On storms and small rocks.

I went for a drive around the extreme southern coast of Vancouver Island yesterday...it was such a bright and sunny Sunday that I couldn't resist going through a tank of gas.

I stopped at a number of places along the way.
One of the first places I stopped was at Whiffen Spit near the very famous Sooke Harbour House (which I'm to lazy to link to). It's considered a prime international destination (EnRoute voted it the best 'country inn' in the world this year) due in large part to both it's specatular views, as well as it's food offerings.

I continued further along the tip of the Island and went into a lovely meadery along the way. Called the "Tugwell Creek Meadery", it's a lovely 'vinyard' specializing in honey and fruit based wines. They are very good and rather unusual.



I found this gargoyle nestled in the garden at the front gate.





And they had a Medieval declaration on how to care for bees posted by the wine cellar:



"Thou must not be given to surfeiting and drunkenesse."

I think I've got the surfeiting under control, anyway!





But as lovely as this adventure was, it was amazing and scary to see the evidence of the beating the south coast and Vancouver Island took in the aftermath of the recent storms that crashed through here.
It was a mess all along the road; huge trees the size of vehicles smashed down, homes crushed and telephones lines down everywhere.

I saw at least 7 crews working (on a Sunday!) to try to restore power and clear lines. I think it's lucky no one was killed by this storm, by the looks of it.