Vancouver Island - Wild and Refined by Zipline

While most of our years' travels have gone as planned,
we hit a bit of a wrinkle while traveling in the USA.  I had several episodes of chest pain,
and we decided to return to Canada early to get it checked out.
Our plan was to drive up the coast through California, Oregon and Washington,
and take the Ferry from Seattle to Vancouver Island
(where we had gone for our honeymoon 19 - almost 20 - years ago).

I am thankful that we were able to keep the planned route up the coast - abbreviated though it was.  
We loved the Rhododendrons, the Avenue of the Giants (scenic drive though miles
of Coast Redwoods), and the Oregon Dunes near Florence, Oregon.

We kept many of our camping reservations - staying only one night in each place instead of three.  
We skipped Mount Rainier and Seattle to arrive back in Canada two weeks earlier than we had planned.  
I received excellent medical care at the Royal Jubilee hospital in Victoria and assurances that
nothing particularly serious had happened or had been causing my pain.

The trade off is that we have 3 weeks to relax and enjoy Vancouver Island,
which is lovely after so many long travel days.  Our activities here have been largely spontaneous
and unplanned.

We are camped for two weeks at Weir's Beach, midway between Sooke and Victoria.  
We have enjoyed hiking in several regional parks and on parts of the famous Juan de Fuca trail.  
We have also enjoyed the British cultural heritage and "refined nature" of the city of Victoria.

We did two sections of the Juan de Fuca trail to experience the rugged beauty of the temperate
rain forest on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  We hiked at Mystic Beach and Botanical Beach.
We enjoyed the ferns, big trees, moss covered logs, driftwood, waterfalls, and crashing waves.
The sea life in the tidal pools was amazing.  Baby red starfish, purple urchins, giant green anemones
and mussels.

Our "refined" activities included British Afternoon Tea, a live Orca painting demonstration by a
renowned whale mural artist,  a concert by the Sooke Philharmonic orchestra, and Jazz Vespers
at the Victoria Unitarian Church.

We had the Grand Muckle High Tea at the White Heather Tea Room in Victoria

Robert Wyland is a renowned whale mural painter.  He has painted 100 ocean murals in 100 cities
over the last 27 years.  His most recent project was on the front of a cruise ship.
To celebrate World Oceans Day, he sailed to Victoria on "his" cruise ship
and gave a live Orca painting demonstration in Victoria's inner harbour which our resident Artist loved.

We passed signs for the Sooke Philharmonic orchestra this week while driving out to Juan de Fuca.  
We wondered, "Does this small town have an orchestra?"

Sooke, BC - a town of just 13000 people, has a full scale philharmonic orchestra!  
This is not the Victoria orchestra playing a guest concert in Sooke, the Winnipeg orchestra
playing in Kenora, or the Thunder Bay orchestra visiting Sioux Lookout.  
It is the Sooke community orchestra. The concerts are in the community hall and local ladies
even make pumpkin loaf, oatmeal cookies, marshmallow bars and Rice Krispie squares for intermission.

The music was lovely, and so is the story of the man who founded it.

Norman Nelson was born in Dublin in 1931.  He trained in London, England and spent time
as a violinist and conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra in London.  In midlife, he moved to Canada where he continued his career as a
principal violinist with the Edmonton Symphony and as Concertmaster in Vancouver.
He retired in Sooke at the age of 65 - and started the Sooke Philharmonic Society with
14 members at age 66.   People wanted to play with Mr Nelson and they came from all over
to join the Sooke orchestra. After 20 years, the orchestra now has over 60 musicians
including 12 of the original 14 members. Mr Nelson conducted his last symphony in Sooke at the
age of 86! He passed away on February 23, 2018.  Last nights' concert was the first symphony
in Sooke since his passing. What an inspiring story.

We listened to an overture, a Haydn Oboe Concerto, and Brahms symphony #2.