It has been far too long since the YaYas have gotten together. Unfortunately we are only 3 on this retreat, C is doing her daughterly duty with her Dad.
R has recently had a stressful time of it with a forced move. Fortunately she has a positive attitude and was able to take on a long day of driving to get us to our destination.
ROAD TRIP!
In Horseshoe Bay, the perfect weather makes the town look lovely.
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L's DH took the opportunity to go and stay with a friend who happens to live just minutes from our destination of Desolation Sound Resort so they were able to drive up together.
Sailing past Gambier Island, I texted our school friend J to say we were sailing by.
She texted back that she could see us. Too fun.
Isn't this gorgeous!!!
It was a long journey. Once we arrived in Gibsons we had to drive north to Earl's Cove and catch a 2nd ferry there that would take us to the northern section of the Sunshine Coast.
But first a stop on the shore at Sechelt to eat our salads.
Ferry number 2, Earl's Cove to Saltery Bay
A 30 minute drive to Powell River and then another hour to Desolation Sound Resort.
The yellow line on the map shows a small portion of the 180 km Sunshine Coast Trail. I was very excited to see that we were only 2 kms from one of the access points.
We arrived just before dark. After sorting out our belongings, L fed us a delicious turkey shepherd's pie and corn on the cob.
We had a good catch up visit, then L and I made our way, in the dark, down to the resort's dock to view the stars. Lovely. We then retired fairly early.
The next morning I returned to the dock wanting to sit in the sun and read my book. L was catching up on some business from home and R was meditating (she is most diligent! Very impressive!).
It was a bit cool early in the morning but got quite warm as the hours passed.
Very quiet, the occasional boat passed by, a few fish jumped, a few ducks hung out. Lovely!
You can sort of see our cabin through the trees.
Three YaYas setting out on an adventure to Hurtado Point. Really it was supposed to be an easy hike but we ended up having to leave stick arrows at every turn. So fortunate we had done that, we may have still been searching for the car.
But yes it was very enjoyable and the view at the end was well worth it. It seems that I had us start the hike at the wrong place. Oops and sorry.
Our Destination, Hurtado Point
Once we made it safely back to R's car she drove us to the small village of Lund.
I had the impression that it was a very slip slap place, lots of old hippies and no appearance of any village planning laws.
Lund is well known for it's wonderful bakery. Unfortunately it is closed on Tuesdays ... yes the day that we happened to be there.
cute
Lund Harbour
There is a water taxi here.
One destination one requires a water taxi for is the northern end of the Sunshine Coast Trail.
I thought this totem and setting were lovely
It was so warm that the bees are out ... On October 3rd!
Some photos of our cabin. I liked the wood paneled walls. The stair case winds up to the loft type room where there are 2 comfortable beds. The staircase was a wee bit of a challenge as I made my way to the downstairs loo in the night. There is a main floor bedroom with an ensuite and access to the deck.
Unfortunately our main toilet was out of commission that first night so I had to use L's ensuite and I had to get up 3 times! Ya know when it is the middle of the night and you think to yourself, "I can't get up to pee!" makes you need to go all the more. So Sorry L!!!
We had lots of R & R time.
L showing off her cozy onesy.
Enjoying our breakfast on the deck.
The lovely peaceful view from the deck.
I am planning on hiking portions of the Sunshine Coast Trail next summer so was excited to check it out. We walked for about 1 hour, the path is extremely well marked and well maintained.
A nice stopping point. The mailbox has sign in sheets to keep track of hikers.
There was also a water cache at the beginning of this section.
I took a photo of the section map across the street.
This totem pole was just outside our cabin (#10)
We got a good workout constantly climbing the flights of stairs to and from the car.
some additional indoor shots
the views out the windows are lovely
After a lunch L and I ventured down to the dock just missing a mama bear and her cub.
I had fun photographing the abundant marine life attached to the dock.
A perfect spot for visiting with long time BFFs.
R's turn to make dinner with the help of some wine.
Vegetarian Spaghetti was her masterpiece.
Sunrise, I just missed the best of it.
L with her morning coffee.
Then it was time to pack up and leave by 9am in order to catch our ferries.
We dropped L off at her DH's buddy's place.
This was us leaving the Saltery Bay Terminal.
We got to The Lion's Gate Bridge around 5 PM and were happily shocked at the lack of traffic.
R got me to the King Edward Skytrain Station in good time, the connections were fast and easy and by 7pm I was on the ferry to Victoria.
We missed Caroline very much but her Dad needed her much more than we did. Ironically it was C that booked this adventure for us all.
