The chilly, cool, rainy weather continued over the next couple of weeks for the most part, but at least there is usually a day here and there when the sun makes an appearance.
Speaking of sunshine, it finally showed up on Friday (Mar. 13)...nicer to get out for our morning walk with some blue sky.
We are having a 'date night' tonight, going to a concert at the Sid Williams Theatre. A Creedence Clearwater Revival cover-band, called Completely Creedence Band, is performing. Before the concert, we stopped at the Gladstone Brewery for a brew. It's right across the street from the theatre, so it's very handy for getting an early parking spot too!
The concert was excellent!The lead guitarist (left) has played with The Odds, the drummer (hidden) with David Go Go, and the bass player (right) played with Bachman-Turner Overdrive They are all local boys from Vancouver Island. The projected background pictures were from 1968-1972, the years Creedence Clearwater were together showing cars, bands/concerts, protests, Vietnam, shows, movies, movie stars etc...
Steve put together a 4:24 minute video...a snippet of four songs...
A great concert! The lead singer was really good, very funny, with lots of interaction with his audience.Saturday (Mar. 14) afternoon Dave and Leslie, our friends from Leduc, Alberta, arrived. They have spent the last week at Dave's niece's place in Victoria lending a hand with their property.
We relaxed with a beverage and then decided to get out for a hike since an 'atmospheric river' is forecast to arrive tomorrow. We took them to Seal Bay Regional Nature Park, a new park for them. We walked down to the oceanfront...
Back at our place, they left to check into the hotel and about 40 minutes later, we met them for dinner at the Flying Canoe Pub...which happened to be located in the hotel they are staying at. Unfortunately, not the best picture...Sunday (Mar. 15) morning we picked Dave and Leslie up at 10:00 and since the 'atmospheric river' hadn't arrived yet, we thought we'd try to get a walk in at Nymph Falls Nature Park...
A 23 second video of the falls. In preparation for the atmospheric river and snowmelt they've opened the dam. We've never seen the river this high at this location!
After a great lunch and visit, we thought we'd take a drive to Cumberland and Comox Lake, show Dave and Leslie the area and stop for a beverage at the Cumberland Brewery. Unfortunately they weren't open...there was work being done on the powerlines so we assume no power meant they were closed.
So, back to Courtenay and the Gladstone Brewery for our usual "Sunday Services"...nice having company to join us today!
We played Rummikub before dinner...and then Marbles (aka Aggravation) afterwards....
We had a great evening with the wine flowing freely...they took a taxi back to their hotel shortly before 11:00 p.m. Such a great, albeit, short visit with them...they head back down island tomorrow, and fly home Wednesday. So glad you made time to come up for a visit!
We played Rummikub before dinner...and then Marbles (aka Aggravation) afterwards....
We had a great evening with the wine flowing freely...they took a taxi back to their hotel shortly before 11:00 p.m. Such a great, albeit, short visit with them...they head back down island tomorrow, and fly home Wednesday. So glad you made time to come up for a visit!
Monday (Mar. 16) was another rainy day...and a little "slow". Hmmm...could it be a dash too much wine last night? Nah! LOL
Steve got a shot out our back window of our occasional visitors behind our trailer...
Tuesday (Mar. 17) we were surprised to see the sun...it wasn't forecast to be a sunny day but we'll take it after all of the rain! After our walk at the airpark/riverway path, we went to check on our little trailer...all good there!
Construction on the drainage ditch near the entrance of the park started today...the whole area floods when we have heavy rain. You may recall reading our blog from the end of January about the flooding both here in the park and other nearby areas. New drainage pipes are being put in, especially in the lower campground. Apparently bones were discovered there so work was stopped. As this is First Nations land archeologists were called in. Hopefully they get an answer soon as the lower campground is suppose to open next month. Apparently they also found bones in the upper campground just down the road from us too.
Thursday morning (Mar. 19) and we're back into rain. Don and Rhonda (my brother and SIL) are bringing their vehicle in for a service at the local Ford dealer, so we picked them up just after 10:30 and went to Tim Horton's for coffee. Unfortunately with the rain, we couldn't go for a hike...but we spent a good hour visiting and then dropped them back off at the dealer.
Friday (Mar. 20) we were back into some sun so it was nice to get out for our walk along the river. A group of kayakers were preparing to head out from the marina...
My bucket list trip is a Panama Canal Cruise and this week I have been doing a lot of research. I contacted Nadine and Mike (Steve's sister and BIL) and they were able to give me some great information and advice...after 48 cruises, we figured they were "the experts"! I contacted their travel agent and told her what I was after and she got back to me today. We now have a 23 day cruise booked! We will be taking back-to-back cruises on the Island Princess, from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles (16 days), then LA to Vancouver (7 days). I'm so excited...but it's not until April 2027. I have a whole year to wait! But I'm super stoked!!Saturday (Mar. 21) Earl had asked Steve to give him a hand picking up an oak roll top desk they just purchased so was picked up at 10 and back by 11:30.
After lunch it was time for Steve to take care of some RV maintenance...actually he has managed to cross-off a number of things off his to-do list. While dumping the tanks he noticed the 50 amp male plug on our power cord was cracked and looked a little burnt...yikes! When he tried to pull the plugs apart the yellow one just fell apart and had some moisture in it, and the red wire post was badly corroded. This is the third time in 16 years he's had to replace this plug.
With such a beautiful day and the chores done it was time for our walk along the riverway/airpark. The tide was a long way out...
That evening we enjoyed dinner and rummikub with Earl and Allison at their place...
Always great getting together with them!After a few nice days, we woke up to the sound of rain on the roof Tuesday (Mar. 24)...and it rained and rained all day. A wind has also been issued with winds gusting to 90 km/h (that's 56 miles/hr). I got out for some shopping in the morning and it was darned nasty out there!
Tomorrow we are heading back down island to Rob and Angie's for a few days. Chris, Angela and Isaac arrive there this afternoon for a couple of days before going to stay downtown...it's their little Spring Break getaway! So we have one night together tomorrow...it will be great to be there and have our whole family together. Steve has a dental appointment Thursday to finalize his implant and we have lots of visits planned with family and friends!















What?!?! I did not know that Dave and Leslie were in your area! And why do all your pictures with them include some kind of beer? I get it, Dave is hard to be with and you need to be drunk to tolerate it. That cruise sounds fun, hope you can pull it off!
ReplyDeleteDave and Leslie are definitely a bad influence, especially when a box of wine is involved. ðĪŠ The cruise will be a first for us and Dianne is so excited.
DeleteYou will love your cruise. It's a long wait like us, but will be so worth it.
ReplyDeleteI can hardly wait!!
DeleteMore gorgeous hiking! Love the scenery. Plenty of good friends and good times. Cruise sounds wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI wanted a cruise that either left or arrived in Vancouver. The one leaving wasn't until the fall of 2027... that's waaay too long to wait! It's one of the smaller, older Princess ships but it looks wonderful. ðð
DeleteHi Steve and Diane again, the problem you are having with power cord or dog bone could be related to much of a power draw continuisly, RV wiring is not designed for continued power draw like house wiring. I had the same thing happen on my Cougar 5 th wheel from running a small heater during the winter. Several good you tubes by RV techs about it. Hope all is well with you two. Gary
ReplyDeleteThanks Gary you make a good point as I have been running electric heaters. One is on a dedicated heater outlet installed by an RV tech and the other is on a regular outlet. Cheers!
DeleteIn our defense it is not the first time the wine has "flowed freely" and if I remember correctly it's been at your house not ours lol. Somehow we can blame it all on Jim. He may have a point though...you do drink alot around me haha. It was a great weekend and we really enjoyed getting chauffeured around the area and seeing some really great sights. Nymph Falls was really rolling!
ReplyDeleteGood catch on the RV plug cracking! Add that to the checklist in the future.
Stay thirsty my friends! Cheers
I think you meant to say I drink almost as much when I’m around you Dave. ð It’s always a blast when we get together and we were glad you took the time to come up for a visit during your busy schedule. Cheers!
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