Thursday, October 14, 2010

Here Comes the Sun + on to Miracle Beach: Oct 10

Everything looks different in the morning sunlight. It rained literally all day yesterday and into the night.

We take a walk to stretch it out and let our gear dry out a bit. Can you see tiny me below in a yellow shirt? The Avion is, as a friend likes to say, a "really nice tent" and never more so than during 24 hours of rain.

No stump goes ungrown on by a dozen other species...

Easy driving on this Sunday holiday weekend. We're heading east to Duncan on Vancouver Island's eastern coast and then north along the shore to one of several potential sites, possibly Miracle Beach Provincial Park, which will position us for an easy drive into the massive Strathcona Provincial Park the following day.


We select our route north carefully, looking for a fish and chips place highly recommended to us by a fly fisherman we met in the Cape Blanco campground. I even made notes: Head to Comox where the highway splits, he said, being very specific. 

I liked this kayak place made from an old bus, near Comox.
 

And you'll see it on the right-hand side, he said. The best fish and chips ever. Would the owner know our fly fisher pal, who seemed so well acquainted? "He'll be surfing in Nicaragua," our guy says. Portia's Fish 'n Chips...or at least that's what I thought he said. 

It turns out to be...

All credit to Art, who knew it immediately. And it's a riot. There's an inscribed photo of John Lennon: All you need is love and a 2-piece halibut dinner.

The cook mixes each batch individually.

Best eaten on the truck in the sun with plenty of napkins. It was good...and, honey, can I get an oil change around here?


Just a few more miles up the road to Miracle Beach, situated a short walk off the eastern shore.

In the setting sun, we can see across the Straight of Georgia to BC's Sunshine Coast, where we visited Powell River and Lund a couple years back.

On our walk home we meet a lovely woman carrying one of the gigantic maple leaves Art's been eyeing. We ask her what species and she replies "big-leaf maple." No kidding.

It's still light but chilling quickly, so my favorite fire guy gets to work while I forage for wood. You might appreciate where Art got the wood to make this beautiful kindling: he picked up some small pieces of dry pine siding next to the dumpster at the Charleston, OR, Marina RV Park and used his hand axe to make these twigs.

It ignites quickly.

They say wood warms you twice--can you tell from the video why?

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