Buffalo Inn Chips and Brew

I finished work early today, so I decided to get a late lunch at one of my favourite Southern California restaurants, the Buffalo Inn. It's located at 1814 Foothill W. Boulevard in Upland, on the south side of the street near Central Avenue. When Wayne and I lived in Pomona, it was a frequent destination for both lunch and dinner.

There's indoor dining at the Buffalo Inn, but we always sit outdoors in the large courtyard. It's flanked by trees and beautiful hot pink bougainvillaea. In addition to the natural shade, there are umbrellas for hot summer days. On weekends, under the arbor, there's live music. At other times, there's great classic rock in the background.

In addition to great sandwiches and other pub fare, there is an extensive beer and wine selection. Our favourite meal is the steak sandwich, but the buffalo burger is good, too. Most meals come with the signature homemade potato chips (they're so good I refer to the restaurant as Buffalo Chips). I wanted some with my brew, so I got the appy plate with salsa. Too much for one, but a great choice just the same.

On the way out to the parking lot, I found some typical Southern California vegetation. I'm not on the raincoast anymore, that's for sure. -- Margy

Playing Hooky

I came to Southern California to do some consulting work for my former school district. I arrived Sunday night, but when I made contact, they couldn't meet with me until Tuesday. It's been in the high 90s (37 C), so I decided to play hooky and head down to Seal Beach to cool off.

When I was going to Long Beach State University, it was a favourite haunt. We would sun ourselves on the beach during the day and head for the watering holes after the sun went down. Somewhere in the middle we did a bit of studying.

I was amazed that I was able to find a front row, next to the sand spot to park my seafoam green rental Ford Focus. This should be the last week before school begins in many districts. Maybe more are starting early like mine, or going on the quarter system. Whatever the case, there weren't many people enjoying a sunny, warm Monday.

I sat on the sand for several hours reading my Kindle. They are so great, you can sit in direct sunlight and still see the screen clearly. In between pages I watched a large work boat picking up and delivering crew members from the oil rigs offshore. The docking procedure next to the pier was pretty exciting. And the passenger transfer must have been even more so with the heavy swells and heaving ship.

I walked up Main Street to select a restaurant for dinner. I picked Walt's Wharf. The food was excellent. I started with a plate of six raw oysters from Malaspina Inlet, just north of Powell River. Made me feel a little closer to home. Then I had the lobster and crab cakes appy. It came with an arugula and cucumber salad. Just right after all the oysters.

Now that was way better than working! I should play hooky more often. - Margy

Clean Sucia Island

Boating in the Pacific Northwest has been a lot of fun. First there is the 2452 Bayliner we purchased last Spring for US boating. We keep it in Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham, handy for overnight stays and quick trips to the San Juan Islands.

There are lots of choices for cruising in the Pacific Northwest within easy reach of Bellingham. And I am amazed at how many marine parks are maintained by the state. Most have mooring balls in addition to places to anchor. Some even have docks for shore access and exploration if you don't have a dinghy like us. Last Friday our destination was Sucia Island Marine Park.

Sucia is north of Orcas Island and just below the Canadian border at the southern end of the Strait of Georgia. It is horseshoe shaped with six bays to choose from. For our first stay, we selected Echo Bay. It is the largest and busiest of the anchorages. All the mooring balls (fee based) were taken, so we opted to anchor and swing in the warm evening air.

The bay contained lots of boats, but it didn't feel crowded. Lots of people were heading to shore for thr wooded hiking trails, camping spots, and picnic tables. We put up our chairs on the back deck and enjoyed a picnic dinner with a great view of Mt. Baker.

I speak a bit of Spanish and wondered why they named such a beautiful place Sucia (dirty). It has no bearing on the lovely land, it's because of all the rocky reefs that were dangerous or "foul," another use of the word sucia. I can imagine old sailing ships not wanting to get anywhere near those outer shores.

Check out some of Washington State's marine parks. Here are some guides we use to help:

A Dreamspeaker Cruising Guide: The San Juan Islands
Exploring the San Juan and Gulf Islands
Gunkholing in the San Juan Islands

Margy

My Floating Garden in Our Canada Magazine

This has been quite the year for my floating garden media-wise. First it won a Sunset magazine Facebook gardening picture contest prize and had its picture in the June 2011 issue. Then my garden was highlighted in an article on Duane Burnett's Sunshine Coast website. This month I am very proud to announce that Our Canada magazine has chosen to run a full-page story in their August/September 2011 issue.

I love Our Canada and More of Our Canada magazines. They are completely made up from articles by Canadians about Canadian topics. How great is that? Three years ago, they ran a story by Wayne about our float cabin home. Then they included several of our pictures in their book Our Canada: Picture Perfect. Now the story I wrote about my floating garden has been published.

You can click on the image to make a full-screen image to read the story "A Moveable Feast: Ingenuity keeps this unique garden afloat." Or check out Page 44 in the August/September 2011 issue for the real thing. Subscriptions are available through their website, or you can purchase an online version here.

If you would like to read more about my floating garden here are a few links:

Vegetable Gardening with a Twist
Container Garden Hits and Misses
Double Barreled Watering
All Gardening Topics

Thank you so much Our Canada magazine. And if any of my readers have questions, please let me know. -- Margy

Angel or Devil

Our good friend John shares his wonderful lab named Bro with us when he comes to visit. Bro can either be a bundle of energy doing his crazy-man dance, or snoozing in a soft spot.

But I think he may have another side that he only reveals to the camera -- devil dog.


Want to read more about this amazing dog? Try these:

Bro the Labrador Retriever
Snow Dog
Bro Drives to the City
Night Watchman

Bro is also an important character in Wayne's Coastal BC Stories books. I don't know how many times we've been out together and someone says, "Isn't that Bro?"

Do you have a special dog in your life? Tell us about him or her. -- Margy

Before the Reds, Comes the Blue

You can usually tell when a good sunset is coming. Open patches of blue sky and broken clouds provide the pallet for the red, orange and yellow colours to come.

Powell River sunsets are always amazing. -- Margy

A New Coat

In Coastal BC, cabin maintenance and upkeep is very important. The wet climate encourages wood structures to mould and rot in quick order. Our cabin is of wood frame construction with sheets of exterior pre-primed 4'X8' plywood siding. The cabin was painted with Wedgewood blue solid finish exterior stain and then repainted by us in 2007 using the original scheme.

We are about a year early (every five years is a good schedule), but with the new construction we thought a "new coat" all around would be a good idea. And this time we decided to make a change. Wayne and I picked a warm tan to go with our hunter green trim and blue metal roof.

While I'm in Bellingham, Wayne has started on the lower walls. It takes three coats to cover the old blue, but it is well worth it. (I guess that is easy for me to say.).Doesn't the new colour look nice against our high rock wall? But what colour do you think Wayne will pick for the propane shed? He likes bright ones.

Wayne'll wait for me to return later in September to do the high ladder work under the peaks. At least I'll be able to feel I helped a bit. -- Margy

Logs on Fire

Logs floating along my boom capture seeds from the wind or birds stopping by for a short rest. The result is a natural floating garden.

I call this log Bede after the Bede Corporation kit jet airplane. If you go to their website you'll see the resemblance. Here Bede is sporting several tall fireweeds. You usually find them in disturbed soil such as log slashes. But Bede's sunny location is a close approximation I guess. Plus, there's plenty of water for the roots growing down through his cracks and crevices. -- Margy

Swinomish Channel Swing Rail Bridge

You've read a bit this week about our cruise to La Conner through the Swinomish Channel. As we passed the swing railroad bridge at the north entrance to the channel, the sky to the north started to brighten.

The bridge remains open for boat traffic to pass unless a train comes on it's way towards Anacortes.

Tucked along side the bridges over the Swinomish Channel were some classic work boats.










And a funky little community of homes or cabins along the water's edge. One had a big for sale sign if you are interested. -- Margy

Bathroom and Porch Addition Nears Completion

Wayne returned to our float cabin home this week and has sent me some pictures. Our good friend John has completed both the exterior and interior work on our bathroom and side porch addition. You can see that the roof matches perfectly, and John inserted pitch transition flashing to prevent leaks. Now it's ready for Wayne to paint.

Inside the bathroom you can see our new Sunmar compost toilet is installed. And you can see the shelf John built for me. In addition to a place to store towels, it helps finish the end of the tub that was designed to be installed next to a wall. I can also see that John has also installed cedar moulding. He has such an eye for detail.

And our bathtub has been moved from the storage room into its proper position. Now it won't fill up with stuff like it did in the storage room. I can see Wayne has hung our towel rack, and there in the corner is the $1.00 thrift store end table I fixed up. Maybe I'll paint the new shelf to match.

Thanks John and Wayne, I can hardly wait to see (and use) it for myself. -- Margy

Misty Beach

On our way back from our quad ride to Marg's Manor, we stopped at Misty Beach on Haslam Lake. It's a site that has been developed and maintained by the Wednesday Trail Crew. This group of dedicated Powell River ATV riders has built many trails, bridges, and campsites for everyone to enjoy.

The trail down from East Haslam Main was a bit steep, but it levels out as you near the water. On the way you pass a classy new outhouse, well away from the watershed into this lake that provides drinking water for the City of Powell River. Dave (supported by Marg of course) is instrumental in many of the Wednesday Trail Crew projects such as this.

Misty Beach is a beautiful spot for lunch, or an overnight stay. On the point there's a picnic table with a dynamite view. The nearby creek adds a calming effect, and the lake invites you to take a dip on a hot summer day.

This ride was perfect for me. It was easy, yet had some challenging spots. And visiting Marg's Manor and Misty Beach for the first time reminded me what a great place Powell River is to live.

Want to read more about back country adventures in and around Powell River? Wayne has written two books on the subject. The first to be released in 2006 was Up the Main. That was followed by Farther Up the Main this year. Both books share stories about places to ride and explore, and are available in print, e-book and Kindle formats. -- Margy

Up the Main to Giavanno Lake

This year I haven't been able to ride my quad much. In fact, my last ride was in May 2010 with our friend Jeanne who was visiting from Bellingham. That's fourteen months. So Wayne and I called our friends Dave and Marg from the Powell River ATV Club and invited them to join us for an easy ride.

We started at the parking area near Edgehill School on Abbotsford Street. This is a great place to begin a ride right in town. And on this partly sunny Sunday, we had it all to ourselves. That one we never did figure out. Usually it's pretty full on summer weekends.

The Edgehill Trail System leads from town right into the bush. Within ten feet you are enveloped by green forest and lush ferns. The intertwining trails lead to Duck Lake Forest Service Road which connects with logging roads that lead farther inland. Is that Wayne telling one if his fish tales?

From Duck Lake Bridge we headed east on Duck Lake FSR Branch 1. This transitions to East Haslam Main then Giavanno Main. At this point, there is excellent signage posted by the PRATV Club. The trail down to Marg's Manor on Giavanno Lake is unmarked, so you'll have to watch your mileage (see below for information about purchasing a local ATV Trail Guide). The trail was a bit challenging for this rusty rider, so Dave gave me a hand at the worst spot.

Marg's Manor is a wonderful little campsite on Giavanno Lake. Poki's place is on the north end. Marg's Manor is on the east shore where it gets lots of sunlight.There's a tent platform and a covered area for relaxing and cooking if the weather doesn't cooperate. And yes, it's named for my good friend Marg.

Giavanno is a beautiful lake surrounded by towering forest. A dock lets you get out to deeper water to cast a line for waiting trout. Or you can use one of the boats, but please leave them and the oars for the next visitors.

Do you want to explore the great outdoors in Powell River? Would you like a book full of maps and trail descriptions with GPS locations? There's a great book written by Dave, the president of the Powell River ATV Club. It’s called the ATV Trail Guide and costs $25. If want a copy, you can contact PRATV at their website. They are also on sale locally in Powell River at Quality Parts and Guy's Cycle Works. All profits support trail maintenance and building activities. -- Margy

Through Deception Pass at Slack

We got up early to catch low water slack at Deception Pass on our cruise back to Bellingham. This is the other major route from the Puget Sound to northern cruising waters. Because the seas are compressed as they rush through the pass, the current gets very dramatic.

At max flood or ebb, it can exceed 8 knots. That's enough to create whirlpools, eddies, waves, and lots of speed. In short, dangerous waters. But at slack, it can be safely navigated. Thankfully there are tables to tell you when to go and when to wait.

The water at La Conner wasn't at slack yet, so we had a bit of current on our departure, but nothing unsafe. The weather was overcast like the previous morning, but not cold. As we exited Swinomish Channel, it narrowed and passed between higher rock walls.

It is at this point that silt buildup is more problematic. The center of the channel through the drying flats of Skagit Bay is well marked, but at low tide extra caution needs to be taken, especially by sailboats with deep keels.

We got to the Deception Pass area about half an hour early for slack water. We stopped near Skagit Island outside Similk Bay and floated in the calm seas to pass the time. There is one moorage float left, but it sure looked close to the island shore in the low tide.

Once we made it under the bridge we noticed several small boats and lots of people on shore fishing. They were waiting for low slack to catch some of the salmon running through the pass as well.

We dropped a line using Wayne's downrigger. Hope they had better luck than we did. -- Margy