Today we’d like to go to Ladysmith for the Festival of Lights. We ordered a Christmas take out dinner from the Legion. $20 a plate; dinner of 4 for $50. We love left overs dinner for 4 it is. Pick up is at 5ish so time to take in the lights and then pick up dinner.
Day’s not starting off looking nice.
It’s looking up!
Sure is beautiful!
Not so much!
Time to pick up dinner! We were going to invite friends to join us, that would have been embarrassing.
About 4 1/2 slices of turkey in our turkey dinner for 4, some ham-more than turkey, 3 buns… 2 tarts and 2 tiny bars for dessert. We did enjoy what was there 🙂
End the day opening our advent calendar. Allan got a Dragon gift, one of 4! A tree ornament.
Kyle purchased a new vehicle a Kia “TellURide” that should be delivered anyday. But wait….. the supply chain issue and a shortage of microchips is playing havoc with delivery.
Once it arrives Kyle, rightly, wants to park it in the garage so storage unit here we come!! I’ve been super stressed about this move cause of the flooding and unsettled conditions through the Malahat. The plus side is if the weather isn’t good we’ll forfeit the U-Haul rental or if the weather is bad once we are at Kyle’s we can delay our trip back.
Pick up 850a
944a – This is the where the Malahat washed out. Smooth sailing… We lucked out with the weather/road closures.
Load it up!
That went quicker than I thought 🙂 Loaded and back on the road at 1053
Clear on the way back as well. We are finally catching a break!
The good – we have our advent calendars! Hey yall for Kyle, Fireball for, I don’t need to say and the spirits for me! I wanted a wine one but inspite of there being 929 wineries in BC – none make an advent calendar.
We got lights from Amazon. The canapy is a game changer for enjoying the propane firepit
Nov 12th – A rare nice day, time for a real fire!
Nov 14th – Visit Kyle & Megan day. But first… you CC players know the joy!!
Pouring so a good time for indoors cards. Chinese for dinner and several card games.
Nov 15th – Time to go home. We are hearing of delays but the day starts off not raining, we think we’ll be fine. We make it to the first exit; way long traffic backup. Cars are coming the wrong way to make the exit. We take the exit and head back to Kyle’s. Heavy rain and floods have severly messed the Malahat in both directions. The drive is normally 1h15m. GPS is routing us to Vancouver, making it a minimum of 4h50m (if we were the only ones who came up with this detour & if the ferries to/fro contined to run in the storm)
Nov 16th – Take 2 on getting home. Clear skies with the sun a peeking are, hopefully a good sign. Turns out they closed the Malahat completely at 6pm yesterday, till 6a. It will be limited to alternating one-way traffic at Tunnel Hill , and be closed from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.
Start out, GPS says 2h45m and over land. This is where we made it to yesterday, clear today – dare we hope?
Stopped waiting for the south bound traffic, they claim 30 minutes each way, not working out. We stop at 1034a
Peace Officer escorting dump trucks to the scene
On our way at 1107, slowly but moving
Make it to the single lane section at 1125. There is the escorted dump truck!
Home!!! 1236p so happy to be home. Unload then check the creek.
Nov 16th – We are loving this fire, more so because the rain is taking a break
Nov 18th – The water here tastes like chemicals. We have a great water external filter system, Clear Source I thought Allan was nuts to buy it but it does make a huge difference. It sits outside so needs to be insulated to avoid freezing. Allan comes up with a solution! Oversized boxes from Costco wrapped in Reflectix held together with foil tape. Voila!! Ingenuity at its finest!
Today is also the day that Kyle was called on a USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) mission to Comox… excerpt from story “The wing commander says an urban search and rescue team from Esquimalt, B.C. arrived at the site Thursday.”They’ve been searching all night long using acoustic and infrared technologies in order to see if there’s absolutely anybody in there,” Elliot told CTV News.” Full story here
This is the beginning of what they are walking into
Fast forward! We were relieved when they all returned safely on Saturday evening.
Nov 19th – No rain, we are off for an adventure to Stocking Creek Park.
The path in..
The creek, the stairs along the trail
The stairs to the falls……………………………….
The Falls
Why the big smile……………………………………Cause it’s reward time!
BC calls a state of emergency. The floods, mudslides are devasting. Fuel will be limited to 30 liters per fill.
This ship has been here for days, wonder what it’s waiting for?
Fire time
Nov 20th – Rain all day!
Nov 21st – Break in the rain. Today we head to Nanaimo’s water front, Spot the plane?
Sky not looking too happy, we’re heading back
Allan builds us a delicious dinner….
Then with the weather agreeable, a fire
Who gives a hoot?? I do, hence the smile
Nov 22nd – Rain all day
Nov 23rd – Yahoo, clear skies = a fire! Love our fires and chilling time. Does chilling time work with a fire?
11/25 – Pouring rain! Using the day to Christmas shop and may as well collect on my Indy win dinner! I choose Saigon Kitchen Delicous! Debt paid for this season. Allan is a gracious LOSER!! Or is he 🙂
11/26th – Rain is forecasted to begin anytime. We opt to attempt the trail that is connected on the park grounds. Put on out rain boots and off we go… The trails are full of mossy trees and ferns. I like them both.
We skirt the ponds, that are really just puddle build up. Some are harder to skirt than others.
Time for…. REWARDS!!!
Love that FB smile!
Mother Nature’s horseshoe tree, bringing all who see it the best of luck!
Hummm, where are we? There are 3 trails, which one is for us? No markers. Sure it should be either straight or turn right.
Google maps is no help…just wants to map us once we get to Timberlands Rd. If we knew how to get there we would not need the map!!
Wait what’s that in the distance? A vehicle is approaching…
We thought he may stop to ask if we were OK but no! Off he goes. He turned right, we will as well.
Back to civilization
Fire time to celebrate we aren’t lost in the trails
11/27th – Accuweather is not longer attempting to sugar coat this weather… Pouring rain! Can lead to flooding…
11/28th – After a day of rain, the sun is attempting a peekaboo!
And of course a FIRE!
As presented by my Fire God!
11/29: Rainy day
We did get in a fire later in the day,before the rain drops forced us back indoors
Nov 30th – Last day of this wet month. We think the day is not totally lost if we can get in a fire. Very nice..
Oh NO! What is happening… where is my 🔥 god???
Relief! Back to normal
November is done which means….. December and our advent calendars!!
Nov 01 – We figure to not go stir crazy with all this rain we must embrase the day! Off to Duncan famous for it’s totems! Allan, our photographer of the day, took photos of all on the tour.
These are the highlights…
This is Duncan’s Provincial Court of British Columbia building. Pretty funky 🙂
I’ve been slacking off, feels like a long while since I’ve added to Bailey’s blog but here I go again summarizing the end of October.
Oct 22 – Today’s trip… Chemainus town of Murals, sadly it was pouring so didn’t take many photos.
10/23 – Kelowna last year, Ladysmith this year
Sun is a peeking!
10/25: Our drive to Victoria, actually Langford, to celebrate Megan’s birthday, Yep, rain, rain, rain.
Present opening time!
Kyle’s not a fan of hot sauce, we gifted Megan with 2 hot sauces. Allan’s favourite from Freddies in Kelowna and Mum’s. Mum’s has 3 flavours: Timid Hot, Sorta Hot, Darn Hot. It was the Timid for Kyle. We had them open at the same time…
The Rage card game is a hit!
Who looks happier with the ear muffs? These heat up using a USB.
Kyle & Megan bought Allan a funky wallet a while back. Somehow, in one of their clean ups they put it away and didn’t find it again till now. Gifts for all on Megan’s birthday LOL Allan getting a tutorial.
We were going to go to Megan’s favourite Italian restaurant in Victoria but it was pouring so hard we ordered in. Indian, delicious! We had a super fun visit, even let Megan win at cards.
October 26 – back in the park we take a walk. The stairs that were able to be used prior to us leaving are now under water.
The creek is not happy
When I posted on my FB page Susan, an informed friend taught us…“Amanita Muscaria! AKA Fly Agaric. The reindeers search for them near pine trees and eat them for an experience. It is said that’s how Santa’s reindeer fly. Notice they’re red with white, just like Santa! They are very potent.”
We found this mega leaf!
The next day, 10/27 the water receded
Missed checking on the 28th, this is what we found on the 29th. A salmon, we wanted to see them, forgot to add we want to see them alive. Wonde how he got there.
October 29, finally a break in the weather. We have our friends, Debbie & Donny along with Lucy, the pup, for a fire and visit.
They are as equally, unimpressed with the weather ie RAIN here.
Oct 30th – mostly cloudy but a bit of sun. We’ll take it.
Back at the creek stairs, what happened to the salmon??? Gone!
10/15: Our drive to Kyle & Megan’s. This photo is a good recap of the drive, rainy and trafficy
So wonderful to see Kyle again. Wonder what shenanigans they are cooking up.
The day view, the night view
The cheers view!
10/16: This is a very hilly area, our walk mostly down brings up to a road, look up – there’s their home. 2nd photo with Allan’s big zoom. Took us 1/2 hour to get here walk back all uphill. Perhaps we should call for a pick up.
10/17: It’s turkey day!
Peeping time!
Out it comes!
Looks perfect!
The FEAST
The left overs! Can’t wait for turkey sandwiches tomorrow
Today we move to our Winter resort in Ladysmith about 1-1/4h from Kyle & Megan’s. I feel like this will be the winter of Euchre and hot tubbing!
Although we were warned we likely will not be able to get into our site till 2, Carol, the admin, said we could wait in a queue. We decide it doesn’t much matter where we wait so we leave Surfside at 1040. Stop for our last diesel fill at a station. It’s a little tight so we didn’t hook Bob up. I’ll drive him. Race you, Allan!!
There are no, easy access, diesel stations we’ve found near our destination. Bailey doesn’t have snow tires and they are mandatory. All not in our favour as we use diesel for heat and shower water. We have a plan! We will buy 2 fuel cans and add to Bailey’s tank once a week-ish.
We arrive at 1151, yahoo!! First in line.
Our welcoming committee!!
We thought, most would have left yesterday after the long weekend. Allan goes in, sure enough our site is ready; site 51 🙂
Mostly set up! Davy and the carpet will come out if the rain ever stops!
Our firewood arrives! 2 recycle boxes of wood – $10 each
We said we’d embrase the rain, off we go for a stroll around the park. It’s a little fishing hole, catch and release
Trail to the creek
A walking trail, will explore this one another day
Hummmm, when’s salmon spawning? Wish they’d date this flyers
