GOODBYE TO VANCOUVER ISLAND AND HELLO TO SPOKANE

GOODBYE TO VANCOUVER ISLAND AND HELLO TO SPOKANE

What a very full time we had on Vancouver Island and I began to feel the ache of the goodbye as the days counted themselves down.
We spent a final (until next time) day walking and talking and picnicking in Goldstream Park with Bridget and Don, climbing up to a view point, and then even higher to look at the metal rail trestle over the very deep gorge. Up for adventure we daringly walked along the still active rail line to the middle in order to have a good look way down, down, down. The train wasn’t due till 5pm and it was only 4.30, but it did feel cavalier.
We had a couple of final goodbyes with Mike and Janet as we’d delayed our departure by one day. Our 2nd last night was spent with them having dinner at the Waddling Dog and then back to their home for tea.
During our last weekend we maximised our time with Al and Emi as much as we could. On Thursday evening we had a delicious Cajun dinner at the Blue’s Bayou, overlooking the water. They had just returned from 4 days of sea kayaking among the Broken Islands off of Ucluelet and we got to hear all about it and see the pictures. Friday afternoon we spent walking at Royal Roads, and then back to their place for risotto and sole, yummy, and to meet their friends Sandra and Nicole. On Saturday Al joined us for a final trip to one of our favorites, East Sooke. Here Al gave us our first sea-kayaking experience on a smooth and glassy bay, Eric and I in a double kayak and Al in a single one. From there we walked a section of the Galloping Goose Trail through old growth and around a lake. Sunday morning was breakfast at a very busy Lady Marmalade and then goodbye. Al was fitting in a last blast before school began again, and was heading off to do a couple of days climbing with his friend Mark in Strathcona Park.
We spent our very final evening with Emi and surprised Alan when he arrived home exhausted but satisfied. We’d originally planned to leave on Wednesday.

On the 4th of September, exactly 7 weeks after we’d arrived on Vancouver Island, we hitched up the trailer and turned our noses eastward. We took the 2½ hr. ferry trip from Sidney to Anacortes in Washington State. We were into a new state and beginning the 2nd half of our journey.
Our destination was Spokane, Washington to spend the weekend with our friends Colleen and Fred Brenize.
Our drive took us directly south along the highway #5, through the green forested mountainous area, with the Olympic National Park on the west and the Cascade Mountains on the east. We bypassed Seattle and then traveled south westerly through national forests stopping in Ellensburg for the night.
The road between Seattle and Spokane makes a wide bowl shape with Ellensburg more-or-less at the base. Next morning, moving away from the mountains and still traveling west, the road now went somewhat northwards. With that the landscape changed. It became gradually drier and more desert-like, rather like Kamloops, and the day grew hotter. Where the land was flat enough there were grassy fields complete with irrigation systems, otherwise the round pebbly hills were covered with sagebrush.

It was fun to find ourselves in Spokane, something we hadn’t anticipated or expected to do until a week or so before we left Vancouver Island. Colleen and Fred were so welcoming and once again I appreciated a break from trailer life.
Saturday was a beautiful day and Colleen and Fred had planned a day of bike riding for us with their friends Janice and Kevin. We all headed out to bike a section of the Trail of the Coeur d’Elene in northern Idaho. This trail goes along an old rail right-of-way and is a total of 72 miles in length. The section that we rode went across a cleverly constructed bridge that went up in wide steps, reaching a high point so that tall pleasure boats could pass under it, and then down again in wide steps. This makes the pedaling easier, if you’re skilled at changing gears. In this way we crossed a narrow piece of the lake, and then went west along the shore for about 10 miles. We lunched at a little lakeside pub and stopped for ice cream cones at a handy juncture on the return trip. By the time we reached the cars again I was feeling well exercised and a little less wobbly. I hadn’t ridden a bike for many years so it took some getting used to. However I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and am keen to do some more of it.
Kevin and Janice are very special people who went to Zimbabwe with Colleen, Fred and Bryan earlier this year, despite the political chaos and potential danger. They seemed open to the experience and were moved by the desperate situation and the plight of the people trying to cope, as well as appreciating its wonderful aspects.
Sunday included a “from scratch” pancake breakfast, a gentle hike along the river and a walk through a bit of the downtown. We finished off the day with a lively dinner at a restaurant called Twigs. Somehow, not-mentioning-any-names, our server had the impression that it was Eric’s birthday, so his meal included with a birthday treat, a chocolate brownie and cream, on the house, which we all shared, of course.