Atmospheric River

My cousin Charleen warned me that there was a deluge of rain in the forecast for the area.  She wasn’t kidding. After our visit with her mom (my Tante Therese) I drove from Sidney to Victoria as the atmospheric river started flowing.  

I lived in various places on Vancouver Island 30 years ago;  Parksville, Qualicum Beach and Port Alberni among them, so I have experienced Island rain before.  In fact, most of my memories of this part of the world are cloudy, dark and wet.  The rain we got yesterday was unrelenting for most of the day. In fact, it inspired us to stay in and rest up after our long hours of walking the day before.  We napped, read, and watched some TV on the iPad. That was the extent of our day.  

Our only outing, besides the drive I took to Sidney in the morning, was to walk with umbrella in hand to Chorizo and Company, our dinner destination.  It was nice to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. Being in a central location affords us the opportunity to walk to most places that might be of interest in the downtown core. I prefer going on foot to driving. 

As I type this I’m realizing this is our final morning at The Craigmyle, Victoria’s old Bed and Breakfast type accommodation. We will drive to Port Renfrew a little later where we are staying in a cabin for a few nights.  The “tall tree capital of Canada”, Port Renfrew will give us an exciting, albeit wet, view of the southernmost tip of Vancouver Island. It is a rather remote spot and is susceptible to high volumes of rain and potential road closures, but we’ll be careful.  We’re going to stop in Sooke on the way there to pick up some supplies, including some groceries and a rain coat for me.  That will allow us to walk in the forest without an umbrella. 

It was lovely to spend time with my cousin Charlene and Tante Therese this morning. The years do go by. The last time I saw them both was about 15 years ago when we attended a family reunion in Vernon, BC.