Hello Everyone!
You might have noticed I've been away from the internet for the past little while (you did notice, right?) and there was a very good reason for my absence. I took a trip up to my hometown of Campbell River to visit some of my family. Yes, my brother does have internet and I could have used it to keep up with Facebook or check my emails or whatever, but I chose not to. I was on vacation and I just wanted to get away from everything for a while and, quite truthfully, it was really nice.
I went three days without reading about Haiti, hearing about celebrity breakups and public f*ck ups, the Olympics, politics, war, and best of all three days without seeing all those silly Facebook statuses that say: “post this as your status message for one hour to raise awareness about whatever (but don’t tell the boys!)”. (Oh I’m going to get it for that one).
Internet aside, the main thing I wanted to write about today was visiting my hometown. Campbell River is a quiet little city about midway up the Eastern side of Vancouver Island. Although populated by First Nations peoples for centuries, the town itself wasn’t actually established until about 150 years ago and is reportedly named for a ship surgeon by the name of Samuel Campbell. The community’s economy is largely based on the forest industry, but also relies on mining, fishing, and tourism. (Oh, and parts of the Twilight movies were filmed there too. Blah.)
While all of these industries have suffered one way or another in recent years, Campbell River continues to grow and change and every time I go back to visit I notice something new. Here, in no particular order, are a few photos from my most recent visit. My friends on Facebook can see more photos there.
The view from my brother's front door. This was in the morning. As the sun moved across the sky, those mountains really lit up!
Somewhere on the beach in Willow Point looking North.
Bald eagles everywhere!
Breathtaking scenery!
Big Rock. Self explanatory. It's a 10,000 year old local landmark with an unoriginal name.
Downtown C.R. near Tyee Plaza. This has really changed! The logger up on the pole is old, but he's been rebuilt and mounted on a new tree (poor old tree). On the left is the ugly new "Spirit Square" slapped together for the Olympic Torch relay. I hate it, and I miss the grassy hill that used to be there.
The M.V. Powell River Queen, also known as the Quadra Ferry.
Another bald eagle enjoying a snack on the beach. She knew I was there, but wasn't bothered by my presence. It was some other kid on the beach that scared her off.
That's all I'm going to post here, my friends. As I said, there are a lot more on my facebook page, but this is all I want to post on my public blog. I hope you enjoyed them.
The Wandering Oak
