My westcoast visits.

Finally, my pictures from the West Coast. I love BC and I'm so glad I've had the chance to take the ferry to Vancouver Island twice in the past year. It's one of my most favourite places to visit.

This time, I flew into Vancouver from Whitehorse. I stayed at the HI hostel on Jericho Beach. The hostel is really cool. It's in an old building and it has a lot of character, sprawling lawns, and is right beside the beach. It's a seasonal hostel and had only been open for a few days before I arrived so it was not busy at all. There were 3 people in my 14 person dorm. The weather was so perfect. The most perfect weather ever, really, after spending extended winter months in the Yukon. I sat on the beach a lot. I wandered around the city. I visited with Crystal and Geoff. It was a quick visit because Crystal was already a few days overdue with their little one, but we caught a few exciting hockey games (sadly Vancouver lost out of the playoffs) and had some lovely dinners.

The day I took the ferry across to the Island, I realized I had lost my camera. I was on the bus that was going to take me to the ferry and into Victoria when I noticed. This entire trip takes about four hours. When I realized I had forgotten it, I got off the bus, packed my gear into a locker, went back to the hostel and searched all over the place. I told the guy at the front desk all about my situation. He knew me because I had spent time chatting with him about the playoffs. I went back to the bus and took the ferry across. Three days later he e-mailed me to tell me that my camera had turned up. I have no idea where it was found, or who found it, but I was really happy. Thanks Jericho HI, however that happened, you're the best.

All of these photos were taken by Leah and Jill. My camera was mailed back to my parent's house.

Leah and her housemate picked me up at the busstop in his truck (thank goodness because I had 100 lbs of gear from work in the north. She didn't believe me because she thought I was exaggerating the weight) and was going to pick me up on her bike. That would not have worked.

We spent days at the beach, neat little cafes, ran into one of my MSc committee members in a fancy little grocery store (he was quite surprised to see me in such a trendy part of town ;), hosted a picnic for her housemates, and hiked along the shoreline. One night Jill and her wwoofer, Malte, came into town and we all went out downtown. Being back in civilization was great. There was ice cream and flowers and cool little shops.

On the shore in Victoria.


Right where I was sitting, we found this bright purple seastar. I thought it was a sea cucumber, but it just had its arms folded in. Cucumbers generally aren't this brightly coloured because they need to hide from their predators.


Later that week, I took the city bus out to Metchosin to meet Jill. I spent a week at her family's ranch. This was the place I started my travels the previous August. Jill was working at the local market farm so I spent the days in her garden with Malte, jogging along the Galloping Goose Trail, and knitting my wool from Whitehorse.

One day, Jill, Malte, Bella the pup, and I went hiking along the Jaun de Fuca Marine Trail. Even though it rained most of the day, we had a fantastic time.

Me in the bright blue, Malte, and Bella


Some of the smooth rock formations on the shore. The colours were amazing. You could see the historical tide lines and since tide was low, we could walk right into these caves.


Bella and I exploring a cave full of drift wood, polished stones, and big tube seaweed.


Kettles worn out of the rock on the shoreline.


Bella having a great day by the tide pools.


One more of the slippery, smooth rocks covered with seaweed.


Leah and some friends came out the last night I was visiting to celebrate Jill's birthday! We had a delicious dinner and Leah made a little carrot cake complete with pink Jill sprinkles.

British Columbia in pictures.

Tonight I finally have a chance to upload some of my pictures! I'm quite organized with everything, but it's been tough to find time on a computer that's fast enough and economical enough to actually put a bunch up at once. I'm at an internet cafe across from the hostel right now and it's cheap. I haven't taken many pictures as of yet in Perth, but the next few days will be quite busy with picture taking. I'm going on a field trip tomorrow, spending Friday wandering around town and visiting the huge botanical garden here, then hanging out with a friend on Saturday.

This first picture just cracks me up. Geoff and Crystal took me to Spanish Banks for a picnic one night in Vancouver. Crystal kicked some sand into our picnic bag, so Geoff took the tomatoes and washed them off. Just as he arrived back at our blanket, the tomato popped off its stem and hit the sand again. It was funny because Geoff was so surprised that the tomato fell and nobody likes sand in their teeth.



Crystal working on the fancy bread from Terra Bakery, a cool little shop just up the road from their house.

The sunset over Spanish Banks.


The crazy gelato place, La Casa Gelato, I visited with Crystal and Geoff. It's all pink and lovely with waffle cones all around the outside and cheesy music played way too loudly.


Just a few of the 218 flavours.


Blueberry picking with Jill and Megan. We filled out buckets in 20 minutes.


Jill and I with a few of our berries.


Jill's mom has the most fabulous collection of pottery. Some day my kitchen will look like this. I'm actually well on my way.


Me on the front porch of Jill's farmhouse. You can see the barn in the backround. My head is blocking the view of the water and the marina.

A tiny puppy we met at Jill's friend Tracy's house. He's a mix of an assortment of things including border collie. He also has 6 other little brothers and sisters. This one was exploring my backpack a lot.


A lovely example of an Arbutus tree that Jill and I found while swimming at Matheson Lake.


Jill's car! It's the coolest little thing. We took the topside windows off and drove all over the place in it. I can't remember what it's called, but it has a Z in the name and leather interior. And it's a standard and it includes music ranging from Justin Timberlake to Ron LaMontague.


Jill in her garden. You can see the abundance of dill. Unfortunately, she didn't plant any cucumbers.


Me on the Pacific Ocean, the second of three oceans I've seen this summer. Um, who wants to send me to the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean?


Jill climbing around a fallen tree on the 'nature hike' we did at Aylard Farm on the coast in East Sooke Regional Park.


The petroglyphs was saw in the same park. I think this one is a giant sea monster, or a salmon, a giant salmon monster.


Treehugging on the front lawn of the parliament buildings in Victoria, BC. This is the first time I had seen a Giant Sequoia. This one is only a little over 100 years old. It was so incredible.


Dinner we made with Leah! Such a fun night. Just a really good time catching up with good old friends. The drink in our cups is Mead from the local meadery, Tugwell Creek, which Jill and I visited in Sooke.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

There are two things that I don't miss about Ontario: the bugs and the humidity. Out here, on the west coast, they don't even put screens on the windows. In Ontario, we get chased inside at night by the mosquitoes. Here, we come inside because it's just too cool and windy.

We're about to head into Victoria so that I can catch the 3:00 ferry. Then it's off to the airport for the longest flight of my trip. I'm feeling a bit antsy and I'm just ready to get this show on the road.

This morning Jill and I took a drive down to Pedder Bay. This is the body of water that I can see from the top of the hill at her parent's house. In the bay there is a marina where several large fishing and sailing boats are docked. This weekend the annual Salmon Festival, a big fishing competition, will be held out of the bay. I sort of wish I could stick around to see it, but I need to be somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

Last night, we made dinner with Leah. We ate the salmon a neighbour had dropped off, veggies I grilled, mojitos with mint form Jilly's garden, bread from the farm down the road, tiny beets with goat cheese that Jill made especially for Leah and I, and an amazing mixed greens salad that Leah whipped up with dressing from the Rebar cookbook. Leah has been making her way through this cookbook that was put out by a local restaurant.

After dinner we took Leak out to the bus stop and dropped by 17 Mile Pub to meet some of Jill's work friends. Jill and I were the first to arrive so we played a game of pool. We were doing really well until her friends showed up. It took us about 20 shots each to finish the last 2 balls. The game ended with Jill sinking my last ball and the 8 ball all in one shot. Fabulous work. Of course, they had a great time making fun of us and talking about their game. Once they started playing though, we realized that we weren't that awful.

Okay, I'm off. Next time I post I'll probably be in Perth. I'll definitely upload some pictures once I'm there because I've taken an awful lot of good ones!

Talk to you soon, Cass