Bears, Bears, Bears...

So, Cody and I went up to Cody's parents' cabin this weekend, it was grand.

My mom and her partner Claude and my bro all went up too from Vancouver, it was awesome. Our two families met for the first time, as we stopped in at Cody's parents' place along the way to the cabin, it went really well.

It was a great drive, its about 1.5 hour ferry ride to Vancouver from the Victoria and our little island, and then about 3 hour drive to Merrit, where Cody is from, and then a further 45 minutes to the cabin.

Its absolutely beautiful, deep valleys, and intensely high rugged mountains, along the drive we drove to the highest point in the Canadian highway system, and the cabin is at about 5200 feet above sea level.

Upon arrival Friday night it was dark and Cody lit the wood heating system that heats the cabin, while we unloaded the food from the car and made the beds, etc. The 'cabin' itself is actually a log cabin that was made by Cody and his father about 10 years ago, and is roughly 2000 square feet, with three bedrooms, laundry, decks, two bathrooms, running water, electricity and all that jazz. They just got electricity up there about a year ago, so thats definitely nice.

Walking is a great thing to do up there, the weather wasn't bad, it rained mostly, but it was only about 0-2 degrees celcius the entire time, and it snowed a wee bit too, but the ground is still bare. We ate way too much food, played cards, my mom and I studied (she is doing her Phd in Transpersonal Phsychology right now), my brother and Claude fished, and we all ate. Did I mention we ate a lot ?

WAY too much food was eaten. Between the 6 of us, in two days, we ate 36 egss, salmon fillets, calamari, seafood chowder, bacon, ham, lots of chips with fresh homemade salsa, and lots of wine and beer. Hehe, way too many calories :D

On Sunday, Cody, myself, my bro and Claude and our friend Sanjay from Vancouver who had also come up with us, all went for a big walk around the lake that the cabin is on. Its about 5-7 KMs around the lake, and we kinda took a long way, hehe. Cody was leading. It was simply magical. Cody spotted many moose and deer tracks along the trail, most fresh. I discovered a bear tracks, and we found more, all of which were fresh in the mud. That was a little scary. Luckily, there was no sightings... but it is serious bear country.

It was a great weekend, totally relaxing, and we got lots of fresh air. Long drive to get there, but it was great to see the high alpine mountains and be there right before winter really settles in.

Now, I must return to reality, and my midterms that I have this week...

Oh, and Cody's parents rent out this cabin a lot of the time, so you can see it on their website here.