House Shopping in El Valle and New Years Eve in Playa Venao with Friends

 

El Valle de Anton to Playa Blanca

 

We went to the beach for the day

An amazing beach without the crowds!

 

Ever forgetful

I keep meaning to go down the garden to get a picture of how things are growing down there but I just don't get down there these days. Today I will make a concerted effort to go and take pictures for you guys. I was down there yesterday and wowsers stuff is really getting big but I didn't think to take my phone so couldn't capture it then.

Yesterday was 27C (80.6F) and while in Saskatchewan that wouldn't be that hot out here in the humidity 27C is HHOOOTTTT especially when your sitting in a vehicle waiting on a damn ferry -- twice. 

Today, Stacey is setting up her 8 man floating platform something or other (I'll get pics of that too) so we can relax on the water and spend the day at the beach before the trip packing kicks into high gear. For anyone who missed the post, I am driving out East to spend some time with my Dad.

Oh, and the Pickleball playtime has changed from afternoons (winter schedule which allows for the day to warm up) to mornings (summer schedule to play before the day heats up). 

So goals for today == Main garden pic, Floating platform pic and Pickleball.

Its only supposed to go to 22C (71.6F) today but the coming weekend will be 32C (89.6F). I shall be grateful for the market canopy this weekend to keep the sun off me that's for sure.

1st official house sit

We have just been offered and accepted a house sit on Vancouver Island.

We had had a different house sit lined up previously but in the end it was cancelled. Today we went to town to have a cup of coffee and while I waited for Brad to get our order I checked the TrustedHouseSitters app. There was a new sit listed, once Brad returned with the coffees I read it to him and we decided to apply.

We were not even finished our coffees when we got a message that they would like us to agree to the sit, which we did. The sit is from Jan 25 (this Saturday) to Feb 8 (2 weeks). After messaging back and forth we then spoke on the telephone and they have asked us to come over on Friday as they leave Saturday..

They are very close to the beach where we can walk the dogs (they have 1 Westie Terrier) every day.

Excitement is just around the corner and given that it basically hasn't stopped raining since a week before Christmas, we are excited to get out from under the tic tic tic... and explore a new area of British Columbia for a couple of weeks while accommodating someone else's holiday. Win Win.

A few days away

Virginia and Thomas (Relief hosts) were having company come so they traded us a couple of days so they would have time off to visit their family.

This meant we had 4 whole days!

We get a lot of campers from Parksville and they have told me how great it is there so that's where we went. TO THE BEACH!

I tried to book a hotel with a deep dish bathtub but the rate was $550/nt ( deep dish is only in the suites), so a stupid regular bathtub was in my future - Damn it.

Anyway, we got a great hotel, Bayside Resort. It has a regular hotel bathtub (better than no bathtub) but with our military discount it was only $138/nt... much better. And - right on the beach.

Yup, this is the life

Robbie liked the view

Lots of people enjoying the seaside at low tide

Same view at high tide

A flock of seagulls doing yoga on the beach

With Tim's (coffee) in hand we wandered around the beach

Great playground for the kids and even a free workout area for everyone just out of frame.

This woman has been dragged through a bush, me thinks...

Our hotel from the water side

Decided to check out Qualicum Beach but wasn't much there so we kept driving... through Comox Valley all the way to Campbell River before deciding we best turn back. Thinking we were only 50Km from our hotel we were shocked to have Google Maps tell us we were 1 hr 20 min from the hotel.... Whaa..?

We stayed in Parksville for 2 nights on the waterfront and it was great to be back on the ocean again.

Return to our regular programming

Yes, I know I'm a terrible human... frankly we've just been so exhausted from the work leading up to our parents visit that once they left I just couldn't bring myself to write anything.... the campground still needed to be run and I guess that was all I could manage. 

So picking up where I left off almost a month ago......

Dad relaxing with a good book 

Took Dad to PickleBall - he was just going to watch because of his bad knee but within 5 minutes someone (I was playing on a different court) convinced him to play... he is front left at the net. He loved it, a fun low impact game.

Then we went to a beach in Fulford

Had lunch at Buzzy's

Big steak dinner Brad BBQ'd up for us

Then it was time for Dad to fly home. His flights went off without a hitch which was great and he made it home safe and sound and on time.

Too exhausted to even make a sandwich, Brad and I went to the local golf course for lunch.

We found a new beach with an old Catamaran that looks to need some love

( I want a Leopard 43, if anyone out there wants to get me one...!! )

Awesome beach spot. 

I'd tell you where it is but then it wouldn't be so awesome in short order.

Water goes up and around this corner to another harbour

There is a cabin barely visible in these trees

Another cabin

Incredible wear on these old rocks

You know how long this took to happen...

Incredible

Okay so we are all caught up. 

The campground is running well and we haven't had any issues as yet but the July long weekend is approaching in a few days.... let's hope our luck holds!!!

I will make a better effort to be a better human and get back to my normal writing routine.

Long few days

None of this has been discussed on the blog but Brad has been dealing with a court case for many years now. He had to stop the case during court proceedings and go to the appeal court... the ability to even do so was argued (2 years ago) and Brad just won that so now he has to actually do the appeal. He completed the writing of that appeal on Thursday morning and we spent Thursday afternoon going to Duncan to have it printed and bound at Staples....

Then because we have sold our property in California, we had to go to the US Consulate General to have some documents doohickied.... so we left the RV at 5am sharp to ensure our spot on the 6:30am ferry to Vancouver... while waiting for the ferry to embark a friend and neighbour tapped on the window... he and his son were going out on the same ferry to do some business of their own.

Having breakfast on the ferry to Vancouver (2.5 hr ride)

Mark, friendly neighbour. 

Concrete jungle is an understatement

We had booked a return ferry via Victoria for 6:30pm but we arrived back at the Ferry terminal at 3pm so got in the standby line.... barely made it though, just one car behind us got on the 3:30pm ferry... Whew. And guess who tapped on the window... yup, Mark! They were heading back also but took a different ferry route. We were home by 8pm with a short stop on Mayne Island to transfer ferries.

Today, after Pickleball we decided to take Robbie to Beddis Beach......

A Catamaran (my dream), and the Vancouver ferry

Brad and Robbie chillin' out at the beach

Beddis Beach, great sand and soft shells

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and we will, of course, be in attendance.

I take great exception to standing in the cold while the names of every local business are read off in lieu of their flowers on a day that should be about those who died... 

Read the names of those men/women and I'll stand all day.

Mother's Day Trip

We have decided to bite the bullet. We are going to attempt to quit smoking...

We each now have a 'Vape' and while I'm not promoting vaping because frankly to me it's just as bad and possibly worse given its limited time on the market, making it an unknown entity possibly worse than cigarettes, but we need to do something. We've both been puffing about a pack a day and that is just insane... appreciably it has been a stressful time lately but neither of us is happy with how much we've been smoking lately. We are both feeling the effects of this, so... I figure, right now we have nothing to lose by trying to wean off using a vape.

Yesterday was Mother's Day so we took some time to chillax. Jumped in the Jeep and drove down to Elbow, SK. It's a quaint little town and we seem drawn to it a lot. Not quite a 'resort or beach town', but it has a couple of restaurants and some shops. We stopped for lunch at our usual haunt and then headed down to the beach.

The coolest part of Elbow, to me anyway, is The Sod House. You'd almost think this would be a prairie staple but its the only one I've ever seen in these parts.

Very quiet this time of year but in no time it will be packed. Yesterday, we had the beach to ourselves and even got Robbie to go in the water (he hates water) to fetch a stick.

Robbie and I

Only others around were across the water also enjoying a quiet beach.

Deserted beach

Jeep in the background on the grass

Robbie in the water - a rare occurance

Ready to go Mum

Trudging through the sand back to the Jeep

Brad bringing up the rear

My husband is awesome. Taking us to the beach even though he's been really sick the last several days - hence the bunny hug in 25C temperatures.  I hope the sunshine and fresh air will help him feel better. It is massage day today, but last night he was sure he wouldn't be able to go. If your sick they advise not to get a massage, something about the massage spreading it throughout your body....

We drove around to check out the RV 'Resorts' in the area...

Definitely not The Ranch

Seriously, thankfully it was dry but you can clearly see that isn't always the case, and what a mess.

Boating and Marina 

18 Hole Golf Course

Sailboat on the left, Pontoon on the right

House Boat dock -- which got me to thinking....

Barely visible in the pic there is a deer just left of the road

So my thinking? Wouldn't it be awesome if we could winter in California and then return to Canada and summer in a sailboat - the sailboat being what originally started our RV life, Brad's dream.

Lake Diefenbaker is over 800 sq km. A massive lake that you could do some awesome sailing on without freaking out your wife! Keeps us close to family too. Perhaps we could buy a lot in town and build a smaller version of our current house.... Anyway, we need to sort out some stuff before we go worrying about that just yet. Options, options....

There are a ton of lakes in Northern Saskatchewan but there are always forest fires up north so being in the South Central area would be better, I think.