E-Life is slower up here

Day 3 into the trip and it already feels like we have been away for much longer. It’s probably a result of life being a bit slower up here. We are in Port Hardy and there doesn’t seem to be much of a rush to do anything. Even the ferry takes 2 hours to load. Given the size of the ferry, which is more like an oversized sail boat, 2 hours seems a bit excessive.

We started the trip on Saturday morning, July 28th, by missing a ferry in Horseshoe Bay. Having rushed home from my night shift and packed up all our gear and the family in plenty of time to make the 7:30am sailing, we were disappointed to find the boat full. However, arriving on the Sunshine coast later in the morning meant we saw the Gibson’s Sea Cavalcade Parade. The girls got a ton of candy and we were moderately entertained. (I have to admit to being a reluctant parade-goer. With the exception of Furstenfeld, where by-standers can climb on the floats and buy shots, beer and wine, I find parades to be fairly lame.)

Mike Fabri and Kristina Hall were married at Sakinaw in a ceremony on a boardwalk along the lake. The cabin was pretty unrecognizable to the one room building that I had first visited 20 years. Now there is hot and cold running water, a shower, two huge decks, 5 bedrooms and some terraced stairs and garden. The place looked great and everything went remarkably smoothly.

After a quick plunge in the lake with the Pledgers, we headed off to my cousin Karin Osberg’s wedding to Rob Ratchinsky at the Ruby lake resort. The wedding took over the whole resort for the weekend and looked like they were having a blast. It was the first time I had seen Karin and Rob together but they seem perfectly suited for each other- they both like to laugh and enjoy life.

A couple of hours later we were at Mike and Kristina’s reception which took place at the Rockwater resort. They really went all out to put on a good party. The setting was gorgeous, the food was really good and other than he/she who had to pay the alcohol bill, I can’t imagine anyone having any complaints about the evening.

The next morning we went for a swim in the lake before taking off for the first of two ferries. We arrived at Miracle Beach on Vancouver Island with about an hour of sunlight left to set up our campsite. As we erected the tent the girls were very excited to see their new home. They laughed and played but were a little concerned that their new home didn’t have a potty.

On Monday we stayed at the beach until 3pm. The sunny weather and low tide on a beautiful beach made for a fun afternoon. We built sandcastles and buried the girls in some warm tidal pools while Lucas ate more than his share of sand. After going for to a park ranger presentation on wilderness survival, we drove 3 hours up to Port Hardy. The town seemed pretty deserted so it was easy to pick out the best restaurant in town. Captain Hardy’s served huge portions of good food at a reasonable price, a combination I can really appreciate.

More to come.