Rock Cairns by the Side of the Road

When I got out of the car to take a photo of the Route 66 sign I noticed there were several rock cairns by the side of the road.

It was quite a surprise for me because up to then I've only known rock cairns as a help to find your way on hiking trails through rough and wild country. There wasn't a hiking trail here and I wondered why they were here. Obviously someone or several people had set them up, but for what reason? Were they some kind of alternative trail markers? Or are they used as some kind of communication?

When I googled "rock cairns" I found that there is even a poll whether one should knock over rock cairns or not. The short article also held some interesting information about legal and illegal rock cairns. There was a reference to the book "Cairns: Messengers in Stone" by David Williams. Here I learned that they can mark a grave, serve as an altar or shrine, reveal property boundaries or sacred hunting grounds, and even predict astronomical activity.

They seem to come from the Himalaya and can be found in different terrain (even in the moors of Scotland). The book sounds quite interesting to me and I've put it on my Amazon wish list. This seems to be too good to pass up.

The Inuit of the Arctic are said to have more than two dozen terms to describe cairns and their uses. That reminds me of the inukshuk in Canada - one even was the logo of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, BC. When we went up the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia two years ago, we found a small inukshuk on a driftwood log at the beach.

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The inukshuk is available in my Etsy store

as a photo greeting card.

Check it out if you like!

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Along the Sunshine Coast

Let's travel along the Sunshine Coast - we can take the Water Taxi if you like!

The Sunshine Coast - somehow sunshine is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of British Columbia. In some areas, though, they have more sunshine than in others, and the Sunshine Coast is one of those areas. Since it is on the mainland it is rather protected from all the bad weather by the many islands that you find in the straits, especially Vancouver Island that separates this part of British Columbia from the open ocean.

We took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver) to Gibsons which is the first small town you get into when you have left the ferry. They greet you really nicely here:

It's mainly a fisher town with its own marina (more on that in a later post). I especially loved the signs in this town - signs of direction and the name of one of their fish and chips places.

The view over the strait from here is beautiful. It's pretty quiet as well, just add the sound of the ever hungry seagulls.

We spent the night in a campground nearby and went to the beach the next morning. It's a rocky beach here and rather "rustic".

Driving up the Sunshine Coast, you pass several inlets, all of them beautiful with a big sense of calm - quite what I like.

And watch out for those turtles!!!

When you're half way up the Sunshine Coast, the road ends in Earl Cove and you have to take the next ferry for a 75 minutes ride to Saltery Bay. While waiting for the ferry, you can take in the fabulous view - I would have liked to take the canoe and paddle out onto the water.

Instead, we boarded the ferry and enjoyed one of these peaceful, quiet boat rides that you get up here. It's a little bit like being in a different world - it smells of salty water and old forests.

We passed several smaller islands where people live in wonderful solitude while we listened to some violin music.

We arrived in Saltery Bay in the evening and immediately went to the campground nearby. It was a beautiful campground right in the woods. Unfortunately it was also infested with annoying mosquitoes, so we took our cooking stuff down to the strait's water to cook dinner. We had the place almost to ourselves.

This place was called Mermaid Cove. From here we could see the fisher boats come home and enjoy a beautiful sunset.

There were signs warning us that recently a bear was seen here, but on this evening the bear didn't "lust" for the mermaids.

Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt Part 2

Over the past month - July - I was busy for Rinda's 2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. These are the pictures I took for part 2 - most of them during the two weeks I spent in British Columbia.

#1 Open air market

While in Summerland in the Okanagan Valley my aunt and I went to the farmers market there. It was an interesting kind of farmers market - only a few booths that sold fruits and veggies whereas the rest were artists, soap makers, cosmetics. Perhaps it's because there are so many road-side fruit stands in that area that people don't go to the farmers market to shop their own bounty. We actually went there because of the breadmobile that offered hearty whole grain bread. Even the staff spoke German!

#3 City Hall, Capitol or other similar civic building

Our City Hall is really nothing to look at, and I'm almost never there. So I opted for this government building in Vancouver - I hope that this is okay. One of the many fabulous buildings that use much glass and simply look stunning. I took this picture out of the car, I didn't even roll down the window because I had to be quick (the traffic light was changing) - you can see my camera in the photo as well.

#4 Airplane

Well, it's a seaplane. There are so many of them in Vancouver, you can watch them right from the waterfront. There is regular seaplane transportation between Vancouver and all the little islands.

#5 A sunset

The sun sets pretty late along the Sunshine Coast at this time of year. It's always stunning to witness it when the colors are reflected in the quiet waters of the straits. This is at Mermaid Cove at Saltery Bay - very close to our campground. We had "fled" down to the water to prepare our dinner here since there were too many annoying mosquitoes at our campsite. Here, at the water, there weren't hardly any, but bear warnings instead. Apparently the bear's "lust" for mermaids was very low this evening.

#6 Someone or something taking a nap

I could have taken self-portraits since I love to take naps... and I'm not alone in this! These three puppies liked each other's company while napping, and I hope they had sweet dreams. These are three of my friend's puppies that I showed you here.

#8 A tower

There really is no tower around where I live, you have to go down to the city (= San Francisco) for that. Vancouver, however, has the Harbour Centre which I think can easily count as a tower.

#11 An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve, etc

This is "etc" - in the wilderness. Sorry for the bad photo - s/he was suddenly standing there at the side of this 63 km long gravel road and ready to run into the bushes, so I had to react quickly. This photo was shot through the windshield of our already very dirty car - no, I did NOT get out to get a better shot of the bear!

#12 A cloud in the shape of something (please specify what you see)

When I saw this cloud from one of the ferries we took I thought it looks like an elephant who is jumping for joy. Admittedly an elephant with a very short trunk (in the upper right hand corner) and his hind legs are somewhere hiding... but still!

#13 A fence

Well, yeah, you know how much I like to take photos of fences. That was a no-brainer for me. This weathered fence stood along the main road through Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast.

# 14 A stained glass object or a mosaic

I had to improvise with this one. But when I looked at all the reflections in the glass of the tall buildings in Vancouver I could see art - and yes, call it stained glass. I found it very fascinating.

#16 A windmill

These windmills were just a few of hundreds we saw in the otherwise rather uninspiring landscape in Washington State right before you descend to the Columbia River. I love this way off winning electricity - we use a lot of wind powered energy in Germany.

#18 Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop

We don't have a local pub (we drink our wine at home), I seldom go to a coffee house and I don't drink tea. The closest to a "local" we have had is our Jamba Juice. We went there pretty often this summer because the Geek had found some nifty coupons on the Internet which we used over and over again. All of us love their juices (I prefer the "light" version and I always substitute strawberries for raspberries and banana for mango).

#20 A dinosaur

Since I thought it very unlikely that I would meet a dinosaur this summer, I had already taken some pictures of dinosaur toys in shops. Then I came around these guys on the road to Ucluelet on Vancouver Island - two of them were hanging around there. Wow - I first couldn't believe my eyes. I don't really know why they were there - it wasn't a museum or anything like that. However, they fit perfectly the scavenger hunt!

I'm linking up to Rinda's blog where you can see what other people found for the Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. 

The Best Place on Earth

A small Inukshuk someone had built at a beach along the Sunshine Coast

A few days ago I came back from the North, from a province that calls itself "the best place on earth"

Right at the border between Washington and British Columbia

Of course I am talking about British Columbia, on the West Coast of Canada, our neighbors to the north.

We love British Columbia. It truly is very close to heaven - but is it the best place on earth?
Yes, I think so - or at least a very close second to Sonoma County.

British Columbia has far more forests - including beautiful rain forests - than we do in Sonoma County - and they have a wine country that makes excellent wines, especially if you like white and rose wines. Their Riesling and Gewürztraminer are fantastic and remind me a lot of the wines in Alsace and Germany.

At Stanley Park in Vancouver

What I love most, though, are the sounds and straits that you find right at Vancouver's doorstep, between Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast and up the entire Canadian West Coast. That truly is a "place of my heart".

But that's not all. There is the humor and wit of the Canadians, the kindness of the people - Canadians are such nice people. British Columbia is refreshingly clean and coming back to the US from there is a bit of a shock. Have you ever noticed how trashed our country is? It's a shame.

Canada Place in Vancouver, right at the waterfront

Canadians are just as proud of their country and fly their flag a lot. However, at least one member in our family isn't less proud and shows her support for Canada freely.

Even the mail boxes here are happy and colorful!

When we did this "test" we scored so high we could actually apply for citizenship! (if it were that easy)

And just so that we don't forget how beautiful it is here, every British Columbian car reminded us of that - as if we needed that!

There will be more posts about our time in British Columbia - I still need to organize my photos and make a selection. I just wanted to let you know that I am back and that there is more to come.