sunset, Sunshine Coast

Not much a post, I admit. Well, not much text anyway. A bunch of pretty photos to share instead.

Conrad and I had dinner up the coast last night, catching up with my stepmother, Bella, and my brother Carlos over a meal at Daphne Restaurant in Sechelt. After we'd finished, they headed home to Madeira Park, and Conrad and I continued south to our B&B in Davis Bay. It's a lovely little stretch of the highway there, along the water front. Beach, a pier, some small motels and B&Bs, a view across to Parksville on Vancouver Island. I rather like the place and wish we'd had a couple of night there. Ah well.

Anyway, as we drove toward the B&B, we could see that the colours of sunset were becoming more and more intense. I asked Conrad to pull over short of the B&B so that we could be sure to get some photos as the sun went down. We were not, assuredly, the only people to have that idea.

I don't wish to live on the Sunshine Coast, but evenings like last night make me wish I could visit a lot more often.

Sunshine Coast jaunt - last few shots

And just to squeeze out one more entry tonight (even if it doesn't get posted until some time tomorrow)...

Dad, in case I didn't mention it, has about 350 feet or so of waterfront at his place. The house is modest, the beach is rocky/barnacly (is that a word?), but it's waterfront, and that's pretty cool. Off to the north are some structures that have been there ever since I can recall - remnants of an old pier? Whatever they are, they make for a popular resting spot for cormorants. This was about the least crowded we saw it the couple of days we were up there.

Wheatberries. You may have seen in the blog, or on Facebook, or on Twitter that I would spend time there. My usual habit when I'm up visiting Dad is to get up at around 5:30, leave the hotel and drive down to Sechelt for a swim. After that, breakfast and coffee with a side of wireless Internet access at the downtown Sechelt location of this small chain. I'm rather fond of it. Also nice is the little shack out at the Langdale ferry terminal. Marie and I grabbed more coffee and a light bite there for lunch while awaiting the 2:30 sailing.

As the ferry approached Horseshoe Bay, we were all summoned back to our vehicles. Our car was pretty close to the bow of the boat, and we wandered as far forward as we could to catch a shot or two. Our reward was great gusts blowing our layers of clothes about and doing an especially hilarious job of styling Marie's hair.
She'll hate me for these photos (but not because of the hair), but they really are funny without being mean, I think.

more evidence of impending spring

Evidence of spring on the Sunshine Coast, that is. Aside from the crocuses in bloom in many places (and they are such a glorious sight after a long dreary winter, I love them so), I spotted these in bloom on the grounds of our hotel here.

Filipino cooking

Ah, if only I could make this food. I never learned, and I've never sought out the recipes. Shame on me.

A couple of days on the Sunshine Coast, visiting family, and for the first time in (I think) almost 6 years, I got to have a bunch of homemade Filipino food. Ah, memories of many delicious meals made by my step-mother in years gone by. Bella's sister, Alberta, took care of most of the cooking while Bella was at work, offering up a dish of noodles and local prawns with a sauce made from the prawn shells and heads,
adobo chicken, and another chicken dish. And salad, by the way. A family dinner for me for a change.



Truly, it rocked. So very nice after all these years. I hope it's not 6 more years. After dinner, rain - then hail - moved through the area, then things brightened up enough for sunset over Texada.

Marie and I came back to the hotel, and all felt contentedly well.

Sunshine Coast, return trip

A final post from the recent BC trip, and once again, little narrative attached. On Friday I was on the 12:20 ferry from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay. Patches of blue sky poked through ominous clouds (it had rained in the wee hours that morning), but the sea was calm, and the crossing otherwise uneventful.

Some images from the start of the sailing:









I really do love those Wheatberries locations, though - early mornings in Sechelt, after my swim, I'd sit and eat, drink coffee, and surf the Net there.

driftwood

I had some time to myself this past week, and nothing productive that needed to fill that time. I found myself a few times down at the waterfront, walking and admiring what the sea casts up. Driftwood, logs. Memories of childhood and scrambling over them on the beach in front of my Grandma's place.








And once in a while, looking up, I would notice not the soggy cast-offs of the ocean but the life thriving nearby: an eagle (and another flew by) in a tree in Davis Bay. Look closely.

dining alone

Last night, if you'd read my Facebook status (I know, I know - you have to be my FB friend in the first place), you'd know that the women sitting at the table behind mine in the hotel lounge were far louder and more obnoxious than they had any right to be. The desk clerk and I had a chuckle over the whole thing this evening before dinner. Good food last night, but I couldn't wait to get back to my room.

I should clarify something here - I'm not on vacation in BC. I'm at a lovely hotel on the BC coast, and the whole area is rather special to me, but there's a non-vacation reason for it all, and it's not a topic for this blog. Still, I have to eat, and I have down time to myself. Posts like this are the result.

The first time I ate at the Rockwater Secret Cove Resort, it was Easter, and I was not really thrilled. Silly me, to judge a place by the tail end of an Easter brunch buffet. How could that be good indication? I stayed here last October, then, and in the course of that visit, I needed a night in the room to myself. Room service. Wow. Good food. I was actually a little crushed that one of the items I had that night, a beef carpaccio with a truffle oil mayonnaise, was not on the menu when Conrad and I came up here in December. The December trip was wonky in other ways, thanks to the weather. Funny times.

I really like this place, though. The location suits me very very well. The room is lovely and comfortable, and I'll soon go hop in the HUGE soaker tub. The wine list has some nice BC options. The chef knows his or her stuff. And guess what/ The carpaccio is back!

Yum!

More yum was to follow. I had the pork last night. Dad laughs at how often I eat pork, I think, but it's such good meat. The chop I had last night was very good. Curiously, though, it was the starchy side that drew me back to it tonight. I'll be good and forego carbs after this trip, but I had to have the pork again because I really wanted the gnocchi? Do they make it here? If the restaurant was quiet tonight, I would have poked my head in the kitchen to ask. Alas, they had a big birthday party in another room. The gnocchi melted, though. I'm a little floored by it.

I read my book, Bury the Chains, through dinner, then I brought the remains of my second glass of wine (a Tinhorn Creek Merlot) back to the room. No dessert tonight, though a three-course dinner would only have cost me $29. I'm full, satisfied. I'll be sure to swim in the morning, too.

Mid-March I'm back here again, and perhaps my sister will be in tow. If so, we'll have a good dinner together, and perhaps share a bottle of something. No, it really isn't a vacation, but I know that will be hard to believe. But hey, a guy DOES have to eat!

HA!

To all my friends in the wintry middle of the US (and all other points US that have snow covering the ground) who thinks it's SOOOOO funny to bug me about things in Canada being so much colder, more Arctic, I offer you these photos from this afternoon (in early February) on the coast north of Vancouver.








I also offer you this gentle advice: suck it!

;-)