Father’s Day Island Style

We live in this island paradise but our boys are far away. We love getting the cards and phone calls (the picture is Bill talking to Kirk in England) but we also have find ways to celebrate special days like this without them. With perfect weather this weekend, we did celebrate Island style: biking

Yesterday we revisited the Galloping Goose trail along with Nicky and Derek. They have not ridden the last part by the Sooke River potholes so we shared this special place with them. We had such a great ride along a beautiful trail that features water-side views along Sooke Basin, towering trees, massive rock faces and even some moutain views. It’s a treasure. The last section along the river afforded many unique views along with a great place for a picnic lunch to enjoy the scenery.

We topped it off with dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant in Victoria. The drive to the restaurant was lovely along scenic Dallas road that we have ridden and driven several times now. What was most exciting was to see how many people were out and about on bikes, walking or playing on the beaches. This is partly because the weather was so lovely but also I think people are starting to emerge from their home-bound bubbles as confidence in life returning to ‘normal’ grows. It was great to see.

Today we did a short ride to Chemainus together, again under blue skies and sunshine. This trail is a lovely one too. There is a nostalgic stop on this trail. It’s by a large dairy farm that I remember seeing for the first time last year on one of our first rides. It was memorable because is was the first time we saw this magical combination of farm fields with a mountain backdrop. Last year the fields by the path were full of corn. This year it’s being used for hay and today it was a beautiful site with contrasting greens and yellow rows of recently mown grass, with the mountain and interesting clouds being formed by windblown airplane contrails. We also enjoyed the performance by up to 10 bald eagles soaring and hunting in the field. We watched them soar and circle and then swoop down to catch what we can only assume were mice hiding in the rows of recently cut hay. It was a special moment.