always at sea level: Shop till You Drop

Where do I start? So much, in fact everything is different...except for the weather. It's been on the cool side ( translation- cold ) foggy, some drizzle and windy, although to be fair late in the afternoon the fog will dissipate, the clouds will part and the sun will shine....sometimes.

We are becoming reacquainted with our home. Takes a bit of getting use too the small quarters after the grandeur of the Outpost. From “my” spot at the table it is 4 steps to the coffee. No longer do I have to repeat myself endlessly nor do I have to drop what I'm doing in the kitchen, walk out to the living room and ask “What did you say?” Another upside to this downsize is that Mike can no longer use the excuse, “Sorry hon, I didn't hear you ask me to do that.” There is always a silver lining.

Our anticipated trip to Campbell River was exhausting, we are just not use to so much activity. Having got such a great deal on a rental car for the weekend we decided to go that route instead of the bus. Driving is always a new experience for us, thank heavens the road to Campbell River (2.5 hours) is not busy. I think we counted 5 cars in the first 2 hours. Our little KIA “Forte” was peppy but couldn't hold all we had purchased. Who knew that bikes now come assembled. All those gears and some new type of braking system is best left to the professionals, we were told. All right by me and the courier charge to Hardy was unbelievably reasonable, unlike a lot of things we came across.

Main street Port Hardy. There is a stop light in town but it's over by the mall.

We call this “The Mall”. Grocery store, drug store, $ store, 2 clothing stores, a sports shop, craft shop and an A&W. Now there are a number of other businesses scattered around the town so it's not as restricted as it appears.

I no longer hear the sound of the water but that has been replaced by the cry of eagles. They are everywhere you go. Today there were about a dozen diving for fish in the shallows close to shore. This is a just a youngster.

Almost got him.

Getting a bird's eye view.

I still haven't found out what type of tree (?) this is, but it's pretty.

Just a few more pictures from our trip home. This is the “Clubhouse” where we spent a wonderful evening.

Moments after arriving and settling into our room, we shared a glass of wine with Brian Legge, one of the owners, had a great dinner up at the penthouse than finished off the evening in front of the 60 inch flat-screen TV. First time we have seen the 11 o'clock news in months.