Oh, to have the family back together!

Saturday – Seeing more of Vancouver Island!

Hello!

Woke up this morning, and it actually wasn’t raining!  (Am I sounding cynical?  I’m being to think so…)  Robert wanted to sit down at the computer and, as his official position of chancellor of the exchequer, get all the accounts up to date.  I, however, much to his chagrin, had other ideas – I wanted to walk!  Out we went, for my circle tour – down Douglas Street to the coast and turn right on Dallas; then, follow Dallas around until you get back to the inner harbor!  Robert did keep telling me, all along the way, that we were heading in the wrong direction!  Ha, I say!  Ha!  I actually did know where I was going, and we got back to the apartment about 8-ish. 

Robert spent some time working on the accounts, but was finally ready to go out around 10 a.m.  I proposed that we drive up island to Chemainus, about 50 miles north, and see how the town is doing!  

The weather, on our drive up, was absolutely awful – varying between a heavy mist and a light rain – just cold and damp!  But by the time we had reached Chemainus, there was blue sky and sunshine, and by the end of our walk around town, I was without sweater and wishing I had my shorts!  What truly crazy weather!!

Chemainus is a former mining, fishing and forestry town.  However, when the mining dried up, threatening the very existence of the town, someone came up with the idea of making Chemainus a tourist destination, with paint!  There are many different murals painted on walls around the town, each telling a different story of a part of Chemainus’ past.  It is a very varied past – with Japanese and Chinese laborers bringing all sorts of different elements to the mix.  When we first visited, approximately 20 years ago, the murals were about all that the town had going for it.  Now, seeing the wonderful new town square with museum and statues and band shell, overlooking the once dilapidated harbor, it is clear that this is a town doing well! 

  

We parked in the main square, and then headed toward the “old” part of town, following big yellow footprints – which I loved, as they told you exactly where to stop and look at murals!  As Mom was a bit winded from the up and down hill walk, we stopped in a really good bakery for refreshment. 

The only problem was that Robert and Mom having blueberry scones, and me having a piece of carrot cake, none of us were then hungry for lunch!!  So…walked back to the main square, and through some of the wonderful shops.  My own particular favorite was the Salt Spring Island Soap Factory.  As an avid aficionado of baths (instead of showers), they had some wonderful things – including their own line of bath bombs (lest we forget that my all-time favorite bath shop is the Canadian company LUSH!).

The gal who ran the soap store told us about the winery festival that is going on this weekend.  We had passed multiple signs about wineries as we were heading north – and she told us about Deol Winery, which was her favorite.  So, to  Deol we went!  And Wow!  I have to admit, the wines that they made were really excellent!  As I was the DD, I just had a quick sip of their Iced Chardonnay, which turns out to be a wonderful dessert wine.  Robert and Mom both loved several of the reds, and we did walk away with seven bottles of wine…Decided at this point that we had best head back to Victoria, while we still had some room left in the car!

Got back around 3:30 p.m. for a brief rest before an early dinner.  (That bakery stop really put a kink in our day!)  At 5 p.m. we went just a short way down the hill to Belmiro for what turned out to be a truly fabulous dinner!

Where do I begin?  How about a lovely bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.  For starters, Mom had their tomato soup; R had their spicy shrimp on a bed of blue cheese cole slaw; I had a great Cesar salad.  We were all very happy!  Then, for mains, Mom had their starter Carpaccio with parmesan cheese and capers.  Robert had albacore tuna, cooked rare, with a wonderful mushroom risotto and really good veggies – yellow beets and broccoli. I had their special rare prime rib with horse radish, mashed potatoes and veggies; just great!  For dessert, accompanied by some wonderful Essencia Orange muscat, Robert had their apple pie, and I had warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream…needless to say, we absolutely waddled back to the flat (fortunately it was close!) and now we’re in for the night!

Mom has already gone to bed (8:15 p.m.) and I’m hoping to follow quickly…Robert falling asleep on the couch as I type!

Oh!  We’ve (R & I) signed up for a whale watching cruise on Monday…Mom declining the opportunity, which is probably for the best (seeing as she gets seasick looking at a full glass of water…).  I know that the weather forecasts have been pretty awful (like yesterday, which, hour by hour, went from “showers” to “few showers” – while it never rained a drop…oh well!) but people keep telling us that the weather is supposed to be warmer and sunny, with a possible high on Monday of 70 degrees!  Be still my heart!!

More later!

m

xxx