Salt Spring Island

We arrived on Salt Spring Island on Monday, drove down some narrow, windy roads past various artisan shops (shoppes?), therapeutic services, gardens and farms to the house where we are staying. The kids found a skinny stray calico kitten hanging around at the house, which has been named Cherry. There are three other adults and six more children living here. One of the adults is an amazing cook and doesn't mind cooking for everyone. In fact, he prefers it.

We explored Ganges, which is where most of the people live. We found the public library (hence this post..). We have found a few beach accesses and I have some trails in mind that I want to check out in the next few days. There are little roadside stands everywhere. We all tried fresh figs for the first time yesterday!

pics: the kids at the house; Liam with a huge starfish; Rus with his prized fresh fig that he has been waiting almost 35 years to try. Decadent! ; the kids at the library

Commercial Drive

Thomas and Allison took us to Commercial Drive where we could easily be supplied with an entirely organic diet and continuous style inspiration. The houses in the area are pretty colorful and unique and just our size (small). We went to church this afternoon where we were among the most ethnically diverse congregation we have ever been with. Everyone has been so friendly to us but maybe it's because of our cute kids...
Tomorrow afternoon we are leaving on a ferry for Salt Spring Island where we will be staying with some friends at a cabin that sits on 20 acres and has such things as a hot tub and a pond with a rowboat. Our friends have three boys around the same age as our kids, so not only will we be in heaven, but our kids will too!

pics: the kids at Thomas and Allison's apartment, Ila and Mei outside a shop on Commercial Drive, Liam riding a chipmunk

Van

After breakfast at my brother Thomas and his Girlfriend Allison's place we headed downtown along Mainstreet to Chinatown (the poorest area in all of Canada). We walked through the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens, Hastings, Gastown, Canada Place, and past Grandville, and the Vancouver Public Library. We saw lots of good stuff (and some bad). There was a Zombie Walk going on, which I sort of wished I could have participated in. I like it here. I think if I were young and childless, I could make it my home.

vines, wines, and Fabio

one last stop at the winery before going to Vancouver; Me and Fabio, Rus with a huge box of empties (building material for our future glass bottle house, he thinks):
Now we are in Vancouver! We will be staying at my brother Thomas' place for a couple of days.

Lake Okanagan

Our last day in Kelowna...the two childless couples in this house will have to re-adjust to the quiet after we leave tomorrow!
Rus labeled bottles in the winery a little bit today while I tried to clean up after ourselves but the highlight of our day was going down to the lake with our friend Crystal and her canine friend, who is now also our canine friend.
Here is a fun picture of Rus diving into the lake this evening... (that's Crystal's head off to the side of the picture)
It was nice to snorkel again, although there wasn't much to see. I'm getting excited for the ocean! Here's a cute picture of Mei with her "pretty pink rock"... My kids love rocks. Maybe they will be geologists like their uncles...

Aunt Loretta and Arrowleaf Cellars

I have been wanting to see my friend's family's vineyard and winery for about a decade and I finally got the chance today. After spending the morning with Rus' aunt, we headed to our friend's family's vineyard and winery, Arrowleaf Cellars where we were given our own personalized tour and a bag of goodies. No grapes though; they will be edible in about a month.
Pictures: Rus' aunt Loretta with Rus, Mei and Liam; Liam labeling bottles; Ila and Mei with Fabio (who made the Winery Dogs of BC 2008 calendar and poster); and Ila with the grapevines

the beach, an orchard, and some goats

Yesterday we did a lot of nothing. After four nights in a tent and a lot of hours driving it was nice to bathe, do laundry and just relax and enjoy the view. Today, we met up with some friends who are currently living in Kelowna and went to a beach, a peach orchard and a petting zoo. It was a good day.

BC so far...

Being in travel mode has put me in the the blogging mood. Although it's not as "exotic" as Mexico and we are not going to be gone for nearly as long, traveling outside our home province still stirred the blogger in me.
So we set off to British Columbia last Wednesday with our trunk packed with clothes, a tent, and imperishables. We found our trusty old campsite that we have come back to for the past few years on the edge of Horseshoe Lake and settled in for four nights stay. Our first two days were spent at Fort Steele ("Where history comes alive!"), an old heritage town with constant entertainment from live actors and demonstrations. The high point for me was during the indoor theatre performance when I was picked from the audience to go on stage, something I think all of us secretly both desire and maybe fear. Liam spent a lot of time in the blacksmith shop which awarded him the privilege of receiving a handmade nail and mini horseshoe. Nearing the end of out time at Fort Steele, Ila and Mei had gotten so comfortable around the actors that they followed them around, talking to them and holding onto the women's skirts.
The next day we went to a Trout Hatchery and then just hung out at the lake catching frogs, turtles, and even a snake and a toad. Rus was pretty excited that he was able to use his snorkeling skills to dive for turtles.
Sunday morning, we headed to Fairmont, went to a small church there, bathed in the free hot springs, then headed on towards Revelstoke. We searched for a few campsites in the area; one of them leading us a little bit farther into the wilderness than we would have liked (there have been a large amount of bear sightings lately and the "road" was more like a path). It was getting late and raining so we decided to plow through to Lake Country instead where we are now staying with friends.