i spent a lovely long weekend on Vancouver island with Meg, Danielle, Friso, and George the dog. Danielle lives in Saanich so she played a wonderful host to us all weekend, greeting us ever morning with yummy breakfasts on the patio which overlooked the trees and the mountains (and some construction sites). we went from town to town all over the island, meeting Friso's parents in Nanaimo, checking out the harbour and the giant starfish in Sidney, going window shopping in Victoria, getting overwhelmed by candy and memories in Chemainus, stopping for sandwich lunches in Ladysmith.
We also went tubing down the Cowichan, which was an extraordinarily pleasant experience. The next day, we went hiking in Goldstream park and accidentally ended up climbing Mount Finlayson. I can tell you that will never happen in Ottawa, where you're hiking and your trail suddenly turns into a mountain. it was fun though, we were searching for the magical entrance to the adult Narnia. which is sort of how i've started viewing the Island, because i've never lived there, but i've been there several times and they've all become pleasant, dream-like memories, whether it's fishing with my family in Crofton, kissing with the first man i loved on a Victoria harbour, or eating fish and chips with rob in tofino. i don't think i could live there, at least right now, but for the first time i thought about my retirement, while i was walking through sidney and thought, wow, i could be happy spending the end of my life here. a strange thing to think at twenty-four.
