face on the sidewalk. Later, I purchased a Sigmund Freud action figure in this fabulous store. I felt the Freud bobble head might have been taking it too far.

Then it was on the ferry for the ride home. After seeing the 11:20pm show of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and arriving home at 2:30am it was sheer bliss to fall into my own bed. I love vacation like nobody's business, but there is no place like home. Insert ruby red heel click here.

Island Time

So yesterday a bunch of us helped some friends move. I'm uncertain as to how hot it was but I was grossly sweating and this morning I've discovered that I have a few more bumps/bruises/pulled muscles than what I went in with. But it was worth it to help some friends out and share in their joy of owning their first home!

On Sunday, Mike and Heather and I headed down to Birch Bay for the afternoon/evening because Mike knows some people with a cabin down there (three cheers for Holly!). We went to the beach, we read some books, and we had some wine and yummy dinner. After dinner we walked to the C-Shop and got some salt water taffy. On the way there we found a banner for "Hebrew National" hotdogs whose slogan is "we answer to a higher authority"...picture of Heather and Holly posing in prayer pending. Then we we took our guitars down to the beach and jammed. The worship pastor from Surrey Alliance was there too and he rocked it. We delved into everything from Eric Clapton to Dave Mathews and a bunch of worship songs in between. And JB (the said pastor) has this piece of advice to pass on: "Don't trust anything that's been bottled by a penguin". We all decided they're shifty characters.

So, now we're off to the island until Friday so don't be expecting much blog action. But check back soon after that where I will relate stories of crazy and adventure...and relaxing.