November 15th snuck up on us so quickly and it is hard to believe that half of our time house sitting is already up. With each month passing, we feel more and more grateful to have this experience and to be able to live with such ease.
October brought an early record breaking snowfall and we hosted another family guest. I was amazed that it took my 76 year old mother visiting for me to finally set up the miniPong table inside.
We had some fun!
This 2 minute video captures some of the October snow, a little miniPong and some action at our neighbourhood pub, The Last Straw. The wonderfully talented Tim Tamashiro sings as he hosted an annual fundraiser for the Calgary Food Bank.
November provided warm weather and travel for us. Although we were out of the house for half of the month, it made coming home to this sanctuary that much more special. Travelling gave us a refresher and put new perspective into our day to day.
December has brought snow, play, family, friends, and food! Now that January is just around the corner, we are finally actually starting to think about “what’s next” when people ask us. But it is still too soon to know for sure!
We are excited to see what the new year will bring!
And just like that, the summer is gone. Already September and a third through our time here. But boy did we take advantage of it! So many hikes were had and mountains touched. We did a bunch of camping in the forest and along lakes. There was a bountiful harvest of vegetables to be picked (and counting) and hot, sunny BBQ days enjoyed on the balcony with friends. Everything you could ask for in a summer. Not a moment to spare.
Bill and Keoma even joined us for some of it! It was wonderful to reunite once again and hear in person the stories and experiences they have had. Tony and I laugh with glee in excitement of how traveling is changing their perspectives of the world and of themselves! What an adventure! Tony remembers fondly offering to Bill, “Make yourself at home, in your own home.”
As Fall approaches here in Calgary (a bit too soon) we look forward to cozying up in front of the fireplace and enjoying the house in ways we haven’t yet.
The above video chronicles a few months of house-sitting in Tuscany, Calgary. As you will see, the garden is the star of the show and we even got a couple visits from the home owners, Keoma and Bill.
Nothing says suburbia like a freshly cut lawn. Now Tony and I don’t mind cutting the lawn, but gasoline mowers really put me off. It’s hot, the fumes are blowing in your face, and it’s noisy. Not to mention, this property is on a hill and we have to maneuver the mower up and around the house to the front yard.
Therefore, we invested in a push mower! Yes! It is perfect for the little grass that is here. As you can see we were pretty excited to try it out.
renee
Indeed the little things in life can either make or break your day. We are finding that living in this situation is both comfortable and interesting.
It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to live in someone else’s fully furnished, beautiful home so why not make the most of it?
A summer BBQ
I feel that Renee and I are enjoying ourselves to the fullest and making the place our own. We’ve greatly enjoyed seeing the garden grow and being in this part of the city has been a new type of adventure for us.
A very quite adventure…
No kidding. Many times we have questioned if we are actually in some kind of TV set. This is because we almost never see neighbours in the yards behind this home. And that’s so hard to understand because this area is so beautiful. I mean, mountains! The view of the mountains is enough to get me outside every morning – even if it’s raining! Not to mention this neighbourhood of Tuscany has so many walking / cycling paths to enjoy the scenery with.
The garden after 6 weeks
So this new, but quiet adventure in suburbia is developing quite nicely and we are taking good care of the lawn and the garden. There have been many laughs and BBQ’s thus far and I have no doubt that many more will come.
Hi everyone! It has been quite a long time since we last checked in for which there are some reasons that we won’t go into here. Let’s just say that after a brief hiatus from the itinerary by Keoma, we are back online, so buckle your safety belts by inserting the flat part into the metal fitting, tighten them snugly around your hips by pulling on the strap, and let’s go.
We last left you as we were steaming away from the beautiful islands of Haida Gwaii in the comfort of our BC Ferries cabin and heading back to Prince Rupert to return to the mainland and our northward trek. As we were sitting in the ferry line up in Skidegate on Haida Gwaii we noted a significant number of passengers that were boarding with coolers laden with freshly caught fish. Like, a lot of coolers. One couple had about four of them. Being that the chinook/king/spring salmon fishery is pretty much closed, we were most curious as to the species of the cooler dwellers that were making their way to people’s freezers on the mainland. As luck would have it, our curiosity was partly satisfied as we struck up a conversation with the couple next to us over some surprisingly good eggs benedict from the ferry’s commissary. Mmmm….drooling thinking about eggs benedict now. Ahem. Back to the thread of the story. Our table neighbours from the Prince George area (which were the ones that we noted had the numerous coolers) were returning with halibut, coho/silver salmon and ling cod and Bill was jealous.
All of this talk of fishing sparked a hankering for some good seafood chowder so after washing a couple of loads of laundry back on dry land and some asking of questions we set out to find Dolly’s Fish Market in Prince Rupert which was rumoured to be the place of choice for chowder. The really good news is that it has rightfully earned its reputation. More than once we have found that places (wineries and restaurants for the most part) that are highly recommended don’t always live up to expectations and we leave feeling a bit “meh”. Dolly’s was not that place. Bill had a smoked halibut seafood chowder and Keoma had a halibut sandwich and both were off the charts. As we were waiting for our food to come, Bill wandered into the fish shop side of things to check out their offerings and he ran into 4 fellows that he knows from his previous work in Calgary, Weird, right? Of all the fish shops in all the world…Afterwards, we wandered around the shops in the pier area and picked up a fantastic turned birch wooden bowl by a local artist for a hugely bargain price. We spotted similar bowls for four times that price later in the trip. Why would one buy a wooden bowl when one is traveling around with their life in a trailer? Because one needs some place to store their fruit in an artful way, that’s why.
Fish Butchering Machine which replaced hundreds of workers back in the day.Spool o’ fishing net.A fishing boat that crews spent, honestly, multiple days in on the ocean.
We probably could have used one less day in Prince Rupert, but when Keoma was booking our RV spot she anticipated that we would need a break between Haida Gwaii and the road in order to get re-organized. That break wasn’t really needed, but we took advantage of it by going out into the rain and heading to the North Pacific Cannery National Historic Site to learn about that vital cog in the British Columbia and coastal economic wheel – the catching and canning of salmon. From 1889 to 1981 the North Pacific Cannery, operated by different companies at different times, accounted for more than 25 percent of BC’s salmon pack and was the largest packer of sockeye salmon in the world. The site has both preserved buildings such as the net loft where First Nations women and children created and mended fishing nets to recreated residences where families would spend the season together working at different jobs in the plant. Bill was intrigued by the mechanical operations including the canning line and fishing methods and Keoma was fascinated by the social structure of the temporary community that was segregated into housing and work for their different cultures. Great way to spend a wet afternoon so long as one is dressed for the weather.
Touristing around Prince Rupert complete, we hit the road to head to the north country. After a brief stop at Canadian Tire in Terrace to pick up a compact air compressor to keep the trailer tires inflated to a legal level and for Bill to pick up some fishing paraphernalia not found back in Calgary we headed north on the Cassiar Highway. This particular stretch of road is a cut off highway to make getting to the Alaska Highway more accessible from the west coast. Our friends from the ferry had suggested that we detour off of the main drag to go 65 Km west to Stewart / Hyder due to the scenery of the drive and the view of the Salmon Glacier. We decided that we would give it a go. The initial plan was to stay in a campground on the Cassiar Highway, but with plenty of daylight and still some driving energy left, Bill suggested that we head right to Stewart and see what we see and if we didn’t like it we could head back out to the initially planned campground. We stayed for two nights in Stewart. Stewart and Hyder are what you might call sister communities that straddle the British Columbia and Alaska border at the end of that previously mentioned 65 Km road and at the head of a 33 Km fjord called the Portland Canal. It seems like it may be inland, however it is most definitely tidal. The slopes on the drive in are so steep that there are 72 avalanche runs. 72 AVALANCHE RUNS IN 65 KM! There is a reason that many of the folks that we talked to love it there, but beetle out for the winter. We cannot extol enough about the absolutely breathtaking scenery of both the drive in and the location of the town(s).
Casper and Clark catching a glimpse of the beautiful and accessible Bear Glacier.
Literally steal your breath breathtaking. We pulled over and oohed and aahed at the Bear Glacier that was just along the side of the road because it was beautiful and accessible.
Bill the Photographer at work.
This accessible point is important for later on in the Stewart/Hyder story. We set up camp in a beautiful and mostly deserted RV park and sat and gazed at the wonder around us. Also, it wasn’t raining so yay! The following morning, we called a small tour operator and fishing charter company called Wild Northern Adventures to see if they were running any tours that day and low and behold, they told us to meet them at their dock at 11:00 AM.
Seals trying to sun themselves on an overcast day in the Portland Canal.
And do you know what? It was just Bill and I on the boat named Micah, with our captain and the boat’s owner Shawn. We really REALLY love having things to ourselves so we were practically giddy. Shawn toured us around the Portland Canal for about three hours telling us stories about the area and about the time he had a group of company executives out fishing and they came across a sow grizzly with two cubs about to have a run in with a male and after watching the situation develop for 50 minutes the fishermen decided they wanted to fish and not watch Wild Kingdom play out. This had happened a couple of years ago and Shawn was still incredulous at their decision to leave the grizzly action. We didn’t spot any bears, but we saw a ridiculous number of eagles and about 30 seals which made us pretty happy.
After our boat tour, we took to the road and decided that we would try the highly touted halibut and chips at ‘The Bus’ on the Hyder, Alaska side of things. See the Featured Image of this post. No passport needed to get there, but one was needed to get back to the Canadian side, so if you ever go – bring your passport. The fish and chips were made in an old school bus that was gutted and had a commercial kitchen installed inside. The owner was having trouble getting in and out as the door was still smashed from when the bears got in last summer and made a giant mess. She categorized the losses of food including all of the fish, the deep fryer grease and rounded the list out with “and six cake mixes” which seemed to miff her the most of all. Whatever the damage done, the food was really yummy and really fresh. It was fun to just sit outside and enjoy its historical significance as a food truck for Hollywood actors during filming of such shows as The Thing, Insomnia and Eight Below (plus others not appearing here). As we ate we decided that we would drive up to the Salmon Glacier to partake in the scenery that we had been hearing about from a few different people. The road is described as a service road and the glacier is at the top of it at mile 37.
Hello from the Salmon Glacier Road – pre-vertigo.
Well, Here’s the thing. It is indeed a service road, however what we failed to discern from descriptions of the drive is that it is a very winding single lane gravel road without guard rails that services precariously positioned mine sites at the tops of mountains.
Vertigo began to set in at about mile 31 and we found ourselves physically leaning our bodies into the mountain and not able to actually look out over the valley floor and glacier that we were approaching. Our peripheral vision told us that it was likely a stunning vista. After twice rounding turns and having to skirt rock slides by driving with two wheels over the edge of the mountain and running into snow deep enough to warrant four-wheel drive on Casper, we agreed that we’d had enough splendour and it was time to head back down using a 77 point turn.
What we could see of the magnificent Salmon Glacier.
The upside is that we saw two grizzly bears on the road back down. Crazy buggers.
We capped off our stay in Stewart with a visit to the small but wonderful Stewart Museum. There Bill peppered the lovely curator with questions about mining in the area and she was very, very up to the challenge. She was a smart cookie but looked upon us with disdain because we didn’t go all the way up to the top of Salmon Glacier. We were pretty ok with underachieving.
Keoma planning the next steps.
Back to the Cassiar Highway and the continuation of our re-enactment of Johnny Horton’s North to Alaska we hit the road and headed for our next stop for the night at Dease Lake, BC.
On our way through, we made a stop at Jade City where they mine, craft and sell relatively rare jade and act as central point for the TV Discovery Channel series Jade Fever . Some of the works were very impressive so we left with a tiny jade bear with a tiny jade salmon in it’s mouth. We made it to our next campground which is called Waters Edge because it sits right on the shore of twenty-mile-long Dease Lake and though it didn’t have water hookups or potable water on-site, it had a boat launch. Due to that boat launch we spent two nights enjoying it and were able to get the kayaks wet with a four hour paddle up and down the shore. Bill set up his fishing rig to troll for lake trout, Keoma tried to tag along as the photo documenter and spotter and…ta dah! Bill’s first fish of the season was caught in the form of a decent sized lake trout.
Bill’s kayak catch.
He had a couple of hits after that, including one that stole both his lure and the weight that went with it which prompted words best not set down in writing. All in all, another very satisfactory surprise.
As we pulled out of Dease Lake, it was Keoma’s turn to learn to drive the unit. It was shortly after that when the road deteriorated to a single lane with no lines, patched with sections of mud and gravel, vehicle eating pot holes and with a twisting and winding grade so steep that one semi-truck was lying in a recent heap crashed onto its side at the bottom of one particularly nasty hill. More words followed and then Bill noticed in the rear-view mirror that the wheels on the rear RV trailer axle had an unusual camber to them that clearly should not be there. We pulled over, the unit was inspected and the results were not good.
The sad faced shaped axle that should be a happy face.
This time, there were no words. There was a whole 90 minutes of angry no words as Bill re assumed the helm and we sweated and worried, and limped into Whitehorse. Once we were arrived at our reserved RV Park, we were able to determine that indeed the axle was bent and indeed both back tires had worn badly on the inside rim as a result.
We used a lifeline and garnered the help of a friend via text (you know who you are) for helpful suggestions and a course of action was determined for the morning. We limped the unit back out of the RV Park which was really a shame as Bill had performed a nearly impossible park job to get into our site and we hit Fireweed RV Repair . Diagnosis? Badly bent rear axle. Prescription? Park the unit in the spot beside the shop with full electrical, water and sewer hook ups and they would put it up on blocks to remove the wheels and axles to be replaced with new heartier manufactured axles (sched 80 rather than sched 40 in-kind steel axle replacements – yep both).
Okey Dokey then. Will do. Not the most picturesque camp site that we have run across, but we were relieved to have the fix underway.
If you look carefully, you can see a Yukon style inukshuk holding Clark up.
Ditching the problem child, we unhitched the truck and went to the McBride Museum in Whitehorse and spent the afternoon feeling a little chagrined about our “problems” as we learned about a surveyor who came west a hundred and fifty years ago and, on foot and horseback, surveyed the Yukon Territory and much of Alaska and the state of Washington sporting a painful spinal deformity and physical condition that made it difficult for him to even get around. Right. Puts things in perspective.
We also saw the cabin of Sam McGee (from the poem by Robert Service – The Cremation of Sam McGee) who was not in fact from Tennessee and who was in fact very much alive for years following the writing of the poem.
Critters of the McBride Museum of Whitehorse.Restaurant in a trappers tent.
They had a taxidermy diorama of all northern animals and large birds plus a whole floor on the building of the engineering marvel that is the Alaska Highway by the US Army Corps of Engineers. We knew bits and pieces about it, but wow. Just wow.
Alaska Highway (formerly Al-Can Highway by the numbers.
It was an absolutely stunning museum. We spent hours there. On to dinner at a restaurant that was featured on You Gotta Eat Here! for some namesake Klondike Salmon and Ribs. Bill said that the salmon was exceptional and the portions were huge. We didn’t have room for dessert which was unfortunate as thinking about how that bread pudding looked is causing regret.
Bill’s Salmon and Rib Plate.
After our first night at camp “RV on Blocks” Bill had to take Keoma to the airport to catch a flight due to a family emergency and that is where we leave you for now. Bill will pick up the thread and tell you all about his solo week on the road including the continuation of his quest to golf in every province, territory and state that we pass through.
Until then, we bid you adieu and we thank you for taking the time to share in our adventures.
Keoma, remember back in January when you were trying to convince us to house-sit for you? You teased and inserted thoughts about having a garden and access to the mountains. So enticing. Well…you were right! The house is beautiful and more than comfortable. The vegetable garden is wonderful! We planted zucchini, squash, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, kale, cucumber, peppers, onion and beets! (I know you said the mice have gotten the beets in the past but we wanted to go for it and see what happens). I love seeing the plants progress! They are looking great. And, the mountains! I love having the mountains so accessible to me. Due to this, I have made a goal to get out to the mountains every week for this summer. So far I am succeeding! So in saying this, we have been house-sitting for a month now. With the routine of work, play, and rest, it has gone by quickly.
But! Dare I say, I have noticed this all too familiar feeling once again inside of me. A yearning, a pull, a desire to be free and on the road once again. Well…I lasted for about a month. There really is nothing quite like being on the road, living day to day, and seeing new places. So, alas, we headed out camping for the weekend to celebrate our one month anniversary, house-sitting! Away from our home, all the people (or lack their of, where are all the people in this neighbourhood), the city, and out into the wilderness. Ahhh, sweet escape. But it sure is nice to come home to this house at the end of day. I wonder if you two have already begun missing your home yet.
renee
Another beautiful lake
Peyto Lake
Abraham Lake Breakfast
This has been such a wonderful adventure so far. It’s hard for me to believe that the first month of 12 is already gone. It is true that time flies when you are having fun.
Everything has been even better than we could have imagined. The neighbourhood is quiet (the small barking dog when we moved in has either moved or gone mute); The neighbours are friendly as we’ve met them on both sides; and the kitchen is amazing. That seems to be where we have been spending most of our time as we both eat about our body weight in meals together each evening.
Sure, there have been some small damages in the place, but hey, that’s normal right? A piece of the lawnmower came off, a toilet seat came unhinged and there are a couple other treasures to speak of but nothing major. Nothing to worry about.
So we did get out after a month, but we are back home now and very much looking forward to the adventures that the next 11 months bring.
Indeed the one month celebration in the mountains was stunning but as Renee mentioned above, it is so lovely to have a comfortable place to come back to.
What better way to celebrate moving into a beautiful home for the next year, paying no rent, and indulging in the life of suburbia then by throwing a housewarming party! While it took some time to adjust, I can now say it feels like our home. Having our friends over was an important step in acknowledging the adventure we have taken on, and it was time to share it with the people we love. The little finishing touches are coming together around the house as well which is making it feel like home.
(Disclosure: This is an inside joke. No kegger was actually had. Though don’t kid yourself, alcohol was involved.)
However, there is one little (big) detail I cannot get past which has brought me more stress than needed. WHITE. CARPET. That’s right. Now I don’t know if this was part of the house when purchased – which I’m assuming it was – but who in their right mind puts in white carpet? I mean, you’re just asking for it. Everyday, I come home from work (landscaping) usually covered in dirt and I dread walking over that carpet to get to the shower. And, when throwing a party…let’s just say I was a bit paranoid during the evening.
But all was well and joyous. Friends left giddy (and maybe a bit jealous), carpets remained white, and two housesitters were content and happy.
Our last post started with us thanking Tony for saving our home from a fire and left off with us heading to the beautifully rugged islands of Haida Gwaii. How lucky are we?
Haida Gwaii is a storm battered, moss covered archipelago of 150 islands located 93 nautical miles due west of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. At this time of year, Haida Gwaii is accessible either by plane or by a twice weekly ferry from the Port of Prince Rupert, which is the option that we chose to take. Upon leaving the port we got a good feel for the amount of business passing through this terminal as we watched a large cargo container ship unload and also viewed the under-construction Altagas Propane Export Terminal which made Bill’s heart go pitter patter.
Container Ship Being Un-loaded at Port of Prince Rupert.Altagas Propane Export Terminal Under Construction at Port of Prince Rupert.
Evidence suggests that First Nations people have inhabited the Haida Gwaii islands for 14,000 years so you can bet that at times you can feel the history and believe in the myths that permeate the islands, peoples and way of life. We wanted to experience everything that Haida Gwaii offered including the journey to get there. At this time, we should include full disclosure by telling you that Clark did NOT accompany us to Haida Gwaii due to the fact that we don’t have a first born to sell to include Clark in this particular venture. We arrived at the ferry dock in Prince Rupert, pre-booked three months ago reservation in hand, about fifteen minutes prior to when we were supposed to (which was two hours prior to our 2:30 PM departure) along with many other keeners. When a ferry happens only twice a week, you can bet that there are keeners. We visited with other folks that were waiting until loading, people watched and speculated about their stories and tried to quantify the difficulty of driving and handling certain vehicles that were parked in the line ups. As far as people watching, this is pretty first-rate stuff for killing a couple of hours. Loading of the vehicles and walk-ons (bike-ons in our friend from Ontario’s case) eventually commenced, but things had the appearance of being a bit, well, haphazard. In the end, under the direction of BC ferry dockhands, Bill had to back the truck down the loading ramp, and into our spot on the ferry car deck. The BC Ferries fellow directing him clearly knew EXACTLY how many of what vehicles would fit by the hair of their chinny chin chins because Keoma had to climb into the back seat and up through the front seats to get back in when we disembarked. After a two and a half hour delay we were delighted to finally be on our way and we spent the seven hour journey watching for whales (none) and then retreating to our pre-booked ocean view cabin to read, blog, and almost have a little snooze for the ocean passage. Having the cabin was saweeeet!
Despite departing two and a half hours late, by some miracle of the power of ramped up diesel engines of the BC ferry and favorable ocean currents, we arrived only an hour late with our captain shaving our original journey time of seven hours to five hours and fifty minutes. We were duly impressed, and even more so when we were able to drive straight off of the ferry, fifth in line while everyone else that had driven on forward was going to have to back off of the thing. We were positively giddy about that and grinned smugly and chuckled right out loud the entire four-kilometre trip from the ferry terminal to our hotel in Queen Charlotte City. We checked in and after unpacking some of our kit we hit the hay.
A view of Haida Museum and Interpretive Centre from the ferry.
The following morning, we rose bright and early with the sun and gazed out upon our ocean view in wonder. The forecast for the three days that we were to be here had been for rain and cold, but suddenly the view made all of that not matter a damn. The tops of the islands were wreathed in mist, the waters of the Bay were calm and the village of Queen Charlotte City quietly stirred to life. We could not have been more delighted. Our original plan was to try to find a place to kayak right away however the cool weather and predicted rains had us, on the advice of the nice lady at the Information Centre, (starting to love these places a lot) heading out to the Haida Gwaii Museum and Heritage Centre . The museum sits on the original site of an old village at Kay LLangaay and is built to resemble the long houses that would have greeted visitors, traders and other first nations arriving from the coast. While we were there, a pod of Gray Whales were snacking on tasty sea creature treats and scratching their bellies on the eel grass in front.
We saw a pod of Gray Whales enjoying the local eel grass.
We were extremely fortunate to have a chance encounter with the Manager of Collections of the museum, Sean, after he spotted Bill trying to figure out the mechanics of the lid and hinges of a bentwood mortuary box. He spent about 35 minutes with us sharing both his connections with the land as an archaeologist, a former logger, the son of a chief, a watchman in the Gwaii Haanas Reserve and a tour guide for the tour that we were going on the following day across the island to the West for a visit to an ancient village (the tour got cancelled due to high winds and inclement weather – something in there about risks to passenger safety and comfort). He also took the time to tell us about a button blanket featuring a double headed eagle in their collection that had originally been gifted to Pierre E. Trudeau by clan elders when he attended the original museum’s opening in 1976. Upon meeting Mr. Trudeau, the gifters of the blanket re-assessed the situation and advised him that he was not, in fact, an eagle but rather a raven because as a politician his natural state was to be a trickster and shifty. They gave him a raven button blanket instead, and Mr. Trudeau in turn donated the original double eagle blanket to the museum. There is no photo of it here as photos were verboten on the premises but we greatly enjoyed the story and the time spent with Sean. By the time we finished all of the exhibits, our brains were full and we were a bit overwhelmed. So. What to do? Hang around for another hour to get the totem tour of the seven totems and three warrior canoes on the site. That’s what. We crammed more knowledge in about the meanings of animals appearing on totems along with the stories behind them and left completely exhausted but oh so much smarter. After a brief rest, we headed to the local pub for a surprisingly good seafood dinner for such an establishment and back to the motel for bed because we are old and lame.
No tour today. Needed a new agenda item. We decided to do the hike up the Tlell River to the ship wreck site of the Pesuta that we had been planning to do the following day followed by a drive up the island to visit the communities of Masset and Old Masset with the added bonus of Agate Beach along the northern coast.
Keoma enjoying the dapples of sunshine in the old growth forest.
The Pesuta was a 264 foot log carrier that ran aground on East Beach in 1928. No souls were lost. In the spirit of being early recyclers, the residents along the coast used the wreck contents for building supplies. There are a lot of wooden structures on this island. Just sayin’. The hike took us through a beautiful old growth coastal forest and dropped down to follow along a tidal river that becomes impassable at high tide.
Bill pondering the 1928 Pesuta Wreck and the waters that brought her.
Needless to say, we were checking our watches fairly carefully inbound in order not to get caught stranded by high tides. The inlet was still emptying when we were on our way out so we could say that perhaps Keoma’s panic was for naught. The sun was shining when we hiked out to the exposed beach and the wreck site and though we had the place to ourselves when we arrived, clam diggers on quads began to arrive to reap the benefits of low tide. They were still looking when we left so we thinks no clams for dinner for those guys. We rested our legs on the 90 km coastal drive up to Massett and Old Massett where there are about 16 totems to decipher and ogle. We spied a couple, however there appeared to be a public gathering happening in response to a community tragedy so with respect, we withdrew from town and continued up the coast to see what else we could see towards the northern tip. We could almost see Alaska, that’s what we could see. We also saw some of the most beautiful rugged beaches that we have ever run across and decided that if we ever return we would camp at the campground along Agate Beach where we strolled along looking for, well, agates. It was bracing and beautiful and we loved it. Highly recommend heading up there, even just to have a sandwich and gaze upon the wondrous ocean. After being dazzled, we headed back to our motel and strolled across the street to one of the three Chinese/Canadian Cuisine restaurants that service this town of 850 people. We chose the one that we could see had a steady stream of traffic and customers even after they closed. It was tasty and we had leftovers too. Good times. And….then guess what? We retired. Because we’re old.
Boats fulfilling their destiny.
We were up bright and early the next morning for breakfast next door and (insert squeal of delight here) we got to go sea kayaking! We headed to the boat launch and after some fiddling and futzing we launched and were oh so very very happy. The seas were calm and we paddled out to a couple of islands that we could see from our motel balcony for some whale watching (none) and star fish gazing. We rounded a spit and came upon a fellow that was out in his canoe clamming. Twice when he turned his back we saw clams spit which is something that neither of us had ever witnessed. They spit about 18 inches into the air! That is a lot of propulsion for such a small buried in the sand critter. It was very cool and we smiled smugly as we paddled away and didn’t tell the guy because…well…we didn’t want to.
Bill’s paddling technique on display.
Several star fishes and a crab later, we headed back to the boat launch before we would have to fight the change in currents when the bay would fill from the next tide. The timing was perfect as it began to rain as we loaded up and then it cleared again when we returned to the motel for leftover Chinese food on our balcony with an afternoon glass of wine.
Happy Happy Happy
Haida Gwaii has been a fantastic experience and we have both decided that we would definitely return. Folks are friendly, and the scenery is incredible. Haawa for the memories.
We have officially completed two full weeks on the road! Exploring north America in the style we are using with the combination of Casper and Clark does involve a learning curve in terms of organization, packing LOTS of kit within tight spaces, and being efficient in terms of travel and mobility. We have come to learn that getting acquainted with the use of an RV is not unlike the process of training a new puppy. It whines at untimely times, doesn’t listen very good, chews on prized footwear, makes messes that must be cleaned up, but gosh darnit – hard not to love her as she sits there affectionately seeking your approval(?).
Our last post left off with us in the sunny and hot Okanagan. 32 degree’s baby! Oooohhh…the days of turning on the air conditioner and sweating through our shirts. Fond memories of those days. Good times. Kelowna as a destination was a key decision in our plan making. The purpose of said destination was to (a) pick up some wine and bask in the sun, (b) visit the awesome Schermann double cousins and (c) get acquainted with Clark in an RV friendly environment where there was a large population base and service shops should we need to do some tweaking to the unit. Best decision ever. Somewhere safe and warm to get to know our new friend. And yes, some tweaking was in fact needed. More on that in a future blog.
Bill has a rest on his bicycle with a large trestle in the background to admire.
We completed a bicycle ride on the Kettle Valley Myra Canyon bicycle trail upon trusted steeds: our two foldable bicycles – a 20 speed Tern Verge with thudbuster seat post shock absorber (Bill’s) and an 18 speed Dahon Formula bicycle with fat tires (Keoma’s). Fantastic mounts who punched well over their weight.
Our Trusty Steeds take a well deserved break.
Anyhoo, the 24 kilometre section that we rode crossed 18 railway trestles bridges– some large and some small – and went through two tunnels. An engineering marvel really and the payoff views overlooking the lakes, mountains and town site of Kelowna was spectacular. We encourage you to follow the included link to learn more about the history of the railway, and the volunteers that have worked tirelessly to restore and recreate a truly wonderful piece of history as a gift to the community. Neither fire nor flood has stopped them. Thank you to the Kettle Valley Railway volunteers for the great day. Word to the wise – we used our 4×4 to get up the old logging service road to the trail head. That being said, the road conditions didn’t seem to stop several carloads of young ladies riding up in their compact cars, launching from one rut to the next, driving at the speed of light as if the trail was going to vaporize before their arrival – or the bush party might start without them. Hilarious!
Following up the great cycling, Bill spent the next day losing money on the golf course in his first game of the year with Keoma’s cousin Denis and his golf buddies. Keoma spent the day enjoying the waterfront and Kelowna downtown with Pat. For more cousin fun, the whole of one of Keoma’s cousin families gathered together (all six of them with their six partners and spouses) for a buffet dinner…because nothing says Schermann like a room full of food from end to end. Huge thanks to everyone for a great day! Also, thanks to Carol for pointing out that we don’t have a trailer. We have a camper. Henceforth we will work to amend our vocabulary.
In the following days, we packed up and waved goodbye to the lovely Apple Valley Orchard and began our northward journey towards the rugged and wilder land of miner 49ers, lumberjacks and pulp mills. The hot weather continued through the drive via Kamloops as we made our way to Green Lake Provincial Park for a peaceful evening of campfires and maybe take in a morning of kayaking on quiet, still, lake waters. Wait…was that the sound of a needle screeching across a vinyl record? Yes it was. After driving 30 km off the main highway to a secluded, peaceful, and quiet campground the damn mosquitos came at us like the walking dead.
These mosquitos are hanging out on the screen planning our demise.
Relentless, hungry, and big! We sheltered inside and watched the beautiful evening sunset on the lake from the safety of Clark – while hearing the melodic drone of mossies. Sons o so-and-so’s. We did get to see our third bear when we were pulling out which was a bonus.
Moving along, the next morning we left the mosquito’s behind as we headed deep into the remote BC Cariboo mountain range towards the historic gold rush town of Barkerville. On the advice of Bruce at our Kelowna campground, we pulled into the Quesnel Visitor Information Centre and Museum and were very pleasantly surprised. Despite having to remove some of their exhibits due to the risk of damage as the result of parking lot construction (a piece fell off of the wall while we were there as a result of the pavement compacting) they had a fantastic collection from the Cariboo region and Quesnel proper. If you are heading through, pop in and stretch your legs and your mind for a couple of hours. We loved it.
Keoma poses at the sign entrance marking museum nerd giddyness.Definitely the right time to come. We almost had the place to ourselves.
Which segues nicely to Barkerville. Welcome to the time period spanning 1862 to the 1930’s!
What an impressive place – museums, gold rush period actors, geology lessons, hands on gold panning, live saloon musical entertainment, courthouse re-enactments from the early days of the colony of Ruperts Land and a real Cornish Waterwheel operation demonstration where we were treated to the Tim Conway-ish performance of the foul mouthed, rather perverted, and strangely brilliant prospector, Mr. Grimsby.
Mr. Grimsby prepares to wow the “German Bankers”.Mr. Grimsby displays “thrust” action to the ladies.
We would pay the price of admission just to see him again, he was that entertaining. Absolutely unexpected and hilarious. As a bonus, our trip has been paid for by the results of Keoma’s gold panning expertise – a paltry amount compared to the five million ounces that have been recovered from the region since the first strike in 1862.
Keoma learns the trade to bring home the bacon.
Really gave us an appreciation for the strength, perseverance and hard
work demonstrated by the early explorers, settlers, railroad builders, commissioners, and gold seekers within the rugged BC backcountry.
And then the rain came. Not in a “rainmaker” making money kind of way. It just plain old rained and the temperature dropped to freezing. When we originally arrived at the campground we had raised our eyebrows at the “don’t turn off the water tap or it will freeze” sign. Suddenly it all made sense. Needless to say, our big plan of putting the kayaks in the water for a turn about Bowron lake was aborted. Instead we thought we would putter around the artsy town of Wells for the afternoon. Following a foray into the General Store where we received muted grunts in response to our query regarding hiking trails, and the only meat that we could procure was salted beef and pepperoni sticks that may or may not have come out of the owner’s personal stock, we agreed to pull up stakes a day early and make our way out of the Quesnel region and onto Prince George.
After a surprisingly quiet night in P.G. despite the whole campground being full of tree planters, we woke to the refreshing and energizing odor of many trailers in close confines all doing a Cousin Eddie, minus the goofy hat. And moving on…
Hello Smithers and your wonderfully run, blindingly clean, pathway riddled Municipal Campground.
Our Tree Friends welcoming the first blue sky in a while.
It’s a lovely lovely town and we highly recommend a stop there. Keoma chatted with the campground attendant and learned that she was a foster child, had 24 foster children herself along with two biological children and that she works security in remote oil camps which made the pieces fall into place about how well run the campground was. She brooked no B.S. None. She also shared a sad and tragic story about the Prince George campground owner that Keoma had worked so hard to make smile and now she is really happy that she put forth the effort. Thanks Smithers campground lady!
Bill checks out the blown out Bulkley River and feels sad.
Due to the spring runoff the local rivers were blown-out for what otherwise is world class fly fishing. Bill was sad.
The push to Haida Gwaii took us through Prince Rupert and another chilly evening. Here we had our first campfire of the trip. It was sublime. But. All good things must end. In a panic to make sure that we had a place in Prince Rupert to store our trailer while we ferry’ed over to the islands of Haida Gwaii, we roared into town the following morning with Bill still in his jammie pants and the jacks dragging behind. That might be an exaggeration. The jacks were up.
Bill struck up a conversation with a gentleman from Ontario that was tenting near us and was cycling from Whitehorse to Prince Rupert but had to hop on the Greyhound as he was free camping and saw seven bears in three days. He is on the ferry that we are currently on to Haida Gwaii. Enough bears for him. This afternoon gained us another chance for a walk and a coveted dinner out. We made our way into downtown Prince Rupert via a trail through an old growth forest and had a tablecloth dinner at a family owned ocean front Italian restaurant called La Gondola which has been operating since 1969. Right next door to it is a drive-in restaurant of the same name which was the original restaurant. The décor in the part of the dining room that we were in was “fancy restaurant 1975” and was unintentionally kitschy and fantastic. The owner took care of us and told us the story of his dad, the land and the buildings and we had a great time.
Segue to the ferry trip to Haida Gwaii and where we will leave you for today.
We are going to continue on our quest, to experience Canada, to talk to strangers and share our stories and theirs with you.
There are two important lessons that we have learned so far:
There is a Canadian Tire nearly everywhere and thank God for that;
Strangers are pretty ok. Mostly they are weird like us.
Our second week of housesitting was uneventful for the most part and also wonderful. This home is beautiful and the views of the mountains are inspiring.
As this video explains, there was a potentially dangerous situation that was avoided. Despite this, all is very well and we are settling in comfortably.
Well, the first week, to say the least, has felt surreal. I can’t believe we will be living in this beautiful home for the next year! We are going to be more than comfortable living in this three bedroom, three bathroom, two living room(plus kitchen and office) – home with a garden and a yard. Not to mention the incredible view of the mountains that you can see from any west facing side of the house. What a tease as we lie there in bed.
As I unpacked my one duffle bag (which is my whole wardrobe) – that I’d been living out of for last three weeks – into the lovely spacious drawers, I felt more settled. After a couple of days, I felt more familiar with the space. Especially the kitchen. But the appliances! So many appliances (that I didn’t even know existed) live in this house! Bill, Keoma…How? Why? My minimalist brain questions their uses and purpose in life.
Overall, it feels so nice to be in one place. Knowing that we will be here, bunkering down for a year is relieving and comforting. After travelling this past year, it’s an incredible feeling to know you have a place to go where you can cook and store food in a fridge, or shower and wash your clothes whenever you want. These little things are much appreciated. Although Bill and Keoma are travelling more luxurious than I did on the road, I feel that they will come to appreciate the little things as well. Ahhh…yep. I think I could get used to this…for a while anyways!
renee
May 23, 2018
One week ago Renee and I moved into a house together. As mentioned above, we moved into this beautiful, modern, three bedroom home in Tuscany, Northwest Calgary. Why would we do this when neither of us have lived in suburbia except when with parents? We decided to do this because we were offered an opportunity…
Back in January of this year we were exploring how to do ‘housesitting’. As Renee and I share a passion for travel and random adventures, we were learning about this alternative way of living to see if it would fit for us.
I had set up a profile on housesitter.com and we begin to look at places. Interestingly, we were exploring this living arrangement while staying at the beautiful Bodega Ridge Resort on Galiano Island, British Columbia. Through a sequence of events – that are actually based on a network of friendships – we were doing some temporary work there as part of our holiday in BC. But that’s a different story.
By coincidence, randomness, serendipity or aligned energy, at the same time that we were looking into housesitting, a text message came through for Renee from a close friend of hers. It was Keoma.
Knowing that we were looking for a place in Calgary, she asked,“How long are you looking to rent for? We were thinking of asking you to house-sit for us.”
We initially dismissed this idea as neither of us wanted to move to Tuscany, their place wouldn’t be available until May, and we needed a place in February. It didn’t make sense to us at the time.
Even though we thought the timing was a little off the more we thought about this, as well as the more convincing and her convincing text messages that came from Keoma, we started to think that it might be a good option for us.
So we said, “Yes”.
After all, who wouldn’t want to live rent free for a year? Pictured here in April, we enjoyed a meal together to confirm in all of our minds that we were actually going to do this.
Week 1 has been so lovely. The house is very comfortable and was left museum-level clean for us. If there’s one complaint that I could share it’s that I feel perhaps I’m too dirty to live here! But I’m sure we’ll manage that. (They do have 2 waterfall showers after all).
Gazing out at that mountain view is something that I cherish greatly already and I don’t expect a day will pass when I don’t enjoy it. This week we also planted the vegetable garden.
Dealing with the security system has been interesting as they can be intense over the loudspeaker when you set it off by accident. We were warned that this would likely happen within the first three days. I managed to last 4 days.
So we welcome this amazing opportunity to save a few bucks while living in comfort and out of our element.
After a two and a half hour delay we were delighted to finally be on our way and we spent the seven hour journey watching for whales (none) and then retreating to our pre-booked ocean view cabin to read, blog, and almost have a little snooze for the ocean passage. Having the cabin was saweeeet!
