Yesterday DH and I drove over to Nanaimo to visit maryc (Mom). We took her out for lunch at the White Spot, one of my and apparently her favourite restaurants. Mom's plate came heaped high with fish and chips. She couldn't eat it all so I guess we treated her to dinner as well.lol My meat patty was only 1/4 of an inch thick but it was raw looking inside. There were only a couple of mouth fulls left by the time I noticed so I finished the burger. I'm pleased to say I suffered no ill effects from it today. DH generously offered to take us to Mad About Ewe, Nanaimo's local yarn shop. While Mom and I perused the soft fluffyness inside, DH braved the cold, sitting in the car, reading. He was intent on taking us for a drive but he had a particular destination in mind and got thoroughly lost. He stopped at a gas station for directions (only after going round in circles for a while) and we finally arrived at Yellow Point Lodge. DH suggested we stay there for a few days next year and I said, "HELL YA!" No TV. No computers. It looks like a knitting paradise to me.


The Lodge


Path to the lodge


Dinning room


Cabins


Ocean views everywhere you look

Mom gave me a pressy:


Larry the Lama
He looks a little constipated but you would too with a pen shoved up your.....
Mom and I had a very nice time. Even DH admitted he had a nice relaxing day (except for getting lost).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today turned sunny and sort of warm at 14C. I donned a wool pullover and we headed out to Sproat Lake Provincial Park, 15 minutes West of Port Alberni.


DH explains why I need to wait for him here.


Is this calendar quality or what?


Camera's maximum zoom on our famous water bomber, The Flying Tanker, Hawaii Mars.......on the other side of the lake. Big fuzzy yellow blobs are leaves on this side of the lake.


Water is high. You can't tell because of the shadows around this tree but it is actually growing out of the water.


Late afternoon sun shimmering off Sproat Lake.


Late afternoon sun shining through the leaves. It was unbelievably beatiful.


Water bomber base nestled in at the bottom of the hill.


Petroglyph information sign.


Actual photo of the petroglyphs.

It was a gorgeous day. We'd had a lovely 45 minute walk from the car to the petroglyphs and were headed back to the parking lot. I had my eyes focused on the ground in front of me as I have this phobia of slugs and the damp earth brings the big, fat, slimy, camouflage coloured ones out to sun on the path. I can't imagine what I'd do if I inadvertently stepped on one. Anyway, I'm looking at the ground and DH says, "There's a bear." I'm thinking, "Ya, riiiight. Pull the other one." I look up and there he is.



A black bear, fat but young, not a cub but not fully grown. He was on all fours walking in the same direction as us no more than 30 metres away. He looked over his shoulder at us and there we were with no bear spray, no bear bells. I did the only thing I could think of and with my knees knocking I raised my arms and tried to look bigger. It worked. He took off in a lumbering jog down the path but only for a few metres. Then he stopped and looked back at us again. DH and I raised our arms and voices and again he took off down the path. He kept stopping to see if we were still there and I told DH to hold the camera high if we had to jump in the lake. Finally the bear dissappeared around a curve in the path and we practically ran back to the car. DH pointed out it could have been worse. It could have been a cougar. No more nature walks for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. I have the turkey and all the trimmings. I'm even going to bake a pumpkin pie. We will be celebrating on our own as it's our turn to host the kids and grandkids at Christmas this year. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians out there. Don't eat too much.