Month: October 2023

We can’t believe our time on Vancouver Island is almost at an end. It has been a great trip. We definitely understand the appeal of living here — mountains, water, great trails, and good people! Rafa was the sweetest Labradoodle and great companion, and Willow and Wall-E have been entertaining cats. Our two homeowners were welcoming and helpful, and it will be sad Sunday morning when we head out, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today, we drove about 15 minutes south to Maple Mountain Forest Preserve to do some hiking on the multi-modal (hiking, mountain biking, equestrian) trails there and take advantage of the 70 F degree weather. There were a number of cars in the lot when we pulled in. During the almost 3 hour hike, we ended up pulling over for 3 mountain bikers and were passed by two men on motor bikes when we were on the park road for a short part of the hike. All of the trails were well marked.

We headed back to Duncan today to check out the totem pole trail that they have, primarily in their downtown area. As with the murals in Chemainus, it was a fun way to explore the area.

Duncan, population of about 5,000, and now known as the City of Totems, began as a village called Alderlea in 1887 when William Chalmers Duncan donated farmland for the town site. The city of Duncan was incorporated in 1912. The totem pole project began in 1985 and is currently the world’s largest outdoor collection of publicly displayed totem poles.

Here’s some of the totems on display.

We are already into the 3rd day of the 10th month of this year. Where does the time go (my monthly question)? Sunday (10/1) Bob and I went to the Chemainus Theater for an afternoon performance of “The Fiancé,” a farce about a girl who gets engaged to 3 men before they go off to war and they all come back on the same day. It was a fun show, and we enjoyed seeing the lovely theater, poking around the great gift store/art gallery, and having a glass of wine at intermission in the cozy Fireside Lounge. They also have a dining area for combo dinner and theater tickets. The theater was full. We would definitely go back for another show!

Yesterday brought some much needed rain, nice and steady for most of the day. We ran a few errands and did some work online. Today, we headed a bit farther south (about 30 minutes) to walk along a different part of the Cowichan Valley Trail (CVT) at a trailhead in Glendora Trails Head Park near the town of Duncan. We just did a couple of out and backs out of the park and were once again surrounded in green, but we also got to check out an old railroad trestle, one of many along the CVT.