A Beautiful summer vacation on Bowen: July 28th - August 14th, 2008

Our stay is nearly over and it has been beautiful at the cabin. The weather began with a 60-ish temp and soft showers for day one. The locals apologized for the weather but Akira and I love the sound of the rain tapping on the roof while we sit in front of the fire. The perfect opportunity for S'mores. The above photo was taken as I walked up the road from the Lazy Bowen Hideaway.

Speaking of the fireplace......a "new" oil painting was gifted to me from Lori Conway's mother by way of New Mexico. Lori's Great, Great Grandfather Langlois had his yacht and Bowen Island painted on canvas in the 1800's. He would be pleased to know it is perfect above our fireplace. In a future blog I will share more about the Langlois history on Bowen Island.

We socialized with our Eagle Cliff neighbors at the first annual Eagle Cliff potluck. Wow, I did not know our community was so large. One of the most interesting introductions came from meeting Tom Mitchell who lives high up Mt. Collins on a ranch. I learned that he is actually working on a Solar Energy project for the Las Vegas Valley. His investment group is collaborating with businesses in Las Vegas to develop a 100 square mile solar panel farm which would be capable of delivering power to the entire US. We hope it comes to light.


Dana, Akira's cousin, joined us August 2nd and they have had a blast. She brought the swimming weather with her from Seattle (?) which we appreciated. One day the two cousins swept the moss off the roof, cleaned the gutters, chopped wood, swam, walked 3k to Snug Cove and then finished up with Kayaking in the evening. And that was just one day on Bowen. Dana calls the cabin, "The perfect Happy Place." I believe she is right.














Kayaking Wednesday evening was smooth as glass. The quiet view floating in Deep Cove while the Bald Eagle soared above me was priceless. (my cell phone photo of the eagle above me will be added once we return to the states)






The sunsets have been gorgeous and we heard that the best could be seen from Smugglers Cove so we went exploring. Driving only 25 mph we barely missed a 6 point buck as it darted out of the bush to cross the road. The black tail deer come out at sunset time as well.
Our drive took us to the west side of Bowen called Hood Point West the future site of our hike with Len.

Saturday, August 9, Len Gurski aka Murski, our neighbor, guided us on a 3 hour hike from Hood Point West up Mt. Collins to an old growth forest. The trail was lined with blooming Foxgloves and pin straight Alders. The slope would undulate from steep to flat which provided a welcome break from the huffing and puffing. Near the Summit of Mt. Collins the forest changed to old growth fir trees 200 feet tall. At this elevation the winds made the forest sing and sway in unison.......it was breathtaking. How this old growth forest survived the logging of the 1900's is a puzzlement but we are glad it did. What a magnificent site!!!
Akira and Dana were still running as we neared the bottom of the mountain. On the other hand, I was tired and my muscles were fatigued. I slid on the downhill gravel trail and my body could not decide which way to fall. With a lunge to the right and then a correction to the left I landed on a bed of ferns and cushioned pine needle bed. Just a little wounded pride and nothing that a couple Ibuprofen couldn't mend.

Bowen Island is the model of recycling. Everyone sorts their trash not only in groups of paper, plastic, glass, and metal but subgroups of each. Thank goodness the volunteers at the Bowen Island Recycling Depot are happy to teach us the specifics of trash sorting. Here is where Dana and Akira had another unique opportunity. They went dumpster diving in the paper dumpster only to bring home a dozen discarded books for their reading pleasure. They were so excited to find great books for free. The volunteer explained to me that anytime kids are excited about books and reading (even from a dumpster) parents should be supportive. So I adjusted my perspective from "trash to treasure" and we have added to the cabin's library. While at the dumpsters edge a woman was tossing boxes of books into the dumpster mostly science and historical books. Interestingly, she had no need for them any longer as they did not contain information about Global Warming and the history books were too "colonial." Apparently she did not see the value of a different viewpoint from hers.
Our vacation is nearly over and the memories will last forever. We love Bowen Island.

Comments

Jen said…
What a beautiful retreat. How do you and Akira find your way back to Las Vegas?
Jan said…
Well, if I didn't have it rented for this weekend we would delay our return. We just love it here. Jan