Sunday, August 19, 2012

more Canadian summer.......


Canada day at a local neighbourhood block party......

Frankie picked these blueberries from a local farm.....


the farm

on the road again, visiting up island. Vancouver island is about the size of Formosa, but with only 1% of the population!


First stop is Chemainus, a quaint little logging town with rich history of Canadian past...

known for its beautiful murals depicting scenes from yesteryears...


parents, don't leave your kids by themselves!!!

Frankie in front of the B&B we stay at.

enchanted garden is the name.

Frankie petting a pussy cat in the veranda.

a happy camper!

more scenes at the murals...




with temperature warming up to 28C, its time to head for the beach, Parksville has a spectacular beach with miles of fine sand at low tide.....


Frankie and I checking out the tidal pool.

miles and miles of sandy beaches...

Frankie digging clams with her bare hands.

one clam at the time....

within minutes, we have enough clams for a small lunch.

speaking of lunch, some people eat to live, we live to eat.....

and drink.....

yum yum.....however, we miss the food in Taiwan. I miss the fresh fruits and veggies, the daily morning visits to the local market, the boys nite out and karaoke, the foot massages, the daily tennis.....


after lunch, we went to an amusement park nearby, with Frankie at the helm of a bumpa boat equipped with a squirt gun.

nice park for the whole family.

and a lone spectator.
evening with friends after dinner.

Next day, we went to Cumberland, a small mining town with a rich past. At one time, it had the largest Chinese population north of San Francisco. Robert Dunsmuir, a Scottish coal baron hired thousands of Chinese coolies to work in the mines; yes, cheap labour. Picture above was taken at the KMT headquarter in Cumberland. Notice it says "CNL" which stands for Chinese National league. In the 1920s, KMT was known as CNL due to the fact that it was the only political party in China, before Mao's uprising with his Communist party in the 1930s.

The facade of CNL now sits in front of the museum.

some artifacts left behind by the bygone era....



One last stop is Mt Washington, a winter wonderland but also open during the summer for biking and hiking. We took the chair lift up to the top of the mountain at about 5000 feet elavation, and what a spectacular view! Its been thirty years since I skiied at these mountains, brings back a lot of memories.....







still some snow left from the winter......
Well, leaving for Taiwan in three days, I do miss the heat, friends, tennis, morning hikes and workouts....





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