Sunday, July 06, 2014

July 1st to 6th - to Vancouver Island

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July 1st – Tues
We played golf again with Ron & Terri.  There were slow groups ahead of us which is irritating.  The slowest group (2 ahead of us) played only 9 holes so we asked the group ahead of us if we could skip a hole and go ahead of them.  It makes a big difference to the game not to have to wait on every hole – and not to listen to loud, immature talk about how much beer can be consumed while playing golf.  It got very warm by the time we finished about 2.
We went home to shower, get some appies & the booze bag and head back to Ron & Terri’s for a BBQ to celebrate Canada Day.  Bob & Dar and Bev were also there.  Ron put a turkey on the BBQ for the basis for yet another yummy dinner.  Terri & Dar decided the occasion would also be an early celebration of my birthday so we had cake for dessert.

July 2nd – Wed
I did laundry at the park before we left this morning.  Terry dumped tanks and got ready to go before helping me carry clothes back.  We were catching the 5:00 ferry from Tsawassen so we had several hours to kill.  Ron & Terri suggested that we could park on the street outside their housing complex but we had to make a u-turn because of a traffic accident and decided to go to the casino rather than using up more of their time.  There was lots of room to park, we had a nice late breakfast-for-lunch and played the slots much longer than usual before donating our money.
The ferry was a bit late leaving and wasn’t full.  We wouldn’t have had to make a reservation but the peace of mind was worth the $18.50 fee.  We didn’t realize that the terminal has a large row of shops with lots of food choices so I had made sandwiches to eat on the ferry.  It was probably a good idea as the prices are even higher than Canadian normal!  We had a great show with 3 groups of whales swimming & splashing.
Our friends Gary & Carie recommended the Oceanside RV park just south of Sidney so we had made a reservation.  We set up, made a drink and took a walk to the beach.  It turned out to be further than it appeared on the park map but it was nice to get a little exercise.

July 3rd – Thurs
We were having coffee this morning – and playing computer games! – when Carie called and suggested that we might like to take the ferry from Brentwood Bay to Mill Bay rather than driving around the south end of the sound.  We thought that sounded good so we got ready and left on the bike.  We arrived early for the 25 minute ride on a small ferry.  Then we had a 25 minute drive to Gary & Carie’s house in Duncan.
We had a great time seeing their house – with a 600 sq ft detached “party room” that was a workshop when they bought the house – catching up and having lunch.  Then they took us to old town Duncan where we walked around and I took pictures of the totems around town.  Gary volunteers at the visitor center so we had to check out the nice new facility and sign the visitor book.  The next stop was the hospital as Gary had to have an ultrasound on his hand.  Carie was going to take us somewhere but we decided to wait as it wasn’t supposed to take long.
When Gary was finished, we went to Maple Bay where unfortunately – for our waistlines – the little grocery store had Magnum ice cream bars.  Then it was time to go back to their place and head for “home”.  We drove around this time with not bad traffic and not cold even at 6:00 and wearing shorts.

July 4th – Fri
We are going to Port McNeill to see my brother Doug but decided to split the drive into 2 days as it is a bit longer than our usual drive and Doug works today.  An uneventful drive took us to Campbell River where we checked into the Thunderbird RV park just on the edge of town.  I made French Toast for lunch and then we went to find propane and some groceries.  We came back to put frozen stuff in the freezer and drop off the propane tank.
Guess where we went next?  Yup, a casino because by now it was raining and it seemed like the thing to do.  I didn’t lose any money but I didn’t make any to cover Terry.  We had to visit the tourist information to find a BC liquor store and then we headed back.  We didn’t unload the bike because of the weather so I juggled my way through cooking a simple dinner while Terry lay on the bed to watch TV and play computer games.

July 5th – Sat
We left at 7:45 in a drizzle which soon changed to RAIN.  It was an easy drive however with very little traffic and the rain let up fairly soon.  We kind of forgot how to get to Doug’s so luckily he checked his cell phone shortly after I called and told us where we made the mistake.  We turned around in his yard and waited a short while until he returned from working on a bike rack.
I made breakfast for lunch for Terry & me and then I downloaded pictures from the camera and showed Doug pictures until his eyes crossed.  We still cannot get the PC to connect to wifi so I am hoping that my nephew Dennis can help.
Doug took us to Telegraph Cove for a little walk around.  It was fairly windy so we ducked into a couple of stores to browse.  Back home it was time to make dinner & relax – as if we hadn’t been relaxing all day!

July 6th – Sun
We took our time getting going and into the house this morning and found that Doug had prepared veggies and put a roast in to marinate for dinner.  Then he made “loaded” scrambled eggs for breakfast.  After a bit we went next door to my nephew Dennis’s house to see him, his wife Nina and their 20 month old daughter Adele.  We also had to tour their new house.  Dennis tried to find out why my PC won’t connect to wifi but he was stumped too.
Back at Doug’s, I started removing spent blossoms from a rhody and Doug joined me.  It was quite overgrown so it turned into a large job involving a huge orchard ladder but it certainly looked better when we were done.  The weather had cleared from rain this morning so it was lovely to spend time outside.
Dennis, Nina and Adele joined us for dinner.  Doug put the marinated roast in a smoker and roasted veggies in the oven.  Dennis brought a big bowl of shrimp in the shell that we boiled and he also brought shrimp on skewers that he put on the BBQ – yummy!  - and Nina made a lemony pasta dish.
Doug started a fire in a fire pit and we enjoyed an after dinner drink in the remaining sunshine.  Then I introduced him to 3-2-1 cake for dessert.

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