Well, the truth is, we've been hearing some disgruntled rumblings from our loyal readers about the general lack of essential messaging lately. And the only argument I can make in our defense is that being retired is not all about watching the clouds and wondering what to make for dinner. Especially not when you're visiting Barbara and Charlie Mack on Haida Gwaii (aka Queen Charlotte Islands) Ty and I just arrived in Lander, WY after spending 2 magical weeks with his folks in BC. Winnowing down the trip to a handful of highlights is a tall order, but here's an attempt:
After arriving we didn't waste much time in setting out for a 4-day kayaking trip that took us out to the untamed western side of Haida Gwaii to visit the site of an old Haida village. On the way, we paddled over miles of a colorful, watery universe including colonies of bat stars, sun stars, sea enenomies, moon jellies and muscles. Rock crab scuttled around in the eel grass, and we caught some tasty rock fish. At the village site we found two totem poles still standing in the abandoned woods amid giant ferns and moss-covered hemlock and sitka spruce. The paddle home was exciting for several reasons including the two orcas we saw and the fabulous blue tarp sail that Ty rigged up for our double Kayak, allowing us to sail most of the way home. On the paddle home we also stopped by an amazing little organic farm on Maude Island, to do a little weeding and learn about the challenges of organic farming at the end of the earth.
Our visit with Barbara and Charlie also included some fabulous bear viewing, salmon berry picking, music playing, halibut fishing and some wild hikes and runs through the mossy rainforest of Haida Gwaii. Certainly experiencing all the wildlife and the beautifully rugged landscape of the island was a great adventure, but perhaps my favorite moments of the whole trip happened at the dinner table where we all had a chance to tell stories, polish our political diatribes, laugh, and enjoy the colorful bounty of BC (inspiringly, the Macks are on the low-carbon 100-mile diet).
The entire trip up to Canada was a lot of fun, from being harassed by Canadian customs officers at the border crossing (you don't have jobs?!?!), to our last night in a funky little town-owned campground in Milk River (Ty's place of birth). In fact, our only disappointment in Canada was with the quality of the programming on BBC radio, which Canadians explained was normal since the entire "regular" BBC staff takes the whole summer off and the B-team is left to run the show. That and the tiny cups of coffee at Tim Hortons (Canada's answer to Dunkin Donuts) - I really felt like an American saying "You call that thimbleful a Large?"
