Spring has sprung,
the grass has riz,
I wonder where
my sleep iz.

I have this love/hate thing going on with spring. I love the warmer temperatures, the flowers, the blue skies, and the longer days. I hate the longer hours of sunlight.

I have always had difficult sleep patterns. It always takes me a long time to get to sleep, and in the mornings I tend to sleep very lightly. Why is this a problem? This time of year our pets get up early due to the light. The light wakes me up sometimes, and when it doesn’t, the restless animals do. Once I am awake, it takes me a very long time to get back to sleep. This results in me being very tired for a few weeks while my body, and sleep patterns, adjust to the new light levels in the morning and night. Usually I just get used to it, then DST comes into effect, and I get sent into a tailspin all over again.

Today was no exception. I woke up around 6 am, and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was drowsy, so I just stayed in bed until my alarm went off. Copious amounts of caffeine (only in the morning) will get me through this. I just wish there was something I could do to alleviate the sleeping bit.

What a weekend! Amazing. I highly recommend Point No Point to anyone wanting to get away from it all.

Friday we dropped Yoshi off, and made the lovely drive out there, stopping at the 17 Mile Pub for dinner. Yummy! While driving out to the resort, we encountered a bit of snow mixed in with the rain! Crazy. I began to wonder if maybe we would wake up Saturday to find a covering of snow on the ground.

After checking in, we took our stuff from the truck down to our cabin. Wow. What a nice cabin. It was a one room deal with a deck over looking the ocean which was 75 feet below (their measurement not mine). On the deck was a nice sized hot tub! We could hear the waves crashing onto the beach below. The floors were a beautiful hard wood, the bed quite comfortable. The thing that struck me most was how private it was. There were large windows facing the ocean, but no windows on the side of the cabin. From the deck you couldn’t see the next cabin (unless you leaned way out over the railing). Quickly we stowed our stuff, got changed, and had a very relaxing hot tub session. It was quite serene sitting in the warm tub, with waves crashing in the background, under a clear moonlit night.

Here are all the pics, read on for the rest of what we did.

After we got out of the tub, we started a fire and played some Scrabble. Later I stepped outside to take a couple pictures from the deck.

I didn’t really sleep all that well Friday night. I am a city boy with very poor sleep patterns. Any strange sounds tend to keep me awake until all hours of the night. Strange as it may sound, the sound of the waves crashing on the beach (I absolutely love that sound), kept me awake until all hours of the morning. Aaargh, the waves were tormenting me.

Saturday morning, after being awake for what seemed like most of the night, I got up and made some breakfast. Mmmmm, Eggs Benedict! After we ate, we sat in front of the large window, and played another game of Scrabble. The lamp right by the table was plugged in the outlet in the floor. I had noticed that I could see bare copper wires as I guess some previous guests had hit the plug while moving the table, and this had scraped off some of the protective plastic coating. While Sue was moving the table, she also bumped the plug. Unfortunately for us this caused some freaky arcing, and sent a couple of sparks flying across the floor! It scared the crap out of both of us.

When heading out for a walk to explore the trails we stopped in at the front desk to mention it to them. They sent someone down right away to fix it.

We explored all the trails on their property, and stopped in at their beach house to check it out. It was peaceful to sit in the chairs, under cover from the light sprinkling of rain, overlooking small waves lapping the shore inside the small cove. Serene. One trail lead to a small point. The only way to get there is over the bridge that was built on top of a felled log. It was a little scary crossing, but gave a magnificent view of the coastline. While walking back across the bridge I was watching the surf and noticed a large piece of kelp getting tossed around in the waves that were crashing into a tiny fjord. It dawned on me that the kelp was moving on its own. When the next wave receded, it stood up and started to walk away. I had spotted an otter, and it had lunch in its mouth (a small fish). I called Sue back, and we looked at the creature through my SLR camera that just happened to have my 135mm lens on it. Very cool. It trundled off after a couple seconds, and you could mark its progress up the hillside by watching the plants wave back and forth.

After our walk we headed into Jordan River to see if we could track down some tea for Sue. Instead we got a couple hot chocolates and went across the road to watch the surfers and kayakers play in the water. I snapped a few shots here to end my first roll of the weekend.

Once back at our cabin we made some excellent shrimp sandwiches for lunch. While Sue napped I headed out to the trails again to take some more pictures. This time, at the same point where we saw the otter, I watched a seal chowing down on a large meal while a seagull looked on waiting for scraps. I watched for a long time, and every once in a while the seal would finish the chunk he was working on, dive below the surface for a few seconds, and when it reappeared, it had more food.

When Sue was done her nap we played another game of Scrabble, then several games of Yahtzee. Something got messed up in my mind though, and I kept calling Yahtzee Scrabble. It must have had something to do with the fact we were rolling the dice into the Scrabble box. That must be it. We (more specifically I) ended up playing games until we were almost late for our dinner reservation. You see, Point No Point also has a wonderful restaurant. More on that at a later time.

After dinner, we started another fire to heat up the cabin before we went for another soak in the tub. I stocked the fireplace, and was all set to have a roaring fire. When I struck the match, a piece of the flaming sulfur broke off, and stuck to my finger! Ow! It is the weirdest burn I have ever received. There is a small part of flesh that is slightly discolored, and feels a little plastic like. As soon as I could, I ran it under cold water, so it didn’t hurt too much. The hot tub Saturday night was a different experience too. It was raining as we sat there. No moonlight this time, but we still had the waves crashing on the beach. I gave Sue the seat under cover while I sat in the rain. I actually found it quite refreshing having cold rain drops falling on me while I was sitting there. After we got out of the tub we played some more Yahtzee, then headed for bed. I slept much better Saturday night.

Sunday we both slept in, ate breakfast (not as decadent), played some more games, cleaned up and checked out. We couldn’t spring Yoshi until 6 so we went home, rented a movie, got some refreshments, and watched Runaway Jury.

In all it was an excellent weekend. Very relaxing, very enjoyable. It was great for Sue and I to get away together, with no distractions, or dependants. If you are looking for someplace to go on Vancouver Island that is quiet, private, yet comfortable, I would consider Point No Point. I am sure Sue and I will go back some day.

Soon Sue and I leave for our weekend away. We are heading out of town, just the two of us. We are staying in a cabin mere feet from the ocean. They are located on the southern edge of Vancouver Island, and with the recent weather, the seas should be pretty rockin!

Yoshi is going to his own resort (Thetis Lake Boarding Kennel), and Aphro gets the shack to herself.

Aaaaaah, relaxation.