We had to go into Comox for the day and decided to have a picnic as we often do when out travelling on a nice day. The airport/air force base is near the water surrounded by km.’s of fine sandy beaches. As we sat having our picnic, we were treated to a bomber training session where the plane flew up, circled, then came back around and straight over us several times before finally landing at the air base. It was a lot of fun to watch. Fun Fact: The Snowbirds have training sessions at the air base in Comox every year, and post schedules so the public can go watch them train.
We finally got to do the hike to Heart Lake. We had tried once before and couldn’t find the trailhead, but this time we figured it out with help from our FB group Vancouver Island Hiking. The hike starts out kinda boring with a walk along roads, but then once in the forest it gets quite vertical and at points challenging (for one of us). Made it to the lake and it was beautiful and secluded – we saw one other person. From Heart Lake you can continue on to another lake and if you have two cars, there are choices to follow other trails. More to do another time. It was a nice day and the lake was very tempting to try a dip, but still a little chilly for that.
End of June we did a house swap with Chris’ brother and went to stay in his condo in Surrey for a few days. Unfortunately there was a rare heat wave (sadly many people died), and we weren’t able to do what we had planned. But, making the best of it, we made a trip to Ikea (air conditioned) and bought a few needed things, then did a day trip to White Rock which is on the water and we thought perhaps a little cooler. We discovered Canada’ longest pier and ‘the White Rock’ nearby. The cute touristy waterfront district has many restaurants and shops as expected and the rail tracks run right along the waterfront. We had lunch in one of the few restaurants that were open that day (most had closed because of the intense heat). The food and beer were very good – we rarely eat out, so it was a treat.
We did manage to do one planned event which was really nice – a visit to one of Chris’ friends from many years past. It was such a nice visit and great for them to catch up.