Vancouver Island

We've decided to stay on Vancouver Island for another few to several days. Jenny's friend, in whose flat we've been staying, is going to be out for another week and it's actually a help for us to stick around and water the plants and keep an eye on things. The weather -- which was a bit drizzly and on the cooler side up until recently (they were calling last month "Juneuary") -- has taken a decided turn for the better, so we figured . . . why leave? With all the terrible weather going on around most of the states, we have it pretty good right here. We dropped Jenny off at the passenger ferry this morning (she's heading back to Ashland for a while) and we've just been knocking around the harbour.

House-boat pier -- anyone else harboring fantasies of life on the water?

Down to the beach and the Puget Sound

Yesterday we went for a drive up along the southern coast of Vancouver Island. Stunning! It reminded us a lot of the best of Wilmette, Evanston and Ashland architecture (modest stucco and clapboard Craftsman and Victorians), with a bit of the best of modern thrown in, all with fantastic gardens and breathtaking views of Puget Sound, with the snow-capped Olympic Mountains in the distance. 

A video of Erin poking around a tidal pool:

And Oak Bay Beach a ways up the coast:

Steinbeck on the beach