Fun in Canada

I just got done organizing photos from our awesome trip to Canada a couple of weeks ago. We took a ferry to Vancouver island, spent most of the week camping on the Cowichan River which was really beautiful and remarkably empty. At least this year, the Canadian schools got out a week or so later than the Pac NW American schools, giving us a great week of very nice June weather in which the campgrounds, rivers, lakes, bike trails, and hotels were remarkably empty.

The Cowichan River area had a lot to offer. There's a "rails to trails" conversion with a really cool trestle wayyyyy above the river. The kids had a blast running over that. The campground we stayed in had a nice trail all the way around it, and lots of lovely spots on the river to visit.

We went up to Lake Cowichan for two days running and had the lake totally to ourselves! There was not a speed boat in sight (which apparently is not the case at all in the summer). The kids got these fun inflatable floatie animals and had a blast cruising around the swimming area. I brought my running shoes, bike, and thankfully my wetsuit, because while the shallow areas of the lake were warm enough, it was quite freezing out past about three feet deep.

After most of the week camping and enjoying the peace and quiet and beauty of the B.C. parks and campgrounds (did I mention that the B.C. campground we went to was all gravel roads, no motorhome hookups and generators were not allowed...Oh for a U.S. State park to take this approach to camping again! It was like real camping instead of being next to a bunch of mobile hotel rooms with TVs blaring), we headed back to Victoria for a few days of total tourist fun.

The Royal BC museum was a big hit with both of the kids. They have a very nice Native peoples exhibit and a full-size mammoth. We took horse-drawn carriage rides, and had "high tea" (6 y.o. Diva was disappointed at first "I thought it was going to be high tea, like we would all be sitting on some high stools or something!" but when they brought out the tiny sandwiches and tarts, all was well).