Off To Sidney, B.C.
When one has been a ‘snowbird’ for about 15 years and then a world-wide pandemic shuts this concept down for the last 3…it takes a while to adjust to feeling cold for months on end.
And it hasn’t been horrible, honestly. We are blessed to have a cozy home and our big Alberta skies are gorgeous against the shimmering beauty of the snow.
But this year I decided we would take a chance and fly out of the snow for 5 days for a belated “Valentine” gift to ourselves.
We had to get up at 5 am in order to catch our chilly morning flight out but seeing my very first garden flower of the year after we arrived in the pretty town of Sidney just warmed my heart!
After stopping for a morning coffee and scone at “Serious Coffee” we headed down the street and found an antique store to peruse. (I had some luck and found TWO of the pieces I collect.)
At a nice shop further, down we found Terry a book for the trip ( a new Tana French mystery), window shopped, and before you know it, it was actually warm enough in the sun to sit at an outdoor patio for a ‘reuben sandwich’.
We knew we couldn’t check-in until two ….so how to fill the next few hours? We went to a matineé ! It was an excellent movie …just filled with ‘stars’ called “Nightmare Alley'“. Wow. Although it was another long movie (what’s up with that?) it had absolutely incredible cinematography, acting, and a hit you in the gut message.
A crazy thing happened: We contacted our “Air B & B” host and he said that guests that had been with them for a month got their dates wrong and thought they still had another day. Oops. Luckily, they could actually pack up and move in with friends for one night. But we still couldn’t get into our room as they needed to vacate and the place had to be cleaned. So….we kept checking out the town. We found the gorgeous wharf right at the end of main street.
The lighting was perfect but I was just kicking myself for only having my cell phone for photos….especially when Terry pointed out an eagle sitting on a post out in the water. Before we could move in closer it had flown off. I approached a friendly photographer who had a long lense camera and who had been taking lots of photos of the eagle and mentioned how happy he must feel that he was in the right place at the right time.
Garry (Preston) very kindly offered to let me post HIS photos of the eagle and a neat collage he made of some seals,etc. How nice is THAT???
We really enjoyed meeting Garry and talking about his ‘former’ life as a hairdresser for 50 years with his wife. In all of those years he only got sick FOUR times! His philosophy about mask wearing (they never wore them when they worked despite the constant coughs and sniffles clients brought in with them) is that they don’t work as well as just simple , yet constant hand washing. (I’ve got to remember to keep washing my hands after touching things during this pandemic. I’ve grown a bit lax.)
Our Air B & B host, Rick, suggested we try “The Surly Mermaid” for dinner and it was very very good. We both had fish.
We finally got into our lovely, main floor residence after dinner and we love it!
Thank-you Garry Preston for your generosity and company. Great photos!
Stay tuned for “Part Two” of our Sidney adventures.