A Vancouver online diary.
We’re on our way back to Vancouver and should be there before September. We have no pictures right now because we’ve killed both cameras (and our big Ipod), but are still recording on our large video camera. The last month has been unbelievable and we look forward to a little summer city life before heading back to work. Love you all.
Gordie and Aletha
What a July! Seems like everyday has been sunny and every evening clear and calm. *touch wood* Aletha and I are in Campbell River restocking our boat and picking up Holly for a little visit and adventure. The trip has been unbelievable… probably the best ever. We spend our days exploring the region by land (hiking and biking) and water (sailing, diving and kayaking), and are finally getting somewhere with our fishing (spear, rod and hand-picking) and gathering (BERRIES!). In fact, we’re creating full meals with what we catch and pick. (Four fish and a giant crab for dinner the other day) The pictures above are an everyday occurrence. Those are huckleberries, salmonberries and cherries from Roscoe Bay, and the next morning’s huckleberry pancakes with poached salmonberries. Plenty of Salal, Saskatoon, trailing Blackberries (real ones yet to appear… soon), even blueberries! Shellfish are off the menu now (redtide), but we could probably eat crab and fish everyday. Our copy of “The Joy of Cooking” is starting to fall apart from overuse… we take turns trying to outdo each other with new recipes. The rest of the day is spent exercising, swimming, reading and exploring.
We’ll be in this area until August and then it’s farther north after the all the visitors have finished. We miss you all and hope you’re having a fantastic summer too.
*BTW* - Our phone is damaged. The mic is not working but text messages are no problem. Bye.
We’re in Powell River for a quick resupply and off again in a couple minutes. Just letting everyone know we’re OK and that we’ve met up with Jon again. We’ve been up several long inlets, away from any cell reception but we should be more accessible now.
Update soon.
…Aletha in hangover hell. Woke up to find dinghy gone! We forgot to tie it well when we arrived home last night in a drunken stupor. Dummies! Luckily, I spotted it sitting dry and pretty across the bay. Broke out Kayak One and brought her home. Billy and Daddy went for a jog to frisbee field to find Kong (frisbee), who we lost yesterday in the brambles and buy some more fresh produce. Yum…
…came home and worked ALL DAY on the boat in the sunshine. Pulled out everything in the back to discover mucho moisture, so restructured everything with water barriers…
…completed: cleaned, streamlined cockpit drains, wedged support under icebox, changed engine oil and filter, attached lifering holder, new hook for onion bag, prototype 2 doggie door and re-velcroed bedroom window…
…Aletha finished her book For The Love Of The Child, and watched many movies: Bull Durham, Thelma and Louise and half of The Air I Breathe (before power out)…
Breakfast: Alphagetti (hangover cure), potatoes and onion, coffee
Lunch: …
Dinner: Mushroom porkchops and rice, super salads and jiffypop
…woke up from crazy evening to find calm water, so we decided to motor to Lasqueti Island despite lack of charts. Pretty straight forward. Hung our boat out to dry and dinghied in to check things out. Met many people on an hour stroll across to False Bay (town and ferry terminal). Found honesty stands with cookies and vegetables, a free stuff centre, and ultimate frisbee field and finally the store. Expensive. Many more characters show up in a puff of smoke. Head back for lunch and seal rear windows in the sunshine. Port side drip killed the big Ipod. RIP…
… got another truckbed lift to Scottie Bay and partied until sundown by ourselves in a hazy memory. Morning dishes proved we ate dinner but we cant remember…
Breakfast: homemade organic cookies from honesty stand. $1
Lunch: beef barley soup with grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread
Dinner: chicken stirfry with fresh veggies and Jagermeister… yikes!
…animals: mink (maybe weasel) on seashore
…Gordie made breakfast as it started to rain, but that didn’t stop us from hiking. Jedidiah Isle is gorgeous. We walked to the old homestead through grassy fields full of wild sheep. They did not like Billy. Explored old barn and toolshed, walked along the many beaches and cruised the orchard. Very tiring in full raingear!…
…Weather report is bad but we’re staying put in less than ideal coverage. No better options within our chart library. Bad, stingy Gordie! (didn’t buy next chart $$$)…
…Rode out long, windy, rainy night with little sleep. Dropped stern line after the other boats ran for better cover. We stuck it out, no problem. (Love our anchor. *knock on wood*)…
Breakfast: bacon, potatoes with scrambled eggs and cheese
Lunch: Kraft dinner and watermelon
Dinner: corn chowder (Aletha s recipe)
…notes: fresh food is dwindling. Billy kibble too. Boat windows are leaking in heavy rain…
…animals: otter, sheep, goats, geese, eagles…
…woke up at 6am to find boat in 50 ft of water. Hard tide flowing out with wind pulled our vessel toward open water with only 70 ft rope and chain holding us. Let out 30 feet more - anchor set in 20-25 ft - STRONG…
… had breakfast and went to hike and bathe at Trout lake. Hike was longer than we thought so Gordie ran ahead after we turned around to go pull (shorten) anchor. Aletha followed shortly and decided to wash hair in dinghy as ocean was very cold…
… noticed seaweed wrapped around propeller. After getting up her nerve, Aletha dove down and cut off weeds. It took three tries before finally cutting loose…..
Breakfast: eggs in a nest and coffee
Lunch: sandwiches
Dinner: BBQ chicken, garlic fetuccinni and salad, mango with lime for dessert
…animals: bald eagle with missing feather…
It’s been ten days since we left on our sailing vacation, and it’s been action packed! Plenty of sailing, hiking, crabbing, exploring… and even a forest fire. Looks like our internet access will be reduced to a couple times a month, so we’ll try to prepare our next post beforehand with more details.
We’re off again. This time it’s a sailing holiday to the Gulf Islands. Work is over, taxes are done and we’ll catch you cats later! (Oh yeah… NO MORE CITY DRIVING!!) Here’s a pic of our boat in dry dock (click thumbnail to enlarge)
Click on the embedded You Tube link above to view a video we created featuring some highlights from our recent vacation in the Philippines. We shot hours of digital movies but it’s too time consuming to edit them on the road. So now, safe and snug at home with an excellent internet connection, we’ve got the opportunity to do something with it. Here’s one…