The Great Nanaimo Tour

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.  As the title of this post implies, you're going to hear the name "Nanaimo" a few times in this post.  Learn to love it.

Despite earlier assurances by that filthy liar the weather man, the day started out rainy and drizzling.  As previously stated though we're not letting the weather hold us back, so there was no hesitation in getting out the door this morning.  We went up to Nanaimo and headed towards the harbour.  There's a beautiful walking trail that follows the shore.  We were just walking along, chatting, and letting me snap photos at every opportunity.  Here are a few examples:

That's just in case some of you didn't believe me about the weather.  Here's something a little prettier:

Also, I rather liked this tree:

On this next one I was going for a bit of reflection in the water, but I think that generally works a little better when there's more sunlight:

Here's another nice scenic shot:

I'm not really sure why that lamp post needs to be sharing the space with that lovely, solitary tree, but there you have it.  There were a few artistic pieces scattered about, and I really liked this one:

I'm sorry for the cliché, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a photo of driftwood on a beach with a small fishing boat:

After satisfying my photographic itch we headed over to a pub called The Crow and Gate for lunch.  This really was a magnificent place for lunch, and I highly recommend it to anyone in the Nanaimo area.

It's a true English pub from top to bottom, and it has a fantastic menu.  I had something that (I've been informed) is quite common in British pubs called a Ploughman.  The basic version of this would just be some bread and cheese, but it makes for one heck of a lunch if you take it up a few levels like The Crow and Gate does.  My lunch consisted of a small loaf of bread, some beautiful aged white cheddar, a small salad, a handful of tiny wine grapes, half a pickle, some potato salad, a whole pickled onion, and a spread that I'm told very closely resembled the legendary English condiment Branston Pickle.  I wasn't THAT hungry when I sat down for lunch but you have my assurance that no trace of that plate escaped my attention.  What a meal!

Now that I've finished with making you all hungry/jealous I will continue with my tale.  We left the pub and went to a local fishery to check out their products, and then made our way to the Nanaimo River.  I told you I'd say Nanaimo a lot.  This was another old haunt from my summers here as a young lad, and it was just exactly as I remembered it.  Big rocks, fast, cold water.  I wish I could have gone for a swim, but the weather didn't really inspire me to jump in the water.

The water is moving fast, and at the point in this photo it's quickly rushing to a narrow spot that would likely be the end of any swimmer who go caught in there.  This is why one summer when we were here and Graydyn was being swept along by the river Grandpa felt compelled to jump in and rescue him.  Unfortunately Grandpa was not dressed for swimming... nor were the contents of his wallet that he was still carrying.  In the end it was a bit of a mess.  We happily recalled the memory of the near-disaster today and Grandpa will now show you the spot of his soaking:

We didn't stay too long, but I'll share one more picture as an excuse to get the name "Nanaimo" in my post one more time.  Here's another picture of the Nanaimo river:

Shortly after returning from the river I went with Aunt Jeanette and Grandma into Duncan to do some shopping before dinner.  Once we'd eaten I went for a jog, and managed to get back just in time to join Aunt Jeanette and Grandma for their evening walk as a cool-down lap.  We passed the rest of the evening looking at photos from my trip to Japan.

It looks like tomorrow will be another day of playing it by ear, with possible allowances for bad weather.  We'll see when the time comes I guess.  Until then, be well my friends.