We made it down

Yelling, "Hey Bear!" all the way, and without hiking boots, we safely made it down the mountain, thanks in part to the experienced guides we had with us.  We travelled along a shallow creek at the end of one hike, confident it would lead us down the mountain.

Climbing and Picking

Anthony and Kristen took Chris and I on a couple of great mountain hikes in Denali Park.  Kristen wanted to pick wild blueberries, which she repeatedly promised were "just over the next ridge."  In lovely sunny weather, they ventured a bit higher to get those blueberries, while Chris, Kita the dog, and I harvested a good quantity of wild cranberries which we made into jam at Ant and Kristen's later in the week.  Wait... is that Chris picking while Anthony, Kristen, and Kita nap??

Picking Up the Kegs

We went to Fairbanks, Alaska this summer to celebrate Anthony and Kristen's wedding.  Here Anthony and I are waiting for the Silver Gulch brewery to open so we can choose several yummy kegs of beer to serve at the reception.  Chris and I don't have any photos of the wedding itselft because we were happily busy playing flute and keyboard for the beautiful ceremony.  In fact, we have relatively few pictures partly because my brother Chris was taking his own amazing photos of everything.  If you are a family member reading this who wants a link to those photos, just contact me.

Early Birthday Present!

Bunty always comes bearing gifts. On this visit, we hit the town with Grandma where I got to choose a new Pandora charm from Flying Fish.  The bracelet and red charm on the left side was last year's present.  The beautiful green venetian glass bead is this year's.   Thanks Bunty!!  (And thanks, Mom, for the other charms!)

Grandma comes to visit

On a gorgeous, sunny fall afternoon, Grandma, Bunty, and John drove across the Malahat from Victoria to Nanaimo to visit us.  David and Jodie took the ferry from Vancouver and walked all the way from the Departure Bay terminal to our house.  (We would have picked them up, but we only have single passenger scooters.)

Chris' Birthday Weekend 2010

Chris finally got to go to the Craig St Brewpub in Duncan, BC.
We drove in our rented Jeep - a free upgrade from Budget - and stayed the night at the Phoenix Motor Inn, a mere block and a half away from the pub.

Chris really enjoyed his first craft brew of the evening on the warm, sunny 3rd floor patio.  Doesn't he look good?

The Trip There

Always wanting to have food on hand, Nicole had the brilliant idea of picking up a couple of Vietnemese subs at the local Nanaimo Tin Tin Market to enjoy at a picnic lunch.  However, she ate half of her sub while Chris drove.  We enjoyed the sandwiches at a lovely shaded picnic table on the shores of Cowichan Bay.

With lunch taken care of, we made our way to the quaint village of Cow Bay to do some neat shopping and chatting with interesting shopkeepers.  On the way, Chris obligingly pulled off to view the selection of historic monuments to early women pioneers and Canadian poet Robert Service.

Almost Artist Festival

By chance, there was an art festival that weekend at the Cowichan Bay Village, and we arrived about 5 minutes before it closed.  We were lucky enough to meet the friendly artist Bernadette McCormack whose fascinating works can be explored at her website: http://www.bernadettemccormack.com/.

Cowichan Bay is a Cittaslow Community, whatever that means.  The people sure drove quickly on the narrow un-sidewalked streets.

(Apparently, it refers to the slow food movement begun in Italy.  As we had had our subs, we didn't partake.)

Dinner at the Pub

Chris, handsomely adorned in a spiffy suit his dad passed along to him, and Nicole, looking pretty cute in a gorgeous, new, recycled silk sari skirt (just purchased at Cow Bay), walked to the pub and set about getting some dinner.  We were please to share 2 vegan entrees - a veggie burger with fries that sometimes looked like little boats,  and a Thai Coconut Curry rice bowl.

It was so pleasantly warm on the patio that Chris decided to forego the spiffy grey suit jacket.

Free Breakfast on the birthday morning

The birthday dinner was actually on July 10, the day before Chris' b-day.  We used the free breakie coupons in the hotel to enjoy a breakfast at the hotel's restaurant which was mainly populated by seniors playing cribbage.

We then tried to escape from the super loud family festival announcer's voice to wander briefly around the mostly closed Sunday shops in Duncan.  Nicole was really annoyed by the loud (and dorky) festival, and was kind of ticked off that her 2nd attempt to obtain a decent cup of coffee had failed, and was therefore not at all in the mood to pose for this shot.

Next Stop - Swimming!

On the return home to Nanaimo on Sunday afternoon, the plan was to do some swimming.  The weather had just gotten hot the past week (Chris ALWAYS has beautiful weather for his birthday) so while it was very warm, we guessed the lakes would not be warm yet.  We made our way to Lake Cowichan to discover we were right - notice how dry we look?  We waded in a tiny bit, got cold, and then decided the somewhat crowded beach with loud speed boaters was just not for us.  But, we're still having fun!

Next next stop - actually swimming

Lake Cowichan is fed by several rivers, including the crystal clear Cowichan River where we found a great, warmish, and wonderfully private place to swim.  Hopefully we look wetter in this photo.  The river is a very popular spot for people to float down to Cowichan Bay.  It flows quite slowly at the start but apparently does pick up speed.  Many people were enjoying the 2 hour float down the river to drive, walk, or hitchhike back to do it all again.  We swam near the weir which distributes water out of the lake to the river to keep the river levels high enough in the summer.  Right at the weir there is a current created that goes opposite to the outflow of the river which is probably why all the rafters join the river a little bit downstream.  As we were the only people enjoying the clear summer waters, we'll be sure to return!

Beer on patio

We enjoyed a crisp lager made for Dermod and Dudley's Irish Pub in the town of Lake Cowichan and enjoyed the view of the river and the rolling small mountains.

Abandoned Trestle

An abandoned trestle bridge is the start of a park commemorating the twin city of Ohtaki, Japan.  Are those hotties floating near it???

No More Photos, But Tons More Fun

We don't have any more photos, but we did have more fun adventures.  We were driving home, hoping to come upon some fantastic, seaside vegan restaurant, but that was not to be.  We decided to do a scenic detour to Crofton (why do so many towns on Vancouver Island start with C?)  After seeing a family practically walking on water, we ventured out in the sun warmed shallow pacific ocean waters to wade out along a hidden sandbar to a floating dock.  It was a spotaneous side trip as part of a spontaneous weekend and it was so beautiful.  What an island that we live on!

Home Sweet Home

We're now home awaiting what will no doubt be a superb tapas dinner that Chris is preparing on his birthday out of the Sublime vegan cookbook from California.  Photo coming... and here it is!  Chris made a super fantastic plate of stuffed mushrooms and Mediterranean polenta squares.  Yum.