DanOCan

Today was our first day of vacation that didn’t involve a lot of driving.  We figured today would be a pretty casual day with few plans.  We took our time getting out of bed and also took some time to make a pancake breakfast and a quick walk along Weir’s Beach before heading out.

We started out at Whiffen Spit Park, a long narrow strip of land protecting the Sooke harbour from the waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  The dog had a great time, greeting all the other dogs and their walkers who were out enjoying the morning. 

Whiffen Spit Park in Sooke, BC

After driving around the countryside for awhile we finally decided it was time for lunch.  We spent a lot of time trying to find the sort of place we were looking for.  Keeping in mind that I had been poking around piles of driftwood and climbing under bushes in my constant quest for the elusive Geocaches, we couldn’t exactly eat anywhere high class.  We also knew that we wanted some form of seafood — we are on the coast, after all.  We wanted someplace that would be casual and cheap — the hunt for the quintessential “dive”.

After failing to find anything that met our low standards, we finally decided to search the Points of Intertest in the GPSr and see where it would lead us.  The result was “London Fish and Chips” in nearby Langford.  It was about 18km away and by the time we got there we were starving.  The parking lot was tiny and the restaurant itself was attached to a Co-op Gas Station — well, we certainly found our dive.

With “fish and chips” on our brain, we ordered — a two-piece halibut for me and a one-piece meal for Shirley.  The food looked promising — the fries were thick homecut style and the fish was large.  My first bite of coleslaw was great too.  I was digging this place.  Fries and coleslaw were going down easy.  Then I decided to try the fish.  Unfortunately, the pieces of fish appeared to be so large because they were covered in really thick batter.  Really thick batter.  The batter wasn’t great either.  If you managed to get through all the batter and to the halibut itself it tasted pretty good.  I don’t mind batter so I was OK with it, but poor Shirley was less than impressed.

The Catch of the Day?

It wasn’t the greatest start to our coastal culinary experience, but we know we’ll rebound.  It’s wasn’t the worst restaurant attached to a gas station I’ve ever eaten in.

After a few more caches we returned to the RV Park for a lazy afternoon.  After doing some reading outside in the sun we pretty much crashed and watched TV for the evening.  I think we both needed to be out of the vehicle for awhile as the last two days featured a lot of driving. 

We departed Kamloops and continued our westward trip.  We had a bit of a schedule today, as we needed to be at the ferry terminal around 13:00 to catch our 14:00 ferry departure to the island.  I spent a lot more time plotting and planning this stage of the trip than the rest of the vacation combined.  I did not want to miss that boat!

In the end we need not to have worried.  After a quick lunch in the trailer in Hope while parked at what appeared to be the oldest Husky gas station I’ve ever seen, we arrived at the terminal just minutes ahead of my planned 13:00 time.  The lady at the booth said there was a lot of room left on the boat if we wanted to take this one.  Well, how could we refuse?  We were the last vehicle on and I swear the ship was moving before I even had the park brake set.

Our home away from home for the next five nights is Weir Beach RV Resort in Metchosin.  So far it has been a great place.  It is clean and the owners are very friendly.  Our site backs onto a lagoon so we have been able to sit in our comfortable chairs and watch a duck swim around with her two babies.  We’re just steps away from the beach and the wireless internet has a really strong signal.  Check out this view.

My View While Registering at the Office

We took the dog for a walk in Devonian Regional Park, which is just down the road from here.  We managed to find six caches and got down to the beach.  It’s been another busy day, but we’re nicely settled now for the next four days — no major traveling, just checking out the area.  We’ve both fallen in love with Vancouver Island.  How soon can we move here?

I was apprehensive about vacation this year, only because we hadn’t had a chance to give the trailer a proper shakedown cruise before heading out on the highway.  Never mind a “proper” shakedown, the trailer hadn’t turned a wheel since we parked it last autumn.

We hadn’t even gone a kilometre when I realized something was not right.  The electric brakes on the trailer didn’t seem to be grabbed properly.  Again, never mind grabbing “properly”, they didn’t seem to be working at all.  I unplugged the brake controller and then plugged it in again and that seemed to get things working enough to head out.

We had a close encounter with a couple of deer on the TransCanada Highway near Morley, AB but other than that the trip was uneventful.  We stopped for three Geocaches along the way:  one at a rest stop at the Kicking Horse Rest Stop, one at Kay Falls, and one at Craigellachie — site of the driving of the last spike of the transcontinental railway.

Kay Falls was an adventure.  We spend a good 30 minutes searching a juniper at the base of the falls, getting completely soaked — so much so we both needed to change our clothes afterwards.  The mist from the falls was coming so hard I didn’t want to take time to set up the camera for a good picture so I pulled it out of the weatherproof bag, snapped the photo and quickly stashed the camera back in the bag before it got too wet.

                 OKay Falls

As for Craigellachie?  Well, it is one of those places that every Canadian schoolkid learns about.  It is the spot where the iron spine of our nation was forged together, tied together with the driving of the final spike — the ribbon of steel.

I’ve wanted to visit this spot for many years.  The parking lot was RV-friendly and, despite the mosquitos, it was pleasant to walk around the manicured lawns and explore the exhibits and take in the history of the location.

           Tonight is a single night stopover in Kamloops and tomorrow we’re westbound one more time.  The “Summer of Awesomeness” is in full swing now!

Look up “recess” in a dictionary and you’ll likely get something like this:  “A temporary cessation of the customary activities of an engagement, occupation, or pursuit.”  Walk past an elementary school and when it is time for recess you will see kids swarm from the classrooms and onto the playground.  It seems so simple…

Looking back I can see how recess was so much more than that.  Recess is where you made your social connections, both good and bad.  Whether you were getting beaten up, playing with friends, or trying to tease that cute girl just so she would notice you, recess was where your true learning was taking place.  Recess is where you were establishing your pecking order, recess is where you were developing your reputation, recess is where school transcended math, spelling, art, and the other subjects teachers were trying to cram into your head.

I remember my last recess.  It was the Spring of ’84 and I was ending my second year at John Davidson School in Coaldale.  John Davidson was a pure elementary school, so being in Grade Six meant we were the big people on campus — as it were.  We could look down our noses at all the other grades.  No one would mess with us.

The next year we would be back in R.I. Baker which was a mixed elementary/junior high school.  We weren’t going to be the dominant kids anymore — in fact, we would be the youngest and the smallest kids occupying the east wing. 

Something even more daunting was the lack of recess.  There would be no more 20 minute breaks twice a day to interrupt the monotony.  Sure, there would be short breaks for class changes, but there would be no more recess. 

I remember how, even at the time, I felt something was being left behind forever.  I remember that last recess.  I wandered around the playground, watching my friends and classmates on the swings and the monkeybars.  I remember trying to capture the memory, trying to gobble it up in my mind to file away for later years.  I wanted to bottle the feeling, to sock it away and guard it judiciously, to keep it for a time later in my life when I would be able to appreciate it in its proper context.

**Not my photo — it’s linked to someone else’s Flickr account.

It turns out that recess *was* as symbolic as I thought, it’s just that it took more than two decades for me to realize it.  It represented transition.  Not just an age thing, but a transition from being the top of the heap to being someone starting over.  In our lives we are faced with these sorts of situations all the time — just when you think you’re at the top of your game someone will come along and knock you down.  Just when you think you have it all figured out life will throw you a curve and make you start over.  When you think you have something conquered a new challenge will emerge.

If asked to list the major milestones of your life, your list will likely mirror that of most people:  first day of school, getting a driver’s license, graduation, marriage, kids, retirement.  You’ll have to forgive me if I choose to add that last recess to my list.

It’s Friday night.  I just got back from hockey.  I’m too wound up to sleep but too tired to think coherently.  Sitting down and banging out a little something on the keyboard seems to be a good way to let my mind wind down to the level my body is at.  I guess that makes this the Seinfeld of blog posts – a post about nothing.

I spend a lot of time stuck in traffic on Deerfoot Trail coming home.  That gave me time to think, which for me is a dangerous place to be.  My thoughts turned to Friday nights. 

I’ve always loved Friday nights but they don’t get the respect they deserve.  Why are all the great songs about Saturday?  Saturday night gets Elton John telling us it’s alright for fighting, it gets the Bay City Rollers belting out a S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y.  Brad Paisley not only sings about American Saturday Night, he makes it the title track for his album.  Bon Jovi may feel like Monday but he soldiers on knowing one day he’ll feel like Saturday night.

What does Friday get?  Rebecca Black.  ‘Nuf said?

Friday nights are great because they take you straight from work into the weekend.  There is a huge upswing from corporate drone to party boy.  Saturday nights are OK, but since you’ve already had the day off they aren’t that much of an improvement from the rest of the day.

Friday nights are the bad boys of the weekend, the music too loud, cars too fast kind of nights.  You have the whole weekend laid out in front of you and the possibilities are endless.  Saturday nights are fun, but more of a “date with your wife” kind of night. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, he says covering his butt…)  Saturday nights are planned, Friday nights are spontaneous.  Saturday nights are reservations at some stuffy restaurant, Friday nights are clearly beer and wings in the pub.  Friday night is the first date, Saturday night is the fifth anniversary dinner, leading into Sunday which is the mini-van pack with kids day of the week.

Now, having said that, it turns out my Friday is almost over.  Beer next week after hockey no matter what, right?