We woke up early this morning and decided to leave camp right away to get us into Port Alberni in time for Mary Lou's online meeting, including prep time beforehand. We stopped at a few places along the way and admired the environment we were traveling through. I processed images and ran a few errands while Mary Lou was working. By 3pm we hit the road again in time to arrive at Dave's cousin's place in Duncan.
We spent a delightful evening with Dave's cousin and her daughter. It was great to catch up on their lives after many years of not seeing each other.
We "camped out" in their garage for two nights, sleeping in our nicely housed Sienna -- doors open and full access to the bathroom....luxury!
The next morning we spent some time on Cowichan Bay photographing.....birds, and relaxing on the beach reading and watching the photographer. This was the first time I witnessed aggression between blue herons (see below from bottom to top image):
It was fun to watch a nursery of young sea gulls working towards whatever it takes to fly.
As I was photographing the young sea gulls, a blue heron flew by and had this brief physical contact with one of the sea gull "babysitters". No idea what that was about:
We learned of an initiative by the City of Duncan in British Columbia's Cowichan Valley known as "The City of Totems" due to its extensive collection of publicly displayed totem poles. The project began in the 1980s and has since expanded to include over 40 poles throughout the downtown core. A range of artists were commissioned to create these amazing works of art, deep with meaning, as a celebration of First Nations culture and history. We took some time to wander around the town using a self guided tour to find the different poles.
The "Cedar Man Walking Out of the Log" totem pole was particularly fascinating. It tells a story of connection to nature, history, and family. The pole, carved by Richard Hunt, depicts a man emerging from a large cedar log, representing the cedar tree's importance to First Nations culture and the Kwagu'l people in particular. With a diameter of 1.8m it is the world's widest totem pole. The original tree was over 750 years old when the forestry company, MacMillan Bloedel donated it to the city.
In the evening my cousins from Vancouver arrived and we enjoyed a mini-family reunion talking about old times.
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