West Coast Wonderlust : June 2016

Ammonite Falls.
Spring 2016.

Hey everybody,

So we haven't posted anything in over a year. Why? Life. Since our last post, a lot has changed! We've moved three times, changed jobs a few times, witnessed my older sister get married as members of the wedding party, got married ourselves, and have been exploring our new home on Vancouver Island. Oh and we got a second cat. Despite the challenges this last year has brought us, we're enjoying life and loving the change of scenery and pace. While we haven't gotten out exploring as much as we normally do, we still have had a few very neat adventures!

Our Summer was spent living and working Quadra Island. We also spent a weekend over in the lower mainland taking part in my older sister's wedding! While living on Quadra, most of our time off was spent wedding planning, beach combing, or exploring the trails around Quadra-particularly on the northern half of the island. We check out areas like Open Bay, Granite Bay, and the Chinese mountains. One day in particular, the two of us drove up to Granite Bay where we found an abandoned sail boat. Other than the sail boat itself, there really wasn't a whole lot in Granite Bay to see, so we drove back South a few kilometers until we saw signs for the Lucky Jim Mine.

The Lucky Jim Mine is an old, abandoned gold, copper, and silver mine that was in operation during the early 20th century. While the shafts themselves have been sealed and made inaccessible to people, there are still many things on the surface to see and explore. The first, most obvious object you'll find is an old steam pump which was used to pump air down into the mine shafts while also pumping water out. The pump itself is now covered in mosses, ferns, and other wild plant life. Records show that there are supposedly the remains of housing units for the miners that worked at the Lucky Jim Mine, but Kait and I were unable to find any traces of the buildings near the mine.

After we finished exploring the mine, Kait and I made our way South again and drove to the trail head for Quadra Island's Chinese Mountains. The trail head splits into a few different trails. One trail heads West towards Morte Lake. The other heads North at first and winds its way up to the North and South peaks of the Mountains.
The trail to the South peak is our favourite one, as it gives incredible 180 degree view of the East, South, and West. You can see as far East as the coastal mountain range, South down to almost the Oyster River area, and West well into Strathcona Park. The view can be quite stunning, especially on clear, sunny days with little cloud and smog. The trail itself starts off easy with a dirt path about 4 feet wide, but it quickly turns into loose shale and stone with a steep incline until you reach the fork in the path where you split off to head to the South Peak.
The trail after the fork gets better. Once again, it's a mainly dirt pathway that winds its way up to the peak. There are still steep sections, and the edge of the pathway is typically marked by a steep drop, but a series of cutbacks and hairpin turns reduces the overall incline.

Quadra was also great for its beaches and wildlife, both seeming to be endless in quantity. Eagles, herons, crows, deer, crabs, seals, and otters were common sights. Growing up mainly in Vancouver, I had never seen so many eagles before in my life. Whales are quite common all around Quadra-both humpback whales as well as orca whales, but Kait and I were never fortunate enough to see them ourselves. As for cougars and bears, they're not unheard of-in fact, the year before, Rebecca Spit was closed because of a cougar had killed an animal and was very protective of it-but they're not a common occurrence on Quadra.
Kait and I had great opporunities to capture some of the local wildlife with our cameras while living there. One day we spent about 30-45 minutes following a heron around as it ate small, black eels from the shallow water and tidal pools. We never had a shortage of things to do while living there during the Summer of 2015.

In September, our big day came. We celebrated our wedding on September 12th with about 50 of our close friends and family. We decided a year before while in the early days of planning that we wanted to get married on the same beach that we got engaged on. To some guests' dismay, we also planned on holding the ceremony at sunrise. While it was extremely worth it in the end, the planning of the ceremony offered many challenges with the biggest 3 being the tide, the timing of the ceremony with sunrise, and of course the weather.
Throughout the Summer leading up to the wedding, we had spent hours upon hours planning nearly every detail of the wedding and hand making most things we needed for the BBQ, ceremony, and the reception. Luckily, we had help from family-especially from Kait's parents (thank you!). When the weekend of the wedding arrived, everything was in order and it went off without a hitch.The BBQ on the Friday went well with great food, friends and family, and a fun game of capture the flag. Then came the ceremony the following morning.

Kait getting ready while reading the note from my gift.
Photo credit to Jesse Yuen Photography.

Those of us in the wedding party were up bright and early-minus the brightness. It was about 3:30 when Kait and I were up. She began gathering everything she needed, showering, and getting dressed. After a shower, my brother in law and I began making a big breakfast for the whole wedding party and people began showing up at the cottage we were staying at. It was a busy, slightly hectic morning, but less crazy than I had thought it might be. After everyone was fed, the ladies and the gents went to their separate rooms and got dressed up to the nines. I handed out my gifts to the grooms men, got my gift to Kait to her via one of the bridesmaids, and got dressed up myself. At 6:30 sharp, all us guys made the 5 minute walk down to the beach where the ceremony was taking place, and got in our places. We exchanged a few words, a few laughs, and greeted family as they made their own way down to the beach, some groggier looking than others. At 7 A.M. sharp, the music played and the ceremony began.

On the way to the beach.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

Jesse Yuen Photography.

The bridesmaids making their way along the beach.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

The bridesmaids made their way along the beach, through the archway, and down the aisle to the front, and they were soon followed by Kait. She was wearing her white dress with her bright yellow gum boots, and man was she beautiful.

Kait and Cathy making their way along the "aisle."
Jesse Yuen Photography.

When she neared the front, I met her at the base of the large, flat(ish) chunk of rock that was our altar. It wasn't overly high, but it was a little damp from the receding tide still, and as the two of us made our way back up to the top all I could think about was not slipping, or letting Kait fall on her ass. We reached the flat(ish) top part of it, and I let out a small breath of relief.

Sun is up, everyone is up front and no one slipped. Success.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

As we went through our ceremony, the sun rose over the coastal mountains and bathed the entire beach in a bright, orange-white light. I barely heard someone mutter "holy shit" over our commissioner.

The Sunrise Ceremony worked out better than we could have asked for.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

Overjoyed that we didn't slide down the rock!
Jesse Yuen Photography.

After the "I do"s, our comissioner gave us the green light to kiss. Kait had mentioned a week earlier she was going to leap at me and give me a big smooch, but I had thought she was joking. I was wrong. She said, "are you ready?" I nervously replied yes. She jumped while I hoped I wouldn't slip on the still-damp rock. I caught her and managed somehow not to awkwardly fall over, and we sealed the deal with a kiss. Only then did we realize the comissioner had Kait give me my ring, but had forgotten the part where I gave her her own ring. We quickly took care of that, giggling about it.

A group shot of everyone who was able to attend the ceremony.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

What followed was a pretty great rest of the day. Our ceremony lasted only until about 7:15 or 7:30. We followed up with lots of group photos with family and friends, as well as some photos with just Kait and I. With all that complete, Kait and I grabbed everyone from the wedding party as well as some family and friends who wanted to come, and took them on the hike up the Chinese Mountains. It was the best part of the entire weekend for the both of us. We were finally able to relax. We were surrounded by close friends and family, and we got to share an awesome hike with an awesome view. After the hike, we returned back to the cottage and began dealing with some of the last minute preparations that needed seeing to. We helped get some kabobs in order for dinner, organized a few things for the reception, and visited with family. Dinner was delicious, with giant vegetable/seafood kabobs, salmon and halibut, pasta salads, you name it. I can't honestly remember everything we had for dinner, but I remember it being tasty.

Another group shot.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

One of my groomsmen taking in the view.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

The reception itself went pretty well too, although a cool wind had kicked up and it got dark out so many guests retired to the comfort of their resorts. Several friends and family did stay and we had fun listening to music, playing beer pong, and generally socializing. We did away with many of the traditions often seen at receptions, but we didn't care. We just wanted to enjoy the night and see everyone who had made the trip out to join us.

Once the weekend was over, reality made its return. Kait and I found a rental in Black Creek, and Kait found a new job as the supervisor of a local childcare centre in Campbell River. We made a short trip to Tofino with my sister and brother-in-law for a mini honeymoon, which was really nice, and things were slowly coming together. Work was hard to come by for me, and I ended up settling for a job in a lighting store in Courtenay/Comox. I had also already applied for the Electrical Foundations Program at North Island College by this point, and got word in the fall that I was on their wait-list

The rest of the Fall and Winter passed by without much happening. We struggled to find things to do without spending too much money as we were tight on funds, and Black Creek was rather boring. We ended up adopting a second kitten, Voodoo, late in the fall. We had my sister and brother in law come visit near Christmas, and together we took a road trip down to Victoria and around the South-west end of Vancouver Island. After they returned to Vancouver, we spent Christmas with our family on Quadra Island. At some point in the winter, shortly after Christmas, we went snow shoeing (my first time) on Mount Washington with Kait's parents. It was a great little adventure.

As Spring came around, we made our final move for the year into Willow Point. Our new home is a nice place situated with the ocean a few blocks away on one side and parks and forest on the other. We've been spending our time off either working out in our yard, improving it with a nice garden, or making smaller trips around Campbell River, Quadra, and the rest of Vancouver Island checking out new places and hiking new trails. We recently hiked the Ripple Rock Trail just North of Campbell River, and I'm looking forward to more adventures soon.

I doubt this blog will ever be updated as regularly as it once was. I don't feel the need to and instead have been focusing my efforts elsewhere. That being said, I will make an effort to update this once in a while, in case anyone still cares to read up on some of our adventures.

Thanks for reading!

-Aaron and Kait Pengelly

Photos:

*All photos posted here are our own. The wedding photos above are credited to Jesse Yuen Photography.