Scott Bush

After another nice breakfast—this time cinnamon toast with honey from cousin’s apiary—we had a visitor for coffee: my great uncle Len. It was fun to talk with him and to have Crystal get a chance to meet him. He’s very laid back and we were immediately having fun shooting the breeze and trying to complete electronic New York Times crossword puzzles.

Inspired during our first day’s tour around PW, Crystal and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day by hiking up Mt. Valentine. Completely gorgeous… a peaceful wood of Aspens, then a steep climb up rough-hewn steps to a bouldered, grassy bluff overlooking the paper mill below and the Straight of Georgia beyond that. We spent a relaxing, solitary half hour or so enjoying nature before returning to our car and driving to Marine View drive to check out the stores.

PW’s retail-industrial complex grinds to a halt on Sundays, it turns out. Not many stores were open; a few knick-knack/local goods stores, a thrift shop, and a used-book seller. One gem was Robbie’s Hemp Shop and Juice Bar. We strolled past the door, then kinda stopped and looked at each other. “Wanna check it out?” I asked. “If you do,” Crystal replied. So we did. Pretty neat actually! We ended up spending about 30 minutes there talking to the propietor and her friend (we were the only customers that day, we found out; Sunday is slow in Powell River!). Crystal enjoyed the juice special: carrot-beet, a real steal at CAN$2.50 for 12 ounces. We watched her throw big carrot after carrot and beet after beet into her juicer—along with half an apple for sweetness. The resulting juice was good and very healthy. I even took my first shot of wheatgrass (on the house, too!). Not bad, but I definitely would prefer it mixed in with other fruit.

We had lunch at Rocky Mountain Bakery, which sold sandwiches, soups, and pizza, before rounding out the day at the aforementioned used book shop. The weather was gorgeous and really made the town sparkle… we couldn’t have asked for a nicer afternoon.

But our evening was even better! After returning home and cleaning up (and refreshing with a lime cordial in the garden) we exchanged cars with my cousin Mike so we could later pick up family friends Bill and Snookie Amos and head out for dinner. But first we toured Mike’s beautiful new home, which they’d just finished building about a year earlier. Amazingly beautiful place.

Forgive my use of clichéd adjectives, but our next stop at Snookie and Bill’s “estate,” for lack of a better word, was incredible. They have the most exsquisite garden I’ve ever seen. I remembered it from my childhood visits, but it’s come a long way since then. Shrubs define various sections of the garden, each with well-kempt beds of bright flowers and magnficient trees. A clear brook runs through it, and a pretty wooden gazebo offers a restful place to sit and enjoy it. Snookie told us what each of the trees and flowers were and offered a history of the garden’s growth over the years. They’ve sold the property and are moving shortly, so it was a real treat to be able to enjoy (and take photos of) it before they left.

Dinner was my “birthday treat” and was at The Laughing Oyster in Okeover, which is about a half-hour outside of Powell River. What a meal! I had gunpowder prawns, while the rest of the diners had steak. There was a bit of a wait for the food to arrive, but it was well worth it: grilled asparagus and peppers, fried yam croquette, and rice pilaf accompanied my prawns, which were as spicy as promised and served on a large shell. I even got a slice of “chocolate chocolate crazy chocolate,” a secret desert. It was quite a meal, surpassed in taste only by the company in which I enjoyed it.

We rounded out the evening by driving out to the end of highway 101, which terminates in Lund. It’s a pretty little place, with not much but a hotel and a marina but is apparently a well-known tourist spot. The drive back to PW was pleasant; Bill even spotted a deer in a field as we stopped at an overlook to see Savary Island.

A long, eventful day… but still one of the most relaxing and enjoyable days I’d had in a long while. It was a nice change of pace, and made me realize how nice a slower-paced lifestyle can be.