The first week was pretty routine...nothing special, just our usual morning walks along with errands, shopping, laundry, etc. Weather-wise, it was a mixed bag but mainly cloudy for the most part with a couple of sunny days thrown in. Temperatures were fairly warm.
Sunday (July 5) was actually the sunniest day and hot, with temperatures up to 26C/79F. We decided to go to Brooklyn Creek Park for our walk, taking the trail down to the waterfront. We walked along the waterfront path, and then found a trail taking us back up to the street where our car was parked...
Wednesday (July 8) afternoon as I was leaving the park to go for a haircut appointment, these 2 bucks were wandering through...
Thursday morning (July 9) while walking at the Airpark we noticed a bunch of pigeons hanging out on and around this dilapidated plane...
That afternoon, Steve decided to go through his fishing tackle box to figure out what more he needed...of course, a trip to the fishing store followed. I also purchased my Tidal water fishing licence in preparation for our 2 week camping trip at Cluxewe Campground in a couple of weeks.
The following weekend was much more fun! On Saturday morning (July 11), although much cloudier and cooler, we decided to drive up to Campbell River to check out the chainsaw carvings. Our original plan was to attend the music festival up at Mt. Washington but the forecast was 60% chance of rain. The competition was held June 24 to 28 at Frank James Park at Willow Point, in south Campbell River and the carvings are now on display. Some very talented folks out there!
Looks like the fish has got ahold of the bear instead of the other way around...
This is a great idea along the waterfront trail...water taps to fill up water bottles and provide dogs with a place to pee and drink too...😂
Sunday (July 12) we headed south to Parksville to check out some carvings of a different kind...sand sculptures. The Parksville Beach Festival is in full swing with the Parksville Sand Sculptures Competition.
Unfortunately it not only rained out last night, but some idiots vandalized many of the sculptures, so participants were busy repairing their creations.
This one still appeared damaged...
Steve took a 48 second video of the Parksville Beach...
Again, so many talented people out there! Master sculptors from all around the world apply to participate in Parksville’s annual competition each year. Other than Canadian sculpturers, there were several from the Netherlands, one each from Belgium, the USA, and Australia.
After taking advantage of the "$10 Meal Deal" at Dairy Queen (how can you pass up a cheese burger, fries, drink and mini blizzard for that price?), we decided to go inland and check out Coombs. We started at Coombs Village Shopping Mall. There are a collection of touristy shops...
With the main attraction being the Old Country Market with goats on the roof....
A great day...and weekend!
Monday morning (July 13) we were out just before 7:30 to pick up our little trailer from storage and take it to Courtenay RV Solutions to have the brakes and bearings checked.
After dropping it off we went for a walk at the airpark and saw this float plane taxiing down the river to the inlet where he could take off...
Tuesday morning (July 14) Steve received a call from Courtenay RV Solutions to say the trailer was ready. The brakes and bearings looked good but found the tires had some cracks starting and recommended replacing them sooner than later especially if we are going on a trip.
Steve knew it was time to replace them but was hoping to wait until next year, but decided with that report, we had better do it now. So after picking the trailer up, we headed to Whitehall Tires and had 4 new tires installed...
Once that was done, we brought the trailer back to our site to start getting it ready for our 3 week camping trip...we leave Sunday. A close-up look at the new tires after we parked the trailer in our site...
A rare beautiful sunset to end the day...
We really wanted to go up Mt. Washington and hike Paradise Meadows sometime this summer, so with our time running out, we decided to go Wednesday (July 15).
We arrived at the parking lot just before 10:00 and headed off. Such a beautiful sunny day! Good thing we are walking in the morning as it's supposed to be a hot one today (and it was...with temps in Courtenay up to 29C/84F).
Trailhead information Centre...
Always love hiking the Paradise Meadows Loop...a great 5 km hike! We missed most of the flowers though...the meadows are covered with wild flowers in the spring.
The next few days we were busy preparing for our camping trip. It started off slowly, organizing and shopping but by Saturday we were in full swing.
Friday morning (July 17) we had the biggest thunderstorm that we have ever seen here roll through. Thunder and lightning is quite rare here on Vancouver Island...occuring occasionally, but definitely not to the magnitude we experienced. There were hundreds of lightning strikes recorded in the Comox valley and southern BC that brought flash flooding and left multiple homes damaged by direct strikes. A teenage boy laying in bed felt an electrical jolt when their house was hit causing a roof fire. Five wildfires were started on Vancouver Island. We saw one lightning flash then had an immediate boom shaking our trailer that made me jump. I grew up on the prairies and thunderstorms are quite common in the summer...and I used to love them! So needless to say, I was in my glory finally experiencing it here. The downpour that followed was amazing! We definitely needed the rain as we are in stage 3 water conservation here.
Steve took a short 9 second video of the downpour...
Saturday morning (July 18) we met Earl and Allison for breakfast at 9:00 and then after that we had a very busy day packing...Steve the truck and me the trailer. By 2:30 we had basically done all that we could, so it was time for a little relaxation before going to the Gladstone Brewery...our last time for at least 3 weeks.
We leave tomorrow...stay tuned to hear about our camping adventures!
I live wood carved statues! The dog was amazing. Those sand sculptures were incredible! Such talent. You live in such a beautiful place! Such scenery and trails. I swear replacing tires happens much more frequently than I’d ever imagined before fulltiming! We had a lot of thunder last night. Withbghis trip to the islands we’re thinking VI might be feasible with our tight schedule. We’ll see how next year goes.
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