Travel to Florida

We had a fabulous trip, starting out from Vancouver airport. We had a stop in Montreal, then straight down to Fort Lauderdale. We were lucky enough to stay in Florida for five days. It was lovely, we visited friends in Fort Myers on the western side of the state, who live in a gated community — quite different from our sprawling landscape. Then we travelled over to Cayo Costa which is west of Fort Myers to visit some Canadian friends who spend the winter down there on their boat — again very different from our ability to take up as much room as we need. It was beautiful, we saw manatees, a gorgeous lagoon and were fed a delicious lunch.

P1040133The ferry taking us to Cayo Costa

P1040145The bay of Cayo Costa

When we sadly left our friends to return to Fort Lauderdale, we were ready to board our cruise ship for a trip across the Atlantic. Never imagined we would ever do this, but it was fascinating. More to come. 🙂

The Beauty of the East Kootenays

East Kootenay region of British Columbia is a magical place. We’ve just returned from there, exhausted and happy to have time with our daughter and grandsons who met us near Invermere along the Windermere Lake. The weather was fabulous, hot and dry, and we swam every day.

What struck me was how many cars were on the road from all over Canada and the United States. This is a very safe part of the world. We travel at our leisure, take time in the summer to visit and vacation. There were license plates from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, from Washington, Montana and Idaho. We saw California plates, some from Ontario and Quebec.

The roads are windy, mostly in very good condition, with a few spots under construction. The scenery is fabulous. Coming from the west coast rain forest, I am always fascinated by the mountain hemlocks with their short branches and upright bearing, backed by the sheer rock and high snowy peaks of the Rockies. They pack themselves in close to each other and take up such a small circumference compared to the Douglas and grand firs of the coast.

But back to the issue of safety. Would you take a car and drive the hills of Pakistan for a vacation? Or rent a boat and take your family tubing on a lake in eastern Ukraine? Pack your tent and go camping in the wilds of Ecuador without a guide? We are blessed to live here. I don’t take it for granted.

Long Beach, Tofino – a journey to the sea

My husband and I took a trip to the sea a few weeks ago. We drove up Vancouver Island and across to Tofino. The road is narrow and winding, a lot of people don’t like to drive it. But day time is fine, unless it’s raining. When it rains on the west coast, it’s quite different from when it rains elsewhere.

This is rain forest country. Many times we have walked Long Beach in October, our favourite time of year to visit there. We travel that endless flat sand with the sun in our faces, just watching the waves. Often when we turn around to come back, a black cloud has come up, following us closely down the coast.

It starts to rain, the drops coming thick and fast, pelting down. By the time we get back to our car, I can feel the water running down my legs inside my jeans. Everything I have on is wet through including my dripping jacket, soaked gloves, soggy shoes.

This time, it was June. The weather was lovely, warm enough to feel like real summer. We spent a few days on McKenzie Beach, poking around, biking into Tofino for lunch and groceries. The third day we went to Long Beach. We put on sunscreen, brought our sun hats and walked the beach.

The wind kicked up, blowing harder and harder. The rain began to fall, dumping down on us. Things blew across the sand in the forty mile an hour wind – an umbrella that finally dug itself into the sand, it’s handle like a brace keeping it facing into the wind, a blue bucket that had been ripped to shreds by the wind and water whipping it along the sand.

By the time we got back to our car, I could feel the water running down my legs inside my pants. June is a lot like October at Long Beach.