Heritage Acres 38/14 weeks.

There are beautiful nature trails winding around the heritage acres village.  More are under construction.

Since we had a prior engagement for Sunday this week we figured we had better make a hiking plan for Saturday. Fortunately for us Heritage Acres was hosting a Threshing Weekend.  Even though we live and work about 10 minutes from this agri(culture) museum, Saturday marked our first trip to the grounds.
Heritage Acres occupies land adjacent to the Pat Bay highway between Michell's farm stand and Mt. Newton crossroad. It is easy to see the small gauge railroad display from the highway. What you can not see is the track that runs into the park including tunnels and bridgeworks to rival the best rail yards. We should know; we are from Galesburg, Illinois. Our hometown is such a large railroad hub that it has been reputed to have caught the attention of Hitler during the war. His cabinet pondered crippling that portion of the United States by destroying those supply lines.
Perhaps thats why we took such delight in the visit. The trains were running the entire time taking the young and old alike into the interior to experience the loop through the countryside. Heritage Acres was literally swarming with young families so the engineers often blew their whistles at the waving children.

Yes, it does look as if you would feel very silly, but it was a lot of fun.

The designers of the interior loop have gone to great lengths to make the ride feel realistic.

An engineer letting off steam near the diminutive roundhouse.

The number of historical displays, buildings, and collections of antique machinery are astounding. The museum has been set up as a frontier village complete with chapel, store, blacksmith shop, garage and school. It was the school that I was most excited about. I know a local teacher who led youth through its doors for a number of years. The old Mt. Newton school was founded in 1913 and moved here in 1972.  It has been lovingly recreated as a schoolhouse complete with desks, books and cast iron stove.

Structurally I went to a school just like this although I will report that our desks were newer.

This is a young boy's paradise; especially if he can share it with Dad.

I'll have a  coffee with milk, thank you.

The Illinois prairies are still dotted with these so I am always pleased to see them.
They are an iconic reminder of home.

The bridge over this creek is actually one half of an enormous mother log that has been thrown
across and completed with attached railing.

The nature trail is well groomed and growing.

Eye level with me, it must have taken this slug WEEKS to get on this leaf.

You would never know that you are within shouting distance of the highway.

I highly recommend a visit to this local jewel. It is a window into the past that is unique and varied enough to be everyone's. The garage/museum is completely packed with items from the last 10 years all the way back into the 1800's. I finally had to leave the building.  There was so much to see I couldn't even take it all in.
Although I would be lying if I reported that it was much of a hike it is still worth the visit. The agricultural portion of the museum has so many antique farm implements they line the village and dot the nature trail. I look forward to another visit myself. I am anxious to see the continuing effort on the nature trail. It is short and level making it the perfect fit for young and old alike. There are also benches, lawn chairs or plain stumps with boards around almost every corner. So much thought and time have been put into making this an enjoyable experience I'd hate for anyone to miss it.

John Dean Park 37/15 weeks

A quick snap under the canopy of the trees. 

Our plans included a two hour paddle in Brentwood Bay waters. The following pictures illustrate the weather that awaited us. Our meeting place for pre-paddle coffee was the Seahorse cafe so we just lingered over a light lunch and good conversation.

These kayaks dont look like there is much between you and the water on such a drizzly day.

Visibility-0

We chose the indoor seating today.

After coffee we decide to hike the lookout portion of John Dean park. It is heavily treed which provides a bit of protection from the rain. Bernie, Marlen and Alisa piled into the van with us and we headed up the peninsula for the park. This makes our third visit to John Dean park; we already hiked to the summit and to Pickles Bluff on weeks 5 and 30. Im sure we will visit again because on this hike we didn't even make it to the lookout.

We started down the Valley Mist trail and then never again saw that name in print on any of the maps. Once we were on the trail it became anybody's guess as to which one we were following. With a bit of deduction and a few readings of the sun we found a portion of the trail illustrated on the map with a circle back to the parking lot. None of us seemed enthused about hiking deeper in without a clearer map reading. There are portions of this park that lead off the park itself and are picked up with community trails. It would be fun to explore these but I would prefer to be better prepared for a long trek.

This led to the timeless discussion about whether or not it made a sound when it fell...depending on someone being there to hear it.

I had to use the telephoto lens. Not only was this mushroom enormous it was over twenty feet up.

Mother log

This tree was covered with smaller mushrooms and Mark and Alisa try to determine if they are indeed medicinal reishi.
The jury is still out.

All in all I feel that we were a bit light on the hike this week but Im happy that we were joined by our friends. Given the choice I wouldn't have traded our relaxing cafe time for more time on trail in the rain. One of the nice effects of hiking every week for a year is getting to the 37th week with increased endurance. My body feels very different after a hike now than when I first started this comittment at the beginning of the year. Back then I couldnt wait to get back to the car and now I am much more likely to want to venture further and explore new secondary trails.
For next weeks hike we thought we were going to be away so we havent planned anything further than a Saturday afternoon visit to  Heritage Acres for the Harvest Fair and threshing weekend. I have learned that a very gracious lady in the care home where I work was once a teacher in the one room schoolhouse that is now part of Heritage Acres museum. I am excited, in a history buff sort of way, to see a window into her time.
Hopefully the weather will cooperate for a vigorous hike on Sunday. Pickles Bluff may be on the shortlist.

Im lucky to have such a steady hiking companion. Mark has never once  tried to talk me out of my 52week commitment and has been an avid supporter of both my intention and my blog. Thanks Marky. You too Mowgli.

Saanich Fair 36/16 weeks

Tripodless for our customary group shot, we throw ourselves at the mercy of a fellow fairgoer...

....whose daughter promptly ran off at 'cheese'.

In a thinly disguised attempt to pass this off as a 'hike', we decided to spend a portion of Sunday at our favorite fair.  Mark, Marlen and I parked at our friend's house and walked up Stelly's Crossroad to the fairgrounds and back so it did end up being a small leg stretcher. Billed as the longest running agricultural fair in Canada, Saanich Fair is a cozy reminder of home in the midwest where summer was always capped off with a trip to the county fair.
Marlen is the unintentional star of this week's blog. His peaceful nature, charm and photogenic presence attract the camera lens and would make him an obvious choice for television media were he not devoted to the healing arts.

Caught you...first stop; coffee and langos at the Hungarian booth.

The failed attempt to capture these goat shenanigans.

The automatic tapping self massager trying to pass the muster of the local TCM practitioners. 

It is still a good natured dance of inclusion.

Marlen's response to Kernel Popcorn's offer of a possible $10,000 prize.

Kernel Popcorn attempting to inflate two balloons to Marlen's one.

Marlen thinking that something might be awry with his balloon.

Come on you guys; play nice!

Finally, room for all.  Peace and harmony.

We stopped by the fair Saturday night so Mark could take these  shots.

Gravity drop.

Iconic fair.

Next sunday we plan to kayak the Brentwood Bay harbour. It is not going to get any warmer and summer is slipping away quickly. We will meet at the park next to the ferry terminal and Brentwood Bay lodge where we plan to rent kayaks at $25 per two hours.  Or you can bring your own boat and spend a couple of hours with us. When we get back on dry land we can go for an ice cream cone at the  Moodyville general store.
Send us a comment and we will fill you in on the details. Plan for 1pm; ice cream around 3.

Royal Roads/Hatley Park 35/17 weeks

We think we may have run into a "charlie" type guy on this trail.

We chose Hatley Park for our 35th outing. It is nice to occasionally visit the western communities. There are a few stores that we have grown fond of for selections of one thing or another. When the Canadian Superstore discontinued oil cured black olives from their olive bar the disappointment was palpable but there are still enough things to lure us over that way.
Hatley Park is a definite lure. At 82 forested acres alongside an outstanding array of gardens and the original family castle this place is amazing by anyone's standards.

The original Dunsmir castle lodge.

When we first immigrated to Canada in 2002 our family secured an apartment online from Illinois. It ended up falling well below the standards that we were promised and was a disappointment in every sense except its proximity to Hatley Park. Our first day here we ordered lunch to go from Dairy Queen and walked into the forest for a picnic while we waited for the landlord. We got to know the park pretty well and Mark took our mastiff Agatha for a walk through the park every day.

There are dozens of interesting facts about Hatley Park  as a historic site.  On this hike Mark and I actually avoided the feature that is one of the biggest and most famous attractions; the formal gardens. We will have to save that for another week. We hiked up the length of Charlie's Trail from the bottom. There is a waterfall canyon at the top but it was dried up at the time of our visit. After the rainy season it will be at a satisfying roar.
When we arrived at the cross roads leading to the Galloping Goose trail, we turned left and walked into Hatley Park.

 This colossal tree is an old growth example of what was saved in this park. 

An extreme hill that we hiked down and ran up the other side.   As you can imagine the forest air is invigorating.

Mark is always so happy here.

We walked across the main road to the university and headed into the forest. This wound around to the buildings that house the YMCA gym at Royal Roads. Below their parking lot is an access road that heads deeper into the forest or onto the hardtop leading to the lagoon at the bottom of Hatley Park.  We choose to head back to the main parking lot to continue the search for a source of oil cured black olives. And possibly a well deserved lunch at the Noodle House where they have proven their ability to provide us a vegetarian meal with no garlic or onion to mask its deliciousness.
I have actually used up my daily quota of superlatives to endorse this most beloved of local parks and still haven't managed to do it any justice. Take a day off and enjoy this ~~~~~ place. Like everything else on this island, it is changing fast.

Actually it is the hardtop leading AWAY from the lagoon but TOWARD lunch, which is why they are traveling so quickly.

(~~~~~ takes the place of the superlative I may have used had I not reached my limit.)