Mosquito Lake

I've been suffering a bit from the bites of small blood-sucking insects. There's a healthy crop here thanks to a wet spring, lots of run off from the mountains and now a hot dry spell.

So when they told me we were going today to a place called Mosquito Lake, I hoped they were kidding.

We hiked along mountain bike trails with quirky names and steep inclines in the midst of a pristine bush. 

While my lungs, long unaccustomed to this kind of work out, were at times pushed to their limit, my hip did fine both going up and down.

Not a mosquito, but among the many winged things hanging around the screen porch.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Anderson Lake

Today we drove out to Anderson Lake.

Ponderosa pine at the lookout over Anderson Lake

At lake level: photo by Annikka Snow

From the lookout: Drive along the High Line for 40 minutes, and this is what you'll see.

Our hosts: Annikka and Jeff making googley eyes.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Almost According to Plan

Because we're not on the mountain: skies as clear as a bell.

Our last day in Whistler dawned sunny and warm, of course. We made the most of the fine day by taking a long walk before we went to the new Audain art gallery. The gallery is nigh on perfect: great collection of Indigenous art both historic and contemporary. The building itself is a work of art. It's hard to imagine how they could have done a better job. 

Perforated totem pole outside the entrance.

Nestled in a pine grove: sweeping form balanced on three pedestals.

Around noon, Jeff and Annikka's son Oliver came to Whister to pick us up and take us further inland to Pemberton/Mount Currie. 

Last night we joined a wedding party in progress in the Pemberton valley, ate massive quantities of food and also fed the local mosquitos.

The plan had been that we would all go to the cottage on Loon Lake today. We heard last night that an evacuation order has been issued for that part of the province. We are now playing it by ear.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Whistler and the 1%

If your sample set were only the families in Whistler - the ones from around the world, speaking Swedish, Urdu, Russian, Japanese, Italian, Norwegian, Punjabi, German, Hindi, Romanian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, French, Farsi, Spanish, Czech and English (among others) - the ones with the prosperous forty-something moms and dads and two-to-three children - the ones in the restaurants and shops and, more than anything, biking and kayaking and hiking and white water rafting on and near the mountain - if these were the only people from which you were to draw your conclusions, you would say that the people on the planet have it made. 

Bruce: looking like he has it made.

Me: looking like I'm holding back a wall of snow.

Wind and sun-dimpled massive cliffs of snow. Clouds socked in the mountain top.  

The long view - most of the hiking trails on the mountain are still closed due to the record quantities of snow that fell over the winter. Crews cleared a path to the summit leaving "ice walls" to astonish hikers.

Near the Whistler summit, there stretches along the road a hundred metre inukshuk zone where travellers from everywhere build for posterity little stone monuments. There are hundreds. Some feature impressive engineering and balancing acts.

At the mountain top, I celebrate the moment: my hip and I made it all the way up. It was zero degrees celsius at the summit. Yes, I had no jacket. And yes, those are sandals on my feet. But, hiking is warm work so I stayed toasty, the fact that I don't know how to pack for British Columbia notwithstanding.

A particularly nice configuration of jackets and a smaller ice wall.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

10,000 Steps

We have been enjoying lots of long walks on our west coast sojourn.

Cousin Pat and Bruce walk a trail by Grandon Creek, lovingly cared for by Qualicum Beach Streamkeepers.

Burnham the chocolate lab takes a dip in the waters of the Little Qualicum Fish Hatchery, lovingly cared for by the federal department of fisheries and oceans.

Two supervisors at the Little Qualicum Fish Hatchery give us the hairy eyeball.

View from the window at the Westin Resort and Spa in Whistler. When TD Canada Trust Visa helped us get every dime of our money back from the bankrupted Pemberton Music Festival, I treated it like found money and splurged on a crazy expensive hotel room. Seems to be working out so far. 

Today, our long walk will be on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Nanaimo and Qualicum

 We departed our Victoria B&B around 10:00 a.m. when my sister Carol came to pick us up in her spiffy new car to take us to Nanaimo. 

That afternoon, we hiked around Westwood Lake, stopped in to say hi to my niece and her husband (to make more detailed plans to see them and their kids the next day) and then went to Carol's place for a home-prepared meal with halibut and three kinds of salad.

The next day we spent the brilliantly sunny morning hiking around Nanaimo Harbour which is where, suddenly and without warning, the electronics in my camera lens went kerflooey. 

The shot above was taken with my phone.

After going for lunch with my nephew Troy, and before we headed a bit further up island to Qualicum Beach to see my cousin Pat, the assignment was to find a camera lens.

In BC, they sell camera equipment at London Drugs. Very expensive camera equipment. 

I have a spiffy new 14-150 mm zoom lens for the camera. If it lasts the rest of the vacation, I'll have paid about $100/day for the pleasure of being able to take pictures like these:

My niece Holly and her second-born, Charlotte, who is just turning two and who had been colouring that day, hence the temporary tattoo on her left arm.

Dylan, Charlotte's big brother.

Charlotte with her dad in the background, seated on a chair painted by Joe Rosenblatt.

Our host Cliff.

Our real host: Mango-the-cat.

 Thanks for reading!

Karen

Still Life with Laptop

Inside Room 5, Fairholme Manor, Victoria BC

We choose our travel accommodations these days according to a combination of whim, location, price point and "character." 

The place we stayed last night largely fit the bill. Breakfast was good, too.

After a very pleasant day with our friends Jamie and Wendy - which included a delicious lunch (salmon) in their back yard, a stroll along the new breakwater, a nap and a fine meal (more salmon) at a downtown restaurant - we meandered along Victoria's waterfront and caught sight of this impressive fellow on a canoe outfitter's dock. He nipped minnows out of the water with unerring precision.

Thanks for reading!

Karen