The Jones Family +1 (L-R Cynthia with Sian, Lauren and Andrew Jones at Comox Lake.)
Today was another wonderful day. They seem to be coming thick and fast and for that we are so grateful to God. In most instances in our lives, keeping up with the Joneses is not something about which Cynthia and I are remotely concerned, probably like most people out there. We like to live our lives to the fullest, one day at a time, and allow others to live theirs in whichever ways they choose to do so…also like most of you out there.
Last night, and again today, we had the enormous pleasure of hosting the Jones family, friends from Wales. Andrew and Sian, along with their wonderful daughter Lauren, made a special trip to visit us as part of their latest visit to Canada, and B.C. in particular. They landed in Calgary a while ago, worked their way down through the Rockies and ended up in the valley last night. They made a brief visit to us after dinner then made their way back to their hotel in Courtenay for what we knew would be a full day today.
This morning, Cynthia and I picked them up at the hotel around 09.30 and off we went on a loosely planned, full day. We visited Cumberland and Comox Lake, and stopped to chat with some of the locals about anything from dogs, to the weather, and Jumbo’s hut, left over from the days when Chinese workers filled Cumberland to work in the mines. From the lake we headed up into the alpine pastures of Mt. Washington to see the ski operation there. As we climbed, so did the clouds and at the lodge we were favoured by seeing nothing but blue skies. The mountains were spectacular as pockets of snow still glistened on their slopes. The view back over Georgia Strait was wonderful and Lauren raved about all she saw, as did her parents. Andrew treated us to coffee and cinnamon buns at the lodge before we headed back to the inland highway again.
We made a left turn at the junction with the highway and headed north to Hamm Road and the right turn there. We drove past the Island Bison farm on that road in the hope of spotting some of the animals out grazing in the pastures. Would there be a photo op? We didn’t even see the farm! Undaunted we pushed on knowing the bison farm would have to be on the visit agenda for the Jones’ next trip to the valley.
Ten minutes later we were turning into the parking lot of the Shelter Point Distillery…again! (If you remember I just wrote a post about the wonderful visit we made to this place a week or so ago.) I’d mentioned that visit to Andrew and Sian, and they both said they’d love to do the trip in order to pick up some of the produce for Sian’s Dad back in Wales. Apparently the gentleman loves a wee dram each night before bed, so they were both sure he would enjoy tasting some of this local produce. We mentioned to Andrew and Sian that Shelter Point’s first run would not be available until 2014, but blends were available. They thought a blend would be just fine!
Imagine how disappointed we were to find on arrival that even the shop was shut at the distillery. Cynthia decided we should walk around the outside anyway, and this proved to be a brilliant strategy. At the rear of the distillery we came across James, the man who’d showed us round last week. He invited us in to meet Mike, the head man in charge of operations. Not only did Mike give us a personal and private tour, but he had the till at the shop opened so that the liquid gift for Sian’s dad could be bought. The Jones family had another wonderful story to tell about the kindness and consideration of the Canadian people.
The tour over, we headed for the resort at Salmon Point and in particular the pub at Salmon Point. We planned to eat lunch on the patio. We ate well. Fully fed and relaxed, we left the place. Cynthia took the car to the car park at the Oyster River while Sian, Lauren, Andrew and I hoofed it along the beach/forest trail to join her. Following our intrepid leader Lauren, we made it safely to the meeting point, loaded up and headed for home. By now it was mid-afternoon and time to get the Jones family back to their hotel so they could get their feet up for an hour or two before joining us for dinner, later in the evening.
We headed home and got things organised for the meal. Some of the prep Cynthia had done days earlier so we were ahead of the game when the Joneses re-joined us. Our dinner was great and as the evening was gorgeous, we ended up taking a stroll along the boardwalk at the Comox marina and along Goose Spit. Finally Andrew drove us home and we said goodbye to them. They headed back to Courtenay and the hotel, ready to leave for Vancouver tomorrow.
Keeping up with the Joneses had been most pleasurable. Their obvious joy at being in our gorgeous province and local valley was infectious and made us appreciate even more how fortunate we are to be resident here in God’s country.
Come again Jones family, as soon as you can, so that we can try keeping up with you once more. The pleasure has been all ours. ’Bye for now, and God bless.
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