Oct 10, 2012 - Vancouver to Nanaimo

October 10, 2012 I forgot to mention yesterday that in addition to servicing Roadtreks, the firm also did a brisk business of rentals primarily to the Swiss and Germans. Nearly the entire staff spoke German. I spoke to one of the staff who said that it is the dream of many Germans to go to Canada for camping. There must have been at least 5 couples come through returning rentals and headed for the airport. Reminded me of the time in Frankfurt when we picked up our VW when they picked us up to take us to the factory. The Costco osso bucco...

Aug 27, 2012 - Newcastle Island

Today we walked the perimeter of Newcastle Island. You get to the island via a very small ferry that traverses the harbour in about five minutes. The hike is about seven miles long with some good elevation gains and losses. We stopped for lunch at a bench on the shore. It was a great place to watch the ferries, sea planes, tugs with barges, and small sail boats. It took about three hours for the hike and lunch. I forgot the camera so we were reduced to iphone shots as we did the hike. The three of us did the same hike seven years ago....

Aug 24, 2012 - Back to Nanaimo

We have returned to Nanaimo. The trip back over the mountain was pleasant and we made a couple of stops along the way. Crystal Cove was a beautiful campground with the best landscaping that we have seen at any campground. It is very tight for a 42-foot motorhome and is swamped by children at this time of the year. But it sits next to MacKenzie Beach and the staff is very friendly. The weather was excellent for most of our stay and we found the area well worth exploring. Of course the loss of Arnie placed a dark cloud on our visit. But we...

Aug 8, 2012 - Protection Island

Nanaimo is a laid back town and we have been fitting right in. We have thought about repeating visits that we made five years ago to Victoria, Newcastle Island, or Mount Washington. But it has been more comfortable to enjoy the campground setting at Living Ocean, and the shopping and dining of Nanaimo. Today was Sue’s birthday. After having some trouble getting around in the car she got a GPS for a gift. We decided to celebrate with dinner at the Dock Dinghy Pub on Protection Island. We took the small ferry across the bay to the island....

Aug 3, 2012 - Nanaimo

On Wednesday morning we packed up and left our beautiful site at Eagle Wind Campground and headed west on the TransCanada Highway toward Horseshoe Bay and the BC Ferries Terminal. Our trip was considerably slowed by the construction of the Port Mann Bridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Mann_Bridge . We made it to the ferry terminal about an hour before departure time, unhooked the Escape, paid the big toll, and found our place in line to drive aboard. It was a perfect day to sail as we left the mainland mountains and crossed to Nanaimo...

Jul 14, 2012 - Day Twenty Seven

Catch ferry at Horseshoe Bay in Vancouver and take to Nanaimo Vancouver Island.Camp at Living Forest Oceanside.Drive to downtown Nanaimo,walk by the river front.Rib-feast on at downtown area.Have a drink at the Palace Hotel.Return to camp for BBQ supper.

Sep 13, 2011 - departure

We leave for England today. Nanaimo to Manchester via Germany (we are flying on Aeroplan!) Summer has finally arrived here so we will be leaving some lovely sunny days behind. England will be slightly cooler but hopefully they will enjoy a nice warm Autumn. Probably won't add any photos until we get to Spain. Stay tuned.

Nov 24, 2010 - In LA

Tuesday Great start, kayaked for a couple of hours around a "larger than life" lagoon (huge!) and had a blast! This lagoon is fished by the locals for shrimp, fish and crab; in the winter months it is connected to the ocean and in spring when it drys up enough, it is separated from the ocean by a sand bar. There is much concern this year as it is drying out at an alarming rate around the speculation is the shrimp fishing will be hit hard :( Seen all kinds of birds... fish.. "crabs that swim on the surface that have blue legs"..and the most...

Nov 22, 2010 - Monday... heat day

Started our day with a *refreshing* 2 hour hike up the beach to the behind the airport. Then back to town on the chicken truck...starting to really enjoy those things... Now we are in the next town of Los Acholtes heating up just a little more :) Off to kayak the lagoon int the morning.. hope the crocs dont get Dale... lol... ps... loving the heat day and night... sat on the beach at 11 last night drinking wine and enjoying the sound of the waves...

Nov 20, 2010 - First few days in Barra de Potosi :)

Arrived on Tuesday at about 4:30 pm.......wow, were we hungry (ok, DALE was hungry). Went to one of the restraunts on the beach and had some local food. Back to the bungalow and after wine and tequela and wine.....listened to the waves rolling in and caressing the beach........called it a night!f Wednesday Up early.....big pot of coffee....mmmmmmmmmmmmm! Next to a local restraunt called Terasita's for breakfast. We both had huevo rancheros for breakfast (60 pesos, 5 Canadian dollars) and they were GOOD! Ok food was out of the way, we then...

Nov 16, 2010 - SEA TAC

So.... not sure who let him down the other morning... but he is alive and well with me at Seatac :)We had the storm from hell last night howling endlessly like a coyote at sunset. Don't think the wind stopped till about 2am... maybe that's why I woke up.Breaky time then its off to the SUN!! To be continued...

Nov 15, 2010 - Guess I wasn't safe after all!

Woke up this morning like this... guessing no one was safe from the wrath of Kat's pretrip get it in order "rampage"! Ps, could you send someone to help get me down? Glad we are off in two hours to Victoria.......Whew! :) Ps, read the weather forecast... -6 degrees this week end....LOL..........."oops",.......did I write that?