Washington state and Grand Coulee - ALWAYS amaze me..

Funny.. I look forward to getting out of the mountains.. and western Washington state is a relief as the terrain gets hilly and lots of agriculture... then you get to Grand Coulee which amazes me every time I go through this area...

These dams generate power for almost all of the NW United States.. it is a huge project...

Then, about a mile away, you get a perspective of the "little guy".  His power source will light up his AM Radio.. and/or his toaster... as long as he doesn't try power them both at the same time..

Life is Good...

A quiz for my American (USA) friends....

Yesterday morning I went for breakfast at a very famous restaurant at Gibson's Landing...

And two of the people that made it famous were sitting at a table discussing what is the best ketchup for your eggs...

Who are they.. and really... of course they weren't there... (Why Not?)

Life is Good.

Almost Tofino-Like...

The place I'm staying at tonite has a pub next door... "The Lighthouse Pub"... It's funny because Jewels mentioned earlier that my photos from today reminded her of  Tofino.. I didn't really see it until I was sitting on the deck at the Lighthouse and it was exactly like the place we hung out at in Tofino....  sailboats, commercial fishermen, float planes.. exactly like Tofino...

Now, there were a few subtle differences... the seagull ate the crab...

And Jim now enjoys the IPA....

Life is Good....

Heading south on the Sunshine Coast...

I left Powell River this morning and it was bright and sunny which made me soooooo very happy because I had a feeling that this would be a good "scenery" day.. And I was right!

The pics above were taken just south of Powell River for the first one and the rest were off the ferry ride which crossed over to Earl's Landing (not sure of the history on that but it might be interesting).

The photos below were taken from some side trips off highway 101 as I drove down to Sechelt which is the name of the place I'm in tonight. The last two are the same spot which is the view from the restaurant I stopped at along the way.

The day was AWESOME....

Life is Good.

Sunday.. must be Powell River BC...

I have a couple of extra days to travel to Vancouver so I decided to take the ferry from Comox to Powell River on the mainland.  It looked like some great scenery off the ferry but it was just pissing rain so I wasn't able to take any pics.

Arrived into Powell River around noon and found a motel for the nite and a fish and chippery for lunch.. Both left something to be desired but at least the guy at the fish place gave me some sight seeing advice.

On his recommendation, I headed north on Highway 101 to the "big" town of Lund ( named after my very good Kim in Moose Lake MN)...  well, actually it was named by a couple of Swedish rogues that stumbled into the area in the late 1800's..

Highway 101 is the world's longest highway stretching 15,020 KM starting at KM one in Lund to Castro, Chile!

Tomorrow, I'm heading a bit to the south.. sounds like I'll be driving into a very lovely area which has a history as the home of the world famous TV show, "The Beachcombers" which ran on Canadian TV for a number of years.  Molly's Reach, here I come...

Life is Good.

My last day with my girls....

Yesterday was my last day visiting my girls in Courtenay... we went out to the park and took some pics which turned out wonderful.. I love spending time with Shaya and Rylie...

My little Shaya was very sad to see me leaving this morning and it tugs at my heart to see her crying like she was... but I feel really good in that she has established many little friends in the 'hood and enjoys her time with them so much.. Rylie... nothing seems to bother her too much.. she's a tuff little character...

Life is Good

Time for a change....

My little Ford Ranger has started to give me a bit of grief.  With 78 thousand KM on the odometer in 2 years, I was finding that the expensive repairs were starting to appear.

I've been visiting with Jill and the kids for over a week and since there are gaps in my "to do" list, I've been filling them with little things like.... taking new vehicles for test drives for instance.

Little did I know that I'd be sooooooo easy to get talked into trading the Ranger off on a sweet little Nissan Frontier... My girls like it too.

Life is Good.

A funny thing happened on the way to the compost...

Soooo... it all started out with a little trip out back to take the compost out to the bin.  I'm not sure why but I was in a bit of a hurry.. actually running along with the bags of debris.

The compost bin was lying on it's side and there was a hole in the pile of refuse..  I never really thought much of it as I ran towards the bin to deposit the load I was carrying...

I never actually got sprayed... the pic above just shows what could have happened if I weren't the elite athlete that I am...

This huge skunk emerged from the bin just as I was leaning over to toss in my bag.  I had a short time to react and I automatically flung myself to the right and held up the bag as a shield to protect me from getting sprayed by my friend....

I woke up from my reverie at about the same time that my head and right knee hit the floor.  Pulled myself back into bed feeling a little silly!

Gawd... I haven't had an over active dream like that since the ewe kicked at me and I flew out of bed and hit the wall trying to avoid it's flying hooves - but I digress...  that was another time and I still feel a bit "sheepish" about that one as well.

A guy could get hurt doing this!  My neck actually feels a little stiff this morning but other than that, I'm none the worse for wear...

Life is Good.

Feeling the Heat...

I've been hearing rumors that I've been kinda slack on updating this blog... like I've got nothing better to do aye?

Well, I made it to Courtenay the other day and my grandkids are as beautiful as ever... and I've been golfing the past couple of days.. played Sunnydale a couple of days ago.. shot a 94 but it's a fairly easy course.  Yesterday I played Storey Creek in Campbell River.  It's a tough little track and my 104 flattered my actual play.

The weather has been pretty hot.. around +30C the past few days.  I decided to stay overnight last nite in Campbell River.. love that town and if Jewels and I ever decide to settle in Canada.. this might be our place.

I have to decide on my travels for the next while.. was going to head home to Duluth starting out on monday but now it looks like I'll be here a while longer as our UV reflective EZ street will be on the stove on the 26th.

Love this area.. miss my baby....

Life is Good.