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Personal Blog of Steve Baumber
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The summer continues to roll along and I'm finally beginning the interviews which will be the 'data' for my thesis. It's nice to begin the work which was the reason for my starting this Masters thing anyway! I've posted more pictures on my Facebook site but for now here are a few...
 A news report this morning on CBC related the story of a war monument near Buckingham palace that was falling into neglect and had kids climbing all over it partly (as the reporter would have us believe) due to Conrad Black's legal troubles. I've seen the monument and it really is an effort to restrain yourself from climbing up it. And as for Lord Black, is it really his responsibility to maintain the monument? Aren't we all responsible? I'm not a fan of Black, but he did get it built in the first place which is more than I've done. And as for the kids playing on it, as the US and Russia re-escalate the Cold War, I wonder if those who fought and died and continue to fight and die hoped someday children would lay claim to the war monuments as places of laughter and play. Rant's over.
 We have just returned from a great four-day kayaking trip through Desolation Sound. The Sound is along the Sunshine Coast, north of Powell River. Our group was quite big, and the 16 of us rented single and double kayaks and put in at Okeover Inlet. We paddled to Grace Harbour and camped there the first night. The nearby fresh-water lake was a relief from the warm, salty day, but the leeches had us cutting our swim time short! As you can carry quite a bit of stuff in a kayak, the food was phenomenal. Geoff and Jenny cooked us fresh vegetables and tenderloin steak topped with blue cheese. Camping schmamping. The next day we continued up the sound to Tenedos Bay, stopping along the way for lunch in Gailey Bay. The water was like glass heading past Mink Island and the paddling was easy. It was so easy Rosemary fell asleep with her legs propped up on the bow. Yup, pretty easy...
 After another great dinner (we made a coconut chicken curry with chapattis and fresh veggies) we enjoyed a quiet night under skies filled with stars and the constant rush of a small waterfall nearby. The next day we explored further up the sound towards Prideaux Haven. We snorkled, dove for oysters, explored various bays and inlets, and had lunch on Melville Island. On the way back to the campsite we circled around a few rocks that were a great sunning spot for seals. They were initially quite nervous but soon settled back into their tanning when it was clear we had no gaping mouth with which to eat them. Just a camera. A 'shower' in the water fall near our camp site eased weary shoulder muscles and washed the salt away. After an oyster feed followed by veggies in black bean sauce (did I mention the food was great?) we were lulled to sleep by the hits of the eighties booming across the bay from a moored boat. Who needs my guitar when Sade's 'Smooth Operator' drifts along with the evening breeze.
 The last day we left early and started out for Okeover Inlet. The weather had turned decidedly grey and slightly windy, making for a brisk paddle. We made good time, and decided to stop off at the beach front of a cabin owned by a fellow that one of our group had met (is she the one he blogged about falling for on Aug 7?) while we camped at Tenedos Bay. He appeared on the porch of his cabin and invited us in to warm up. We scrambled up the bank and plopped down in his living room. The fellow turned out to be Grant Lawrence, lead singer of the now 'retired' band The Smugglers. He now does pod casts on CBC 3 (see pod cast #115 for a taste of his tastes). We warmed to his coffee, his stories and the walls which kept out the wind, but soon it was time to get back in the paddling chair. We were quickly back in Okeover Inlet and grinding onto the beach that we had left from four days previously. It was a tired drive back to Vancouver, but well worth it for yet another summer adventure completed! Next will be Darren and Erin's wedding in Kamloops!
posted by Steve @
7:39 AM
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8.09.2007  |
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