Primordial

Years ago I read some poem which had a line with the word primordial in it.  I've long forgotten what the poem and line were, but I do remember I liked the word primordial which means existing since the beginning of time.  A lot of what we saw today was primordial!

Although this all looks like something out of The Land Before Time, we were actually on the Trans Canada Trail hiking out to the Kinsol Trestle.

The Kinsol Trestle Bridge was finished in 1920 and at 44 meters high and 188 meters long, it was the largest wooden trestle in the Commonwealth and one of the highest in the world.

Look way, way up and you'll see Bob.

We didn't spend all day there. In the morning I walked along Chemainus's little beach and met this dog who insisted I was his new best friend ... that is, as long as I kept throwing his ball for him.  Because I did keep throwing it, I was his owner's best friend too.

 Then I met Elizabeth at the Willow Street Cafe for some chatter, tea, and Scrabble while Bob had plans for golfing. The greens were still frosted over so he showed up at the cafe where we cheered him up by letting him buy us lunch.

After our trestle bridge hike, Bob and I checked out the totem poles in Duncan.  Here are some of my favorites:

Don't try read something phallic into this next one.

This metal totem is incredible because ...

it's a fountain for humans and dogs.

What type of tree is this?  I wish it grew in Saskatchewan.

Since that wasn't enough activity for a day, we went to the opening of Elf tonight.  It's a hit!  I've never seen the movie which can't be as good as this musical, but I'll have to watch it when we're back in Saskatchewan.

What a wonderful island day.

Two Kinds of H2O

Yesterday we drove to Regina as we heard reports of freezing rain (see first photo).  Luckily the roads weren't too bad and we were able to get a room overnight.  Another person at the hotel drove in from Saskatoon and saw more than thirty vehicles in the ditches.  Most of the bad weather stayed to the north.

Our flights this morning were both on time and they brought us to this more wonderful kind of H2O  (see second photo).

photo 1:

photo 2:

We'll be on Vancouver for 10 days using some of that time to hang out with our favorite daughter Elizabeth who is stage managing Chemainus's Christmas Production "Elf."  We're looking forward to the opening tomorrow night.

We spent a bit of time with Elizabeth until she headed off to work and then we headed up to Nanaimo to visit Protection Island.  It's a short ferry ride from Nanaimo and its claim to fame is the Dinghy  Dock Pub which is Canada's only floating pub.

The company, the view, and the food were most excellent.

My food was salmon fettuccine with mussels, shrimp, and cod.

We walked way more of the island than we intended because we took a few wrong turns.  The island is home to around 300 people and all the homes are very different from each other.  I loved some of the gates and entries:

Lots of the homes have benches and chairs in front of them and we loved this one which was somehow carved from rock.

A few homes on the island are for sale but they seem to be out of our price range.  Then we spotted this and thought we could buy it without incurring too much debt.

We walked a lot but the walking was comfortable because the ground was damp and coated in pine needles.

I'm here to be near the water (the unfrozen kind) ... I must be a changling whose original parents were lighthouse keepers.

I should mention a last type of H2O.  Nanaimo had a bad storm earlier this week so they are under a "boil water" advisory.  I hope it doesn't last long.

You'll read more about our BC adventures here in the next few days.

Cheers!