Letting It All Hang Out

Several years ago I bought myself a road bike.  I don't ride nearly as often as I would like, but it is none the less something I really enjoy.  There are about five or six guys from church who go out once a week when the weather is nice.  We call ourselves the Holy Spokes, and joke about it being one of the best men's groups in the church.  We do it for the joy of cycling.  I may come back tired but my mind is always refreshed by the exercise and commraderie we share on the road.

Everything I had heard about cycling on the west coast was true.  Cyclists are everywhere, commuting to and from work with brief cases strapped to their backs, riding in neighborhoods, city parks and on greenways, riding by themselves or in groups of all sizes.  And they were good.  I was very impressed and intimitated by them because they were biking up  hills that would have brought me to my knees; but these riders took them in stride.  One hill right after another.  It was impressive.

It was not surprising that with the beauty of Vancouver Island we found cyclists on the open roads there as well.  As we drove into the city of Victoria, my attention was drawn to the task of finding our hotel in the midst of the distractions of city traffic and pedestrians.  We were stopped at a light about a block from our hotel, when my gaze was drawn to a hill on the road ahead of us.  As I looked, I saw a pelaton of riders cresting the hill and descending into the city.  I said to Ilene, "Look at that group of cyclists.  There must be 50 of them.  I wonder if there is a race going on?"  Ilene said quick get out the camera and take their picture when they ride by.  Snatching my camera I leaned out the window to get an unobstructed view.  As they got closer cheers began to go up from everyone standing on the side walks watching the same spectacle coming at us.  Only as they got closer did I notice that many of them were ... um ... nude.  I yelled to Ilene, "They're nude!"  "They're what?"  "They're nude and I am going to have pictures to prove it."  So for the next several minutes, while we were stopped at a light, this parade went by, the like of which I had never witnessed before.  I am happy to note that there must be a helmet law on the island because many of them at least had their helmets on.  Others thankfully wore swim suits and frankly there were some who would have looked better with a little spandex on.  No other city we visited came close to the warm welcome we got in Victoria.

The Crossing

Early in the morning we headed northwest to Horseshoe Bay to catch the Ferry to Vancouver Island.   Our departure was not scheduled until 12:30 PM but we left several hours to explore Whytecliffe Park.  This park is a photographer's paradise with sweeping ocean and island views.  It is also a scuba divers haven because of its calm waters.  When we arrived, there were close to thirty divers suiting up in the parking lot.  We followed them down a long sandy lane to the cobble beach.

It was low tide, which made it possible to reach a rocky outcropping island accessible.  While Ilene sat on a rock on the beach with a Sudoku puzzle, I went exploring.

From the top of the island, the view of the Strait of Georgia - with snowcapped mountains tumbling down to a flotilla of sunlit sailboats bobbing delicately on ocean waves - just took my breath away.

Horseshoe Bay

Neither one of us was saying much about it, but the thought of driving our brand new car onto a boat was making us extremely anxious.  We had taken one of our old cars on an NC ferry for the short crossing from Fort Fisher to Southport several years earlier.  But this was different. This was a two hour crossing on the open ocean.  I kept telling myself that it would be OK.  Lots of people do this without any problems.  But this was our NEW car.  We were told that it was critical to be in the queue for the ferry at least 30 minutes prior to departure.  Several local people had told us horror stories about missing a ferry, and how long the delays are to get booked on another one, which added to our anxiety.  We arrived at the gate, paid for our ticket and pulled into one of the several lines of cars that were also waiting to board, then we noticed that our ferry had just arrived at the pier and was beginning to unload its passengers and vehicles coming off the island.  For a long time, Ilene just sat there quietly watching them disembark, then she said quietly, almost to herself, "300."  I looked at her and said, "What do you mean - 300?"  She said, "I just counted the cars that drove off the ferry.  There were 300.  And that includes tractor trailers, trucks pulling boats, campers and recreation vehicles, which I just counted as one."  It began to dawn on us that this was not your typical NC ferry.  I am not sure whether that made us feel any safer, but if we went down, we wouldn't be doing it alone.

Finally the cars ahead of us started to move.  I was not at all sure how this was going to work, but we would just follow directions and everything would be alright.  That was my mantra anyway.  I wondered if they were going to strap our car down to the deck like they do cars on those auto transport trailers.  We were surrounded by cars so there was no backing out.  We were committed.  As we inched our way closer, the boat began to loom over us.  It was HUGE!  We were directed onto a ramp about four lanes wide and suddenly we were off the dock and heading down into the dark belly of the ship.  I felt like Jonah!  I prayed that I would not be spewed up on a beach somewhere like he was.  We were directed to park our car and then head topside.  And that was it.  Park you car and get out.  No tie downs, no nothing.  Just us and about 300 other vehicles.

We grabbed our picnic basket and headed up to the top deck, hoping to find someplace where we could eat our lunch.  On the fore deck there were several round picnic tables bolted to the deck.  If they were bolted down, why was my car not strapped down?  I decided not to share that thought with Ilene.  After lunch we headed inside to see what everyone else was doing.  We were shocked to find what appeared to be a small city with a full cafeteria, full-service dining room, bank, Starbucks, gift shop, and lots of comfortable lounge chairs, many of which were filled with people cheering for the world cup soccer game  being broadcast on a big screen TV.  People everywhere seemed to be relaxed and enjoying themselves.  Gradually we too began to settle in and not worry so much.  All in all, it was a delightful crossing.  I spent time on the upper deck with others, hoping to spot a whale; but we didn't see any.   Maybe they were all headed to Nineveh!  We were on our way to Victoria.

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island

UBC Botanical Gardens

The UBC Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden at the University of British Columbia is the oldest botanical garden at a university in Canada.  It measures 110 acres and includes over 8000 different kinds of plants, that are found in five distinct gardens: an Asian garden, an alpine garden, a native plant garden, a food garden and a medicinal garden.

Alpine Garden

Medicinal garden

Nitobi Memorial Garden

The Nitobe Memorial Garden, which is part of the UBC Botanical Garden, is a traditional Japanese Tea and Stroll garden considered one of the most authentic Japanese gardens in North America and among the top five Japanese gardens outside of Japan.  Each tree, stone and shrub has been deliberately placed and is carefully maintained to reflect an idealized conception and symbolic representation of nature.  There is harmony among natural forms - waterfalls, rivers, forests, islands and seas - and a balance of masculine and feminine forces traditionally attributed to natural elements.

After we left the Botanical Garden we headed back to the city to pack our bags.  We enjoyed three days in this glorious city and were scheduled to leave early the next morning and head a bit further north to catch a ferry which would carry us to Vancouver Island and the provincial capital of Victoria.  
That evening as we looked north one last time to see the snow capped mountains, God blessed us with one of the most spectacular sunsets that we would see on our entire trip.

Stanley Island

From the pictures so far you can see that the skies had been heavily overcast since we arrived on the West coast.  It had sprinkled on and off for several days but never enough to hinder what we had planned for the day.  That is, until today.  We woke up to rain and the forecast said that it would continue most of the day.

We had planned on heading out to Stanley Island, with intentions of renting bicycles to ride around the 10.5 km perimeter Seawall. But the weather canceled that idea.  We also had planned on visiting the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Center, also located on the island.   With the rain, we thought that would be a perfect place to go.  We were going to be wet anyway, so why not hang out with fish and marine life?  

By the time we had seen everything, the rain had stopped, so we devoted the rest of the afternoon to driving around the misty island and taking pictures of the Vancouver skyline across the water.    

In spite of the rain, it was a pretty nice day.