As much as Paulette and I, along with Molly and Rylie, really enjoyed our hikes in the deserts and hills of the Palm Springs area, it’s nice to get back to the cooler, greener walks along the ocean and rivers of the Cowichan Valley. I can’t think of two areas that contrast so much in geography and climate as Palm Springs and Vancouver island so we count ourselves as very fortunate to be able to enjoy both.
An extremely low tide yesterday afternoon in the Estuary
Saturday afternoon, we went to one of our very favourite spots for our afternoon hike with the muttzo’s – the Cowichan River Estuary. It had cooled off a bit temperature wise from when we arrived home on Thursday but it was still quite pleasant for a brisk walk.
Cowichan River with Mt. Tzouhalem looming in the background
We got our first look at the Cowichan River as it flowed down to the ocean. In the background we could see the top of Mt. Tzouhalem and wondered how many times we’ll hike up there this year. It’s another one of our favourite spots so I’m sure we’ll be climbing up the mountain before too long.
The walk from the parking lot to the end of the Estuary trail is 1 mile so this 2 mile return walk is great exercise for us. On one side, we pretty much follow the path of the Cowichan River and on the other we have a wonderful scenic view of a farm, an old house, barn and outbuildings – it’s a great contrast.
Rylie playing with her new friend – 1 year old Toby
Molly and Rylie had fun too as they met a new friend – a 1 year-old Scottie dog name Toby. Toby was very playful and when his owner decided it was time to head back, Toby was in no mood to go as he wanted to continue to play with Rylie. We went one way, Toby’s owner walked the other and Toby took a long time looking back and forth deciding which way to go before choosing his owner – good boy!
My big accomplishment for Saturday was downloading Turbo-Tax, installing it on my computer and then completing our income tax returns for 2012. It turned out as expected with no real surprises so I’ll probably file the returns electronically some time before the deadline date of April 30th. I like waiting until the final day hoping our returns get lost in all the muddle.
Village of Cowichan Bay in the background
I didn’t mean to cause any alarm or confusion in my blog yesterday about Google’s plans to discontinue our Blogger Follower’s Gadget and replace it with Google+ Followers. Once the Blogger Follower’s is gone there won’t be any requirement to join Google+ at all. It just means you won’t be able to have a Followers Gadget. If you are a member of Google+ then adding their Gadget is as simple as the old one. It doesn’t really require any particular knowledge of Google+.
Now that we’re back home our eating habits have taken a drastic turn for the worse. By that, I mean no more pizzas, enchiladas, reubens, carrot cake, double-chocolate cheesecake etc. – at least for a little while. It’s time to buckle down and shed the few extra pounds picked up while snowbirding. The good news is I only have to lose about 7lbs so that’s not too bad!
Have a great Sunday, and thanks again for visiting!
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