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Goats on Roof logo
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Location:
Vancouver Island
When: End of July
Miles traveled: 295
Price of gas: 5.75
Interest: Beach
High point: Church or ferry ride
Low point: No pennies
One thing learned: Pepper spray is illegal in Canada
I
had almost a week after my time in Washington, before I was to fly to a wedding
in Iowa. So, I chose to visit Vancouver and Vancouver Island during this time. This
excursion would be a "test run" into Canada before the long drive to
Alaska.
Still feeling a bit burned out, I did
not plan a lot of things. I just wanted to enjoy the ferry rides, beaches, and visit one market. The two hour ferry crossing to Vancouver Island went smoothly. This was my second ferry ride (first one in Seattle) and I was more
knowledgeable and comfortable with all that was going on. The middle center of the ferry is loaded first. The cars in the center add extra stability, so the boat does not tilt while cars are loading onto the sides. Cars are off loaded in reverse order, sides first and then center lanes.
At Parksville Beach, a sand sculpting competition was
taking place. All of the sculptures were completed and open for the
public to view. A mixture of wood glue and water had been sprayed on the
sculptures. This helps prevents weather damage and keeps the detail
looking sharp. Wires sticking out the top deters
birds from perching. I was impressed by the small spheres apart of one sculpture depicting a sleeping figure. (Not pictured.)
The Old Country Market "Goat on Roof" is a condensed fancy Whole Foods type of market. They offered groceries, bakery & cafe items (looked better than they tasted), and some of everything in the gifts, kitchen gadgets, and other categories. Goats were living on the roof. It is a neat store, but not much more than that. It's not worth traveling all the way to Vancouver Island just to see the goats.
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Pysanky clock!
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Sunday liturgy at St Michael the Archangel Ukrainian
Catholic Church in Nanaimo (Na-nye-mo stress on the "nye") was wonderful. Sung in a mixture of English and
Ukraine, I was able to follow along with help from my background of
Church Slavonic. During his homily, the priest shared a story about the kids he mentors at
a community garden. He taught them how to grow garlic. After
harvest time, they had a competition to see who could eat a raw clove of
garlic the slowest! (In my family during lent, we kids would dip our
raw garlic pieces in honey and swallow them whole in an attempt to avoid
the potent garlic flavor!) The church also had a clock decorated with pysanky (dyed eggs). It was very cool!
On the return ferry trip to Vancouver; Still sitting in the car, fully loaded onto the ferry, eating the last of a cereal breakfast. Almost everything is still. Only the light steadily gains ground on my leg as the sun rises towards 9 am. Nothing else is moving, only the narrow beam of sunlight. At nine o'clock, the ferry blows its' horn, and the voyage begins.
