A June Adventure

I was antsy today. No particular reason, just fidgety and antsy. It wasn't that I had a lazy day, lounging around, or sleeping in too late. Nope - I was busy today;

• 9:20am to 10:00 - tea at a friend's house
• 11:00am to 1:30pm bridal shower brunch for a dear friend
• 2:00pm to nearly 3:30pm - Preview of Donna Eichel's show at Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (went with Gilly)
• 3:45 to 4:20ish - post artshowpreview tea at Gilly's place
• 4:45 to about 6:00pm - tea and scones and strawberries and visiting with my parents at their house... and leaving with a HUGE wild and wooly bouquet
• 6:15ish - got home.
• 7:00ish - made some dinner (a croissant, toasted in the oven with feta and artichoke hearts and a scrambled egg on it when it came out of the oven... mmmm)
• 7:30ish - decided to go on an impromptu roadtrip - called a friend in Duncan to see if she wanted to go for a walk or a coffee (to no avail).
• 7:35ish - called a more local friend to see is she wanted to do the same - no answer, but I left a message.
• 7:37 - another friend calls! "What are you doing?" I ask..."nothing" she replies. "We should go for a walk and an icecream" I say. "Not this late" she says, "its somebody's bedtime"... and I hear a cry in the background. Fair enough, shes worked all day, and her toddler has had enough of today.
• 7:56 - I decide I better just go by myself. On a walk. For a drive. To get an icecream. Something!!!

So I leave the house. Get in the car. Note the evening sky and decide that it would be really fun to chase the sunset. Don't get me wrong. I know that you can only chase it so far when you live on Vancouver Island, but I was bored, and it was nearly dark anyways.

As I was driving out towards the west, I was thinking of many things. About which route would take me to a place where I could walk for a bit and still be doing it before it was dark. And then I thought about Fernie Farm, and how far out that had seemed when I was a kid, and how Uncle Noel and I drove and drove and drove one day, and finally ended up at this house at the bend in the road, and we stopped, and got out, and went into a house for tea and scones in what seemed to be someones living room/front porch. And it seemed they knew him, although maybe not very well, but well enough that they brought us scones and tea... and so I decided that was were I'd head for my drive/walk/icecream. I knew they haven't been open for years and years, but it would be fun to see the old wee farm.

Sort of a mini treasure hunt for one.

So I drove. And I got there near dusk. And really - you can't see anything of the past for all of the brambles and plant growth. The farm was still there, although the "Fernie Farm" sign was gone.

I couldn't find the beach access that I was quite sure was around there, either, so I continued until I found a place that sold icecream. A little known fact about me is that I love icecream that is scooped and sold at convenience stores. They quite often have my favourites which I can never seem to buy in the grocery store: Rum n raisin, blue bubblegum, maple pecan. I got my scoop of blue bubblegum (mmmmm) and got into the car again. And drove.





I took a few "adventure turns" - you know, the kind where you don't actually know where it goes, but it might be fun when you get there? And I stumbled upon the lake with an island in it that a friend had recently told me about. I think it would be fun to swim out to the island and work on getting a bit of colour, as he suggested.


After taking a spin around the parking lot - trying not to disturb the make-out people in the only other car there - I continued along this little known road (ok, so maybe its really well known to lots of people, but I hadn't been out on it) and took another couple "adventure turns".

The road was growing darker and narrower, and I wondered what I might finally find at the end of this one.


A park.

That was the promise that the signs made.

When I finally arrived at the park's parking lot, I got out of the car, and headed out along the path, hopeful that I would find something worthwhile before "sunset" at which time I would not only be unable to see my way back to the car, but I would most certainly be locked behind the park's gate!




I walked quickly along a path which looked like it might lead to the water, stopping only to notice that the wild roses smelled sweeter and stronger than I recalled them ever smelling. Maybe I would be able to get a photo of a most beautiful pink cloud. Or a boat out on the water. This beach would be facing the wrong way to be watching the sunset, anyways.

When I got down the path, and down the stairs to the beach, I realized that I had found the most beautiful local beach I've ever seen!

The sky was lavender blue, and pink.

Fine silver sand, soft on the feet. The sort you'd expect to find lining the beaches on the coast of Mexico.

Sun bleached logs, and trees that hung over the beach.

The smells of seaweed and ocean and maybe a hint of last night's beach fire.

It was delightful. And perfect.
















I was antsy today. And it led me to all sorts of new places.