Saltspring Island- more wow!

A sunny day again! Dave and I drove around Ucluelet and located the breakfast joint folks had told us about. As it turned out, the owner was a former Winnipeg chef who had been a Big Dave fan for many years. He cooked and cooked. Dave ate and ate. Life was good. These kind folks let me use their internet access during breakfast, and about a dozen coffees later I was somewhat caught up with the blog. Still cant get the pics up- and just discovered that todays keyboard wont do certain basic punctuation (guess which characters dont work). Ill fix this later from a smarter keyboard. (OK, I'm back to do that! And I've got some pics!)

One of Canada's great road trips is the stretch from Ucluelet to Port Alberni and beyond. We got some big coffees and enjoyed the ride out to the Big Road. We took the Crofton-Vesuvius Bay ferry over to Saltspring Island. The water was almost dead calm, so we stood in the front of the ferry and gawked at the sheer beauty of it all.


On Saltspring we were suckered for the first time by our Mapquest printouts. We've got a printout with maps and directions for each show. Mapquest told us to turn RIGHT, not left! It was OK, we got to tour some other parts of the Island, and we were not in a hurry. A quick call to our hosts got us back on track and soon we were pulling up to their drive.

This was to be our last house concert of the tour- and what a great time! The drive snaked up the side of a small mountain- the house was a beautiful, hand crafted work of art on the peak.

Vast windows and decks looked out over to the ocean, lush trees and flowers were all about. The front door featured a massive carving of a whale, and the fine woodwork detailing continued all through this massive, dream home. Hosts Ron and Oni made us feel completely at ease, and Dave and I spent a relaxed afternoon snoozing and catching up on our phone calls. Nice to sit out in the sun looking out over the bay below!












About sixty people arrived for a pot luck dinner prior to the show- another spread well suited for royalty! I sampled local sheep cheese and wines, ribs, pear pie... After a short break Dave and I got down to it and played a really fun show to this packed room. These folks bought a huge number of cds, and made us feel very, very welcome indeed. I hope I can come back to this island and visit again and again. After the show Dave jammed a bit with another Dave. Another magic day.