"Up Island" - Part 2

Continued from Part 1 . . . 

The next day, we drove back towards Courtney and entered Strathcona Park from a different area. We started on the Paradise Meadows Loop Trail and followed the Lake Trail to Lake Helen Mackenzie.  

We ate lots of bog blueberries along the way. Yummy! 

Another stellar lunch spot at Lake Helen Mackenzie.

There were so many colourful mushrooms! 

In the morning, before heading home, we went for a short hike in Millard Nature Park in Courtney. Once on the trails, it's hard to believe you're right beside a big shopping mall! 

"Up Island" - Part 1

A couple weekends ago, we headed "up island" and spent a couple days at Campbell River, Comox and Courtney. 

We packed a lunch on the way there and stopped to eat at Kye Bay Beach in Courtney. Andrew's sister, Clare, had been there recently and highly recommended it. The tide was out so we saw lots of shells as we wandered on the beach after lunch. 

We always love visiting aquariums and the Discovery Passage Aquarium in Campbell River featured local marine life and included touch pools. An enthusiastic and attentive employee was great at answering any quesitons. Marine species are collected in the spring and release them again in the fall as the aquarium closes during the winter. 

This mural in Campbell River is gorgeous!! 

We stayed at Painter's Lodge which was very nice had beautiful views over the water. 

On our first full day, we went for a couple short hikes in Elk Falls Provincial Park. 

I was happy to have my bear spray with me! There was lots of scat on the trail. 

I didn't carry my big camera on this hike and, considering the distance away, I thought my iPhone did a pretty good job on this photo of a turkey vulture. Of course, Andrew did bring his big camera and got much better photos! 

Lunch with a view at Buttle Lake in Strathcona Provincial Park.

Unfortunately, the short hike into Elk Falls was through a construction zone but the falls themselves were impressive! 

Road Trip June 2024 - Five Springs

Sometimes I'm totally on top of getting blog posts done, other times . . . not so much!  

I put the photos in here back in June during our trip to Five Spring, Wyoming. Andrew had some great flights. We always love this beautiful, quiet, laid back place. 

Road Trip June 2024 - Sheridan, Wyoming

The Sheridan Inn is another beautifully restored historic hotel. It opened in 1893 and, of course, its most famous guest was "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Over the years, the hotel closed and, for a time it was an office building. Thankfully it was purchased again in 2013, renovated and updated back to a hotel. Each room is named after a character from Bill Cody's life. Our room was named after "Death Valley" Scotty. 

We went downtown both for coffee and for supper. Main Street features some really nice, and interesting, sculptures. A lot of them had an "old west" theme but there were also lots of animal ones that we really liked. The sun angle wasn't the best for some of these so a few are not the greatest photos but at least they give an idea of how nice these were. 

This lizard was on one side of this, with the snake on the other.
See below photo for how the lizard's tail falls over to the snake side at the top. 

The poor squished frog on the bottom! :-)

Without the foggy conditions we had on the way there, the drive back was very scenic. We stopped at this overlook where there is a paragliding launch and a nice landing zone below. Conditions weren't quite right for Andrew to fly.