After getting home and cleaning ourselves up (we had a thousand little burs and mud all over us), we packed up and headed out. Our destination was Quadra Island, one of a series of small islands off of Campbell River 3.5 hours North of here. This is not my favorite drive in the world, and the heat wave we were experiencing that weekend would not help the situation in a black car with no AC.
But we sucked it up and just kept the windows down the whole way, regardless that the air outside was still hot even at highway speeds.
With a few mandatory stops along the way (fuel, washrooms, food and beverage) we eventually made it to Campbell River by 7:15pm. We only needed to wait a short while for the next vehicle ferry to shuttle us over to Quadra Island. While the ferry cost for the 10 min ride is a bit steep, I have to admit I was impressed to learn that it is considered round trip. Once you are over, there is no cost to come back to Campbell River. The air was finally cooling off, and Mrs. GO! Team and I enjoyed the short time on deck cooling off in the cool ocean breeze!When we docked, we head off into this beautiful island and made our way to our hotel April Point Resort & Spa. When we arrived and saw the Resort and our Room, our breath was taken away. The grounds were so beautiful, and the view from our patio was something to behold. We unpacked and settled in, and enjoyed a beverage of choice (Rye & Spring Water for me) and watched the sun set behind the mountains in Campbell River before turning in for the night.
The next morning Mrs. GO! Team and I awoke and got ready to tackle our day. We exchanged our gifts and had an amazing buffet breakfast at the lodge's restaurant. Using the wifi here I was able to download a couple of caches to the offline list on the caching app on my phone (didn't plan ahead for this location).
When we were ready we hopped into the car and headed to what is called Rebecca Spit Marine Provincial Park. While there were a couple of caches that could be done here, we decided to only do one that was located at the very tip of the park called "Rebecca's Jewel - HAG X - GC4XE3N". The park has a really long driveway to the parking lot, but all along it are some great views and beach accesses.
Once we arrived at the parking lot we headed out onto the trail. The walk was beautiful, we saw lots of American Bald Eagles and beaches that were amazing to see. The only thing that would be a negative draw to the area is that the beaches are primarily rock (except back by the parking lot), so one would not come here to bathe in the sun I would suppose. Along the way we watched the clock for the time when Mrs. GO! Team would have been walking down the aisle signifying when were actually getting married last year, and when that time came we took an anniversary selfie to commemorate.
Soon we reached the tip of the park and began our search, and very quickly we found the caches hiding spot. After signing the log we started our way back to the car, but Mrs. GO! Team noticed a little sandy spot where the tide had gone way out and decided to commemorate the day with a message in the sand. Once that was done we continued the walk back, and snapped a few more pictures along the way and headed back to April Point.
Deciding that it was too hot out to continue doing anything else we headed back to the lodge and changed into our swimsuits and took the shuttle over to their sister resort where the pool was located. This proved to be a great way to cool down, and when we had enough of swimming we headed back once again to get ready for Dinner. Our dinner was amazing, and from our window we saw a Harbour Seal continuously coming by for a visit (and probably hoping for food).
We finished the day with another ride on the shuttle boat, and then sat once again enjoying the sunset with an ice cold beverage in hand. And when it got completely dark we turned in one more time.
Our trip home was not without its share of caching too. After checking out of the resort we drove to one that was located a little ways from the Ferry Terminal called "Ferry View - GC538DW" where we got a very quick easy find and the title does not lie, there was truly a fantastic view from that location. Moving on from there we drove down to the terminal where our final cache for Quadra Island was located. This cache called "Ferry Godmother: What's Up, Dock - GCH2TB" was a neat diversion before having to wait in line for the Ferry. Though I would warn anyone with a fear of spiders may want to send someone a little braver to go fetch this one.
After we got those two caches we loaded onto the Ferry and started the trip home. But home was not the next destination. In fact we had to make a stop for a coffee and a cache with my father Postie Bear in Courtenay/Comox.
After a nice cool drink at the Starbucks in Courtenay dad took me to see a cache that he did recently that he really enjoyed called "B14: Medic 4077 - GC55KAG". If you are in this area I highly recommend a visit to this cache, it was a very neat concept for a cache. While the style was similar to others I have seen before, the way the CO (Cache Owner) executed and themed the cache was pretty cool!
But we had to move on, because this was not the cache he had intended for us to do together. So off we went to the Visitor Centre where there was a cache that he very much wanted to share the experience of finding.
It turns out that my dad had tried to find this one before, but came up empty. So we arrived at Visitor Centre where there is a retired Snowbird in their front yard. The cache called "Snowbird Visit - GC4XDJD" starts off with you needing to make an observation at the Snowbird which is key to opening the cache, and then leads you over to where it was hidden. I can see why my dad thought the cache was where he figured it to be, but an observation made by us lead us to a slightly different position which lead to the discovery of a very well stocked cache. Just as above; I recommend making the stop for this cache while in the area, not only for the cache but also for the chance to stop in and visit the Centre and see the very neat attractions that they have inside.
After we made that find and took a break to see inside the Centre, Mrs. GO! Team and I bid farewell to Postie Bear and headed home. But we decided to make just one more stop along the way. There was this cache that I had visited before without my wife, and when I told her about it she said someday she would like to see it for herself. So this presented us with chance to visit the largest ammo-can in British Columbia (and possibly all of Canada) called "Made In Canada, eh! - GC2Y8Q8".
When we pulled up Mrs. GO! Team was astonished, she didn't take me seriously on how big this ammo-can was. She quickly went over, unlocked it and started to look at all the cool items inside.
After a few pictures and purchasing some water at the shop located at the cache, we loaded ourselves back into the car and drove home. This marking the end of a very fun, productive and adventurous weekend.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this story. And thank you to all the cache hiders for placing the caches we found on this adventure. Stay tuned for more stories to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment