Beautiful East Sooke

Vinnies's swimming beach at the cottage.

Picking sea asparagus at the beach.

 We found this baby monk fish floundering in the shallows. I couldn't get it redirected out to sea.

Looking west  on the coast trail in east Sooke regional park.

Looking west.

 A huge tree root washed up in a tiny cove in east Sooke park.

 The trail is always dramatic and lush with moss and ferns.

 The trail often runs over exposed cliff tops.

These arbutus trees seem to be dancing or maybe freaking out.

Oct 1st:Day 40

Our last day as travelers! We packed up and drove downtown to shop for groceries before driving to Sooke, our final destination. It's about a 40 minute drive. Our first stop was our beautiful house, still under construction.

This will eventually be our new address.

The house was designed by Vancouver architects Battersby Howatt and built by a local company Anderson Cove construction.

This little beach is just below the house and the view is across the Juan De Fuca straights to the often cloud-shrouded Olyimpic mountains in Washington.

This is the cottage we're renting until the house is finished.

Well, that's the whole trip. Overall, it was awesome although there was a tad more rain than expected. The most memorable moments include our first night on Carlyle lake in Killarney, nice car camping in Pukaskwa, the surprise of Rose Valley lodge in Thunder Bay, hiking Edith Cavel glacier and meadows near Jasper, the path of six glaciers hike in Lake Louise, soggy wine touring in the Okanagan and reaching the coast at White Rock.

We're planning to continue posting photos and thoughts as we start our new life here on beautiful Vancouver Island.

Sept 30th:Day 40

Pretty much the same as the day before.

No pictures.

Sept 29th:Day 39

Started the day again with take out lattes and a walk to the beautiful beaches with Vinnie. We walked all the way to Clover point and back through Beacon Hill park.

Noticed this house near Clover point that seems to be having a plant problem.

Walked downtown again.

We really enjoyed staying put for a few days.

Sept 28th:Day 38

We started the day at a great local coffee shop then walked  the 2 or 3 blocks to the beach where there is a huge off-leash area that includes several beaches.

Nice dog park!

Some happy, hippy west coast graffiti.

It says "I live in a painting"

Spent the afternoon downtown getting a new phone and doing some banking.

Sept 27th:Day 37

The thought of finding and reserving more accommodations in or around some of the small towns on the way south to Victoria was just, finally, too much for us. We decided to bee line for Victoria and just hang there for 4 days.

We rented a suite in this house in the James Bay neighbourhood. Shout out to the folks at Ocean Island Hostel who run the place because could not have been happier with it.

Nice backyard.

We probably roasted a chicken for dinner.  

Sept 26th:Day 36

If you like seeing people (mainly women) walking around the grounds in white terry cloth robes then the Kingfisher is the place for you. We skipped the water/spa/steam grotto thingy and drove up to Mount Washington and hiked in Strathcona (regional? provincial?) park.

It's a beautiful park that includes several small lakes and many streams that meander through mossy/boggy meadows. Can't wait to ski these trails. 

We stopped in Courtenay at a place called Atlas for an early dinner. I had a big tasty bowl of BC mussels.

Sept 25th:Day 37

It's been a long time since my last entry and I'm finally starting to lose my memory of the individual days but the pictures make it easier.

Oh yeah, Saturday is market day.

The Ganges market is small but amazing. We had a great lunch, bought a tea pot and then drove up island to the Vesuvius (the town names kill me) ferry.

We took the ferry along with a high school girls volleyball squad from Naniamo. The trip to Crofton takes 10 minutes. We drove north into some early season storm winds and stayed at the Kingfisher inn and spa.

Sept 24th:Day 36

The weather turned foul again for our ferry to Salt Spring island. We spent the two hour trip slouched in our seats reading magazines and sipping tea. Didn't take any pictures.

Had a nice lunch in Ganges the drove to our cabin near Fulford harbour.

Elfies' place cabin.

Sept 23rd:Day 35

After a sunny breakfast outside the hotel cafe we drove into Vancouver on an errand. Our destination turned out to be down near Granville market so we had some take out fish chowder sitting outside listening to the ubiquitous peruvian band playing strange pan flute versions of Beatles and Carpenters songs. After lunch we did some recreational food shopping. Needless to say, I frigging love that place.  We bought some mushroom stuffed ravioli and some sage for a simple dinner as well as some fresh fruit and museli for breakfast. The ravioli was delicious. 

Sept 22nd:Day 34

Vinnie got his first taste of sea water during his morning ramble. The tide was way out so we took him out onto the tidal flats. There were a lot of locals out there with their dogs as well. It was a bright, sparkley morning.

He likes it.

We spent the day poking around White Rock and had a late lunch of fresh oysters, salad and pinot gris. Then back to the suite for a nap.

By the time we had decided to get dinner, most of the restaurants had closed so we took what we could get which turned out to be some pretty good indian takeout.

Sept 21st:Day 33

A big day as we planned to finally reach the coast at White Rock. We had breakfast in the room and drove out of Kelowna in the rain. The drive would probably be a stunner in fair weather but the clouds were low and the rain was constant.

 We couldn't see the peaks except for the occasional glimpse but there many small waterfalls tumbling down the green mountainsides.

 At some point we drove out of the rain and by the time we reached White Rock the sun was shining.

Holy shit, the ocean!!

I must have used my sexy voice when I made the reservation because we were given an enormous suite with a full kitchen, living room, two bathrooms and a balcony with an ocean view.

We were finally able to sit outside and enjoy some of that fine Okanagan wine.

We went to Moby Dick's fish and chips for dinner. Their fish and chips are freshly made and awesome. Lorraine ordered them but for some reason I didn't. Instead, I had the fried oysters which had obviously come from a box in the freezer. Lorraine pitied me.

We decided to stay for two more days.

Sept 20th:Day 32

Another rainy day of wine touring. I don't remember the order but these are the wineries we visited:

Therapy. Great wines. Great packaging.

Laughing Stock. Great wines and super clever packaging. We really liked the Blind Trust blends.

Township 7. Didn't like the wines at the time but in retrospect we think our palates were kinda dead. We haven't seen them in stores yet but if we do we'll give them another chance.

Heading north along the western shore of the lake we passed through the towns of Summerland and Peachland. They sound cute and they were.

We stopped for a leg stretch and a swim at a little campground that would be awesome in nice weather.

The clouds were very low and the colours were muted.

The final stop on the day's wine tour was Quails Gate which is basically in Kelowna. 

The skies cleared briefly before a thunder storm rolled in.

Good wine.

 The affordable, pet friendly, free WiFi accommodations that we found on line turned out to be kind of seedy and located in the armpit of Kelowna.

We did find a good Chinese restaurant for dinner. 

Sept 19th:Day 31

The day begins with me walking Vinnie on the beach in a light rain while Lorraine fixes fruit and yoghurt bowls for breakfast. We bought some Oso Negro coffee for our bodum and it's friggin delicious.

The rain continued off and on for our day of wine touring.

Our first stop was Burrowing Owl. The tasting bar was lined up so we just bought a bottle of merlot and left.

Next was Silver Sage. These people make awful, awful wine. Possibly worse than the wine we occasionally received from our neighbour who bought it in plastic buckets and decanted it into old Baccardi rum bottles.

Next was Church and State winery. This was the discovery of the trip. Great wines and a super cool modern winery. Their Syrah, Meritage blend and Pinot Noir are all excellent.

They also have a nice dog exercising area.

Next up was Road 13 winery. Good wine.

Then Tinhorn Creek. Excellent wine, especially the merlot.

Then up to a little vineyard and winery called Fairview where we tasted with the owner and wine maker. Excellent straight forward wine. Bought the cabernet sauvignon and the Madcap blend.

There was a little trail out into the scrub so we stopped and took a walk.

Every plant seemed to be some kind of fragrant, woody herb. The damp air smelled of sage and lavender. These herby notes seemed to be present in the local wines as well.

We drove into Penticton in the rain and stayed at a Super 8.

There was a Whole Foods next door so we did some shopping and had some take out salads for dinner.

    

Sept 18th:Day 30

The day began with a strange encounter. So, Lorraine takes Vinster out for his morning constitutional and she's stopped by this half a cop bylaw enforcement guy who informs her that THERE IS A TOTAL DOG BAN IN DOWNTOWN NELSON!?? 

Artist's rendering.

Apparently there was an attack 15 years ago and the"hippies" used to leave their dogs unattended to shit everywhere so they banned dogs completely on the two main streets. As you can imagine, this totally harshed our mellow but we put Vin in the car and went for coffee and breakfast. Our first priority was coffee at Oso Negro. Turns out it's outside of the dog ban area so the place was a mob scene of happy dogs and their happy, cool, mellow owners. Best coffee since leaving Toronto. We were back in love with Nelson. Breakfast was at The Full Circle cafe. I had been looking forward to their crab cakes with soft poached eggs and chipotle aioli/holandaise(?) sauce for the whole trip and they didn't disappoint. Lorraine had some kind of tofu scramble. I pitied her.

After that we bought some books, took Vin down to the lake for a ramble, had lunch at the Preserved Seed and bailed outta town headed for the Okanagan valley. 

Another scenic drive that flirts several times with the US border.

The landscape turns brown and scrubby as you come into the southern end of the valley.

The road cuts back forth down from the hills and there are stunning views of the vineyards, orchards and the town of Osoyoos around the lake.

Unfortunately, Osoyoos only looks good from a distance. 

It's like a backwater Florida beach town only without the culture.

The bad weather didn't help.

The jolly seniors that seemed to be everywhere were having a great time.

Passable greek fast food takeout for dinner.