On September 19th, Janet and Michael Raynor, our long time friends from Oxford in the U.K. came to visit us. They had actually been in N. America since September 6th when they flew into San Francisco, rented a car and spent three nights in that city. They then motored up the west coast of California, Oregon and Washington, exploring places off the beaten track on the way. Finally they arrived in Seattle and left the car there. They boarded the Victoria Clipper which is a high speed catamaran service between Seattle and Victoria in B.C. We met them on Friday the 19th in Victoria as they disembarked from the Clipper.
On the Saturday we did a quick tour of two of the three floors of the provincial museum before our legs gave out. We had lunch in the Spaghetti Factory (pictured above) then headed up island to Comox.
Sunday we had booked a tour for them, us, Ben, Tim and Josée. We struggled with survival suits (See Michael below)
but eventually the seven of us boarded a zodiac boat and along with two ladies from Texas and a young woman from Germany, we zoomed off to see if we could spot some grizzly bears feeding on migrating salmon.
The company we used was Eagle Eye Adventures out of Campbell River, some 40 Km north of us. We saw one bear fishing in the river, but only for a fleeting moment as he took off into the bush on an island in mid-river and that was the last we saw of him or any other bear. On our way home we saw a Minke whale, Dall porpoises and a colony of Stellar sea-lions.
Soon we were heading home in Tim's van. Andi, Charlotte and Oliver joined us for dinner in our home, so the ten of us had a fine time together.
In the last couple of days of Janet and MIchael's all too short stay, we walked on the beach, picked apples at Ben and Josée's place and went out for a lovely meal at Martine's Bistro, a cozy restaurant in Comox. We also walked at the local marina and took time gazing at the boats moored there.
On Wednesday the 24th of September, Michael and Janet's stay with us came to an end when we took them to check-in at Comox Airport
It had been a great time together. We'd picked up our friendship with them as if we'd not been apart. We look forward to seeing them again in the not too distant future. Michael and Janet, if you read this sometime, thanks so much for coming to see us again.
Anyone wishing to see a slide-show of all the pics we took can check it here. There is also a map of our trip below.
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