Saturday, June 27, 2015

Quadra Island - Rain Day

Hullo... today is looking a bit cloudy but we are game for more adventures... We explored some of the more distant parts of the island... First we drove by Rebecca Spit - cute!

And then ended up on a gravel road... which was beary dusty...

Are we there yet? ***cough-cough***

Oh... look at that - red salmon berries. We saw a BC Hydro guy up in the bucket of his truck crane picking them. We all tasted them and agreed they were "not bad" but had a weird taste.

 Another beach and another huge pile of driftwood!

Oh... look at that one!!!

It's perfect!!! I'll take it...

There were even a few busted sand dollars...

After our beach visit, the rain came in earnest so we went to look at the local First Nations museum - no cameras allowed inside...

But they had some interesting totems out front...

And a seaside pavillion with a few more.

That's a thunderbird (eagle) on top... and I think a person down below... maybe a bear.

 I think the canoe needs to be bailed out.

They also had some petroglyph boulders that had been rescued from the beach - so that the waves don't erode them anymore.

They are much harder to see in the rain without any sun shadows...

Die-hard beachcombers that we are... another visit to a beach was in order. Apparently a pod of whales hangs out around here... but we didn't see any.

But did find somebody's lunch site... those are pretty oyster shells.

We also visited the local lighthouse... (just so Hammie can see that we have some as well!)

It has a pretty Hammie-red top.

Looks like the lighthouse keepers have a nice garden as well. Most of our lighthouses were automated about 10 years ago but a few key ones still have keepers.

And finally... this island is full of foxgloves!!! Growing everywhere along the road sides...

So pretty... and we only have one in our yard... so we rescued a few baby foxgloves - they only bloom in their second year so this way we'll have some that will bloom next year!

Ahhhh... sigh.... what a great holiday. Although I think we could have picked up a bit more driftwood...

8 comments:

  1. Looks like you got some good finds there - hope you took the little wooden "chair"!!

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    1. Oh yes - I love that little chair. I wished that I could have found more pieces for me but... I guess the ones that the humans found are OK for the garden.

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  2. salmon berries! did they taste like salmon? that is surprising that they didn't taste super good.

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    1. Nope... I think they are called salmon berries because of their colour. Bears apparently love them but this little bear didn't like the aftertaste... much prefer blackberries!

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  3. I must say that the foxglove looks amazing. I'm also surprised that you still have manned lighthouses.

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    1. They were truly amazing!! We have one here at home that is over 6 feet tall! Manned lighthouses are a dying breed out here, that's why this one is kind of special. I think it's cause it's such a narrow channel with a lot of traffic. I just looked it up and...
      "Cape Mudge is now high-tech with an automated weather-observing system and a solar-powered light, horn and videograph fog sensor. With all that equipment, the Canadian Coast Guard felt there was no need for human presence at Cape Mudge, and in September 2009, the station was slated to be de-staffed. After protests from keepers and the public, who noted that an automatic sensor can never fully replace a pair of alert eyes on the water provided by a lightkeeper, the de-staffing plans were put off pending further review."

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  4. Those totem poles look amazing! We need one with all the stuffie faces on it. Now, what are you going to do with all that driftwood? Curious minds would like to know...

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    1. Oh that would be beary cool. Most totem poles have animals on them: bears, wolves, frogs, beavers, killer whales, whales, eagles... no hamsters or mice that I know of though.... As for the driftwood... I guess I will have to do a garden tour!

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