Lions and Looneys and Bears, Oh My!

(Craig writes) We got to see salmon running upstream today. No, not little fish running through the water with shoes on, but actual, really big, Discovery Channel looking salmon! We had seen pictures before but had never experienced something like this in real life. The adult fish we saw had started their life in the exact same river a few years earlier and now they were returning to the same place to spawn and then die. According to the info we got the salmon live for 10 days after entering the fresh water to head upstream. We took several pictures and got a short video or two of some of the salmon swimming up the waterfalls and through the shallow water, (checkout the latest pics on the slideshow and/or click on the video). I was tempted to wade in and collect a salmon or 12 but noticed signs indicating that the Canadian Provincial Government frowned upon such activity so only looked from a legal distance!

Leaving Goldstream Provincial Park we traveled further Northwest on Vancouver Island to the Soote area. This is where the landscape gets hilly again and you can see the Pacific Rim, our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean! We also stopped at French Beach to look around and found that the beach there was covered with beautiful round colorful stones not sand like we were used to in SC! There are also rainforest areas up there with huge moss covered tall trees, giant ferns, cougars and bears. (We enjoyed seeing the first two but were wary of seeing the second two.) We talked to a local lady at the visitor center who was a regular hiker herself and she shared a word of caution about the reality of the wildlife in the area. We had seen numerous places that sold "bear bells" that look like a big jingle type bell you would normally see at Christmas that attached to your backpack. The idea was that the bell would jingle while you walked and keep bears from being startled by your appearance. When we asked her if the bells really worked she replied with a grin, "Do you know how to tell a black bear's skat, (poop in the woods), from a grizzly bear's skat?" We answered "no" and she said "the grizzly bear's skat is the one with the bells in it"! Thankfully we didn't have any bear encounters while we were walking around up there, (at least we didn't see them).

Since crossing the border I have been trying to keep up with the differences the USA has with Canada so as not to appear as a boorish American tourist. Their money is obviously different than our US currency and the exchange rate is in our favor right now by about 20%. To keep things simple we try to use our Visa check card whenever possible as the daily exchange rate is figured by the bank and the proper amount in US dollars is deducted from our account. The coins are fun here. The one dollar coin is referred to as a "looney" as it bears the picture of a loon (the bird) on it. A two dollar coin looks like a looney with a dime sized hole drilled in it with a dime looking metal insert. The two dollar coin is referred as a "twooney". Every morning we have been in Victoria I have walked over to the corner store to buy Becky a red rose. Every evening I try to end up with two looneys or a twooney to have the correct change!

Tomorrow we plan to see more of the city of Victoria and be back to the B&B by 3:00 for tea. The tea time is quite enjoyable and delicious. I got the scone recipe from the staff here and look forward to trying it when we get back.