Ogden Point

If you were to enter Victoria Harbour from the ocean, you would pass the Ogden Point beacon. It's located at the end of a long breakwater that is a favourite with local and tourists for walking. 

Ski season

A bright spot in an otherwise dark year...

 Our local mountain has opened for a new season of skiing. It was crowded the day we were there, probably from a combination of holidays and people weary of being housebound by COVID.

The resort had COVID protocols in place that everyone seemed to be respecting. The day was warm with a blanket of recent snow on the slopes... a near-perfect start to the season.

All quiet on the western front

Victoria's Empress Hotel lit up by the setting sun...

Recently my wife and I went out for dinner where we were treated to a glorious sunset illuminating the front of the iconic Empress Hotel.

Normally our summer waterfront would be bustling with tourists from around the world. 

Not in 2020... the year of COVID. 

Instead there's an unsettling quiet downtown. No buskers, no crowds of excited pedestrians, no pedicabs, no outdoor music or festivals, no harbour traffic... This lack of energy and vibrance that hangs over everything is eerie.

Will we still be here a year from now I wonder?

... now you don't.

Parkville's "empty" waterpark...

The fastest way to make children disappear in public is to pull out a camera and start taking pictures. Parents leap into action, grabbing their kids and dragging them away from the weird guy snapping photos.

So this is the popular water park at Parksville's Community Park. There are lots of kids just out of sight at the edges wondering why Mommy is clutching them so tightly.

Erosion

A peak through to Retreat Cove and Island...

Wave and weather action has carved a cave out of the sandstone on Galiano Island...

49

One degree of separation...

Drive down the length of Galiano Island and you'll pass this unassuming boulder on the side of the road. It sits in the permanent shade of the trees around it, so you'd miss the plaque attached to it.

The plaque marks the 49th parallel... the latitude that separates Canada from the United States through much of its length.

Missing children

Parksville's main park... a victim of the current COVID crisis.

The main playground of the excellent children's park at Parksville sits empty and unused. This is our world right now.

I hope it doesn't last long.

Mostly moist moss

Moss and tree converge into one...

Okay, say the title of this post fast five times... I'll wait here.😏

One fact of life about living on the We(s)t Coast, is that you see a lot of moss. It's everywhere... on your roof, spreading across your driveway, growing up the side of your garden shed, hanging down from tree branches...

It will literally take over trees as demonstrated by this specimen on Galiano Island.

Lover's Leap

A cliff... and a memorial. Is there an ominous connection here?

If you drive along Galiano's length, you'll pass Lover,s Leap. It's a viewpoint overlooking Wallace Island and Trincomali Channel from Bodega Ridge Provincial Park. The drop to the water below is pretty significant. If you were to tumble off the edge, you'd hit a few ledges and trees on the way down before you hit the water.

I have no idea how/if Lover's Leap earned its name. My wife and I stopped to take some photos and we noticed two things:

i. The protective chain link was missing. And there was no warning sign to keep wayward dogs or children away from the edge.

ii. There was a memorial of some sort at the site.

It was disturbing to contemplate what the implications of these facts, but no Internet research on my part has turned up any tragic stories.

Brentwood Bay

The Mill Bay to Brentwood ferry chugs along...

To the north of Victoria on the east shore of Saanich Inlet is bucolic Brentwood Bay. There are a couple of nice restaurants there, but not much else. It's mostly a bedroom community for Victoria.

It's a nice staging point for a kayak ride down Todd Inlet which will take you in behind Butchart Gardens.

It's also one end of the Mill Bay ferry route, one of only two ways of getting past the Malahat. The ferry doesn't take a lot of cars though, and periodically there are calls for a bridge across the Saanich Inlet.

The tiny town of Brentwood Bay...

Ornery ostrich

"Come at me, bro!"

At Oregon's Wildlife Safari, once we stopped feeding this guy/gal food pellets, s/he got a little bit aggressive about sticking its head in our van to look for more handouts.

I had to shoo it away from the van... which it didn't like at all. We got into a bit of a staring match and, for awhile, I wasn't sure if I was going to win.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Colourful buildings line a street in Mexico....

During a tour day, we stopped briefly at this colourful village. It featured a number of churches overlooking the village's town square.

Palm trees and colourful flags blow in the breeze...

Colourful Kaua...

Friendly Kaua...

At one point during our tour of Chichen Itza, we stopped into the village of Kaua.

I posed with a statue of one of the local deities... I hope the gods have a sense of humour.

I hope I'm not cursed for this...

Spruce Goose

Too big to get it all in one frame...

In McMinnville OR you'll find the excellent Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Two large hangars hold all sorts of interesting aircraft and you can even try your hand at a flight simulator.

One hangar is dominated by the Spruce Goose, built by Howard Hughes in the mid-1940s as part of the war effort. This thing is huge... like really really BIG.

The wingspan is longer than a football field. The tail is eight stories high. Even by today's standards this is a massive aircraft, all the more remarkable when you consider that it is constructed almost entirely of wood.

The Spruce Goose dwarfs everything else around it...

Twedes again

A gloomy cloudy day over North Bend in Washington...

Whenever we go through Washington state, we try to make it a point to stop in at Twedes Cafe in North Bend. It's a popular gathering place for visitors, particularly those who are fans of the quirky and spooky cult series Twin Peaks.

Although it's famous for its coffee and cherry pie as a result its appearance in the show, on this particular trip I decided to try their banana creme pie instead. I can reliably report that it too is very good... and VERY filling.

How Green Is My Valley

Green fields and sheep in the distance...

Salt Spring Island off Vancouver Island's east coast is a mix of lush farms tucked in between tracts of lush forests.

Brentwood Bay

Off in the distance the Malahat Mountain overlooks Brentwood Bay...

Brentwood Bay on the Saanich Peninsula to the north of Saanich on Vancouver Island seems to be resisting the tendency to high-density development that is afflicting the other south island communities. So far it has maintained its quaint seaside charm. For that reason, it's a popular place for my wife and I to go out for breakfast on a sunny weekend morning.

As sea breezes waft in through the window, you can enjoy the comings and going of ferries, sailing boats and paddle craft.

Third time the charm?

The sea stacks of Cannon Beach at sunset...

I'm in the middle of planning our summer 2019 trip to Oregon. It will be our third trip in five years.

Once again we are hoping to see the city of Bend and the nearby Painted Hills. On both of our previous trips we had to give up on them due to the thick smoke from wild fires.

It is the grim reality of climate change. It has had a big impact on summer tourism in the Pacific Northwest.

And not just tourism... it's affecting our health. Our son who currently lives in Edmonton Alberta was recently describing the apocalyptic smoke hanging over the city which has resulted in health warnings from local authorities.

Elkhorn

The original saloon of Elkhorn...

Elkhorn Montana is a ghost town located about forty minutes off the nearest major roadway. At one time it was home to 2500 people when it was the centre of the local silver mines.

It's unusual for the fact that alongside the decrepit and decaying 150-year-old buildings is a smattering of modern ranch homes and trailers that are home to a handful of inhabitants.

It must be an odd experience to walk down the dusty streets among the ruins of the past from two centuries ago...

Living with the ghosts of the past...

Live long... and prosper

A Federation starship sticks the landing in Vulcan, Alberta...

The title of today's post was the philosophy of Mr. Spock, the half-human / half-Vulcan sidekick to Captain Kirk on television's Star Trek.

Vulcan was the name of his home planet, a name also shared by the small town of Vulcan in southern Alberta. The Canadian town was named in the early 20th century, long before the television series.

However, the town took advantage of its fortuitous name to re-brand itself as the official 'Star Trek capital of Canada'. Leonard Nimoy -- the actor who originated the role -- even paid a visit at one time as part of a publicity push by the town.

A scale-model starship is mounted outside the tourist centre. At the base of it, three plaques greet visitors in the official languages of English, Vulcan and Klingon.

Saying hello to the citizens of Earth...