British Columbia: Part 3

After three days in Victoria, we took a ferry to Salt Spring Island. Salt Spring is known as being an island full of hippies who live as artists.



We arrived there around mid-day and made the long, winding drive up to our B & B. I was looking forward to this time, because it would be the first real experience of vacation and relaxation....although R isn't great at the latter part. The views were amazing. Most B& B's on the island have hot tubs on the deck and this one was no exception. The breakfasts were great. Unfortunately, the bed was way too hard. I tend to like a softer bed. People that like hard beds are crazy.



The following day we grabbed our map for the Salt Spring Studio Tour and visited about 5-6 places. I would have continued going to studios for another 2 hours, but R was very patient for the first 6 locations. There are something like 40 places to tour and these are only a portion of the locations. We passed many places that weren't part of the studio tour. Like the rest of BC, Salt Spring has the reputation of being a place where people come to visit and then stay. This certainly seems to be true of many British artists. I was surprised at how many Brits had made Salt Spring home. Personally, after 3 days of the island, I was ready to move on.

Some of the highlights were:
- a lavender farm tour.


Lavender fields must be like a major jackpot for bees because they're swarming with them. I know bees can really stress some people out, but lavender seems to intoxicate them to the point of becoming completely docile.



- We also went to a goat/sheep cheese farm and bought some cheese.



- Stopped at a few wineries. Bought three bottles...only one made it home with us.



Later that day we went to a beach (full of rock and tree trunks). I'm not a big fan of going to beaches while on vacation. Being quite fair, I generally have to be paranoid about sunscreen and I start to feel really lethargic after sitting in the sun. But the weather and view were beautiful.

Salt Spring is known for its market on Saturday.



People generally go down for the weekend to take advantage of the market. But the hippies that used to be about living simply, sharing art and perhaps drugs now add making a good living to the mix. I don't blame them. But the only thing I bought at the market was a $5 jar of jam.



Mind you, there appeared to be some hippies that weren't loaded too...probably more neo-hippies/drifters.



I debated whether I should post this picture. It certainly wasn't taken with the consent of these guys. But, I think they probably wouldn't mind having someone be intrigued with their life.

Later that day, R went on a hike and got lost in the woods. He was marking his path with inukshuks that were along the road and lost his way. But he did get this nice shot on his trek.



The next morning, we caught an early ferry back to the mainland. There's something nice about being on empty streets in the early morning.



The ferry trip back to the mainland was the best of the bunch.



I'll include a few more ferry pictures and the next stage of our trip in my next post...

British Columbia: Part 2

After taking the ferry to Vancouver Island, we arrived in Victoria. The whole process of getting there was quite easy. Actually, everything on our trip went smoothly. Planning our trip to Turkey/Greece last summer was so much more difficult. Between language barriers and limited internet information, I had to go to a travel agent. But, planning a trip to and through BC can mainly be done via internet.

We stayed at my uncle and aunt's place (and 3 cousins). Perhaps slight miscommunication, because my uncle seemed to have cleared his schedule for us, whereas I had plans to spend time with friends. We kind of fit both in. The first night we took a walk around the harbour/parliament there. It was nice to spend time with them.


The pace is much slower than Vancouver. Apparently, Victoria has a relatively large number of people living on the street. I didn't see very many though.

The second day we met up with a friend. She suggested climbing Mt. Finlayson. I tend to get myself into these outdoor adventure situations where I am gungho at the beginning and wondering what the hell I was thinking half way through. I think we took the harder route. But I made it to the top.



Afterwards we went to The Noodle Box. These noodle box-type things seem to be popular in BC and I wish they were nationally.


Later that night, we went for dinner with my uncle and his family. It's interesting watching people react to my one cousin. She has piercing everywhere and multicoloured dreadlocks. Old people tend to get a very frightened look when they see her...which is explains why my grandmother refuses to go anywhere with her in public.

The day after we met up with another friend by the pier. The weather started getting much nicer at this point and it was a great day by the water. We walked around Fisherman's Whorf for a bit. There are a bunch of house boats there and a few restaurants.





Afterwards, we rented scooters. I loved scootering around...but R hated it. There's a nice drive by the water there, so I would definitely recommend it.



The next day we took the ferry to Salt Spring Island.



To be continued...

British Columbia: Part 1

Everyone talks about how if you go to Vancouver, you'll fall in love. It's a nice place to visit for 4-5 days. The mountains and water make for a beautiful backdrop. But, that's only at certain parts of town. It's growing like crazy and preparations for the Olympics in 2010 are everywhere. If you like travelling to larger cities and exploring, Vancouver is an enjoyable, multicultural location. People are generally friendly and it's mainly safe.


We spent a day cycling around Stanley Park. There are some detours because of the storm , but it is really pretty and a nice way to spend the better part of a day. We spend the remainder of the day at Granville Island. The picture below is fairly typical of the size of tree that was uprooted during the storm.


We spent a separate day walking around downtown. A lot of the remainder of time was spent with my friend and her husband. Click on the image below...the full picture is really pretty (if it works).


I loved this poster. I saw it at Deep Cove, where we went kayaking. An area in Northern Vancouver (I think) where people own million dollar+ houses by the water.


Vancouver is kind of an interesting place...you hear about people living on the street, but the actual image of this is a little bit vague. I don't have a full understanding of how things got to their current level -- homeless people, many of whom appear to be on heavy drugs. It's somewhat isolated to certain areas, but, in some areas they're about a block from a nicer area of town where many tourists frequent. My friend had to turn around at one point and drove down a back alley. Saw some amazing gravity throughout the whole alley.


From Vancouver, we made our way to Victoria...about a 4 hours journey away.