4 Days in Canadian Bowels

Our trip to Canada was so fun!!! For as calm and uneventful as my birthday was, this birthday-vacation totally made up for it!

We headed up to Canada on Wednesday. The original plan was to stop in Anacordes and to cross the ferry to Vancouver Island on Thursday. But we decided instead to head straight for Vancouver and to cross over on the Vancouver ferry. We stayed the first night in Nanaimo and drove up to Qualicom Beach on Thursday.

At Qualicom we spent the afternoon checking out this butterfly farm, which was really neat. We saw many different kinds of butterflies along with tropical birds, orchids, turtles and some spiders, an iguana, and other lizards. It was quite beautiful and VERY warm in there. The outside temp was around 50 degrees, but inside it was tropical heat!

Next we visited this amazing animal recovery shelter were they take in animals who have been hurt. They try to rehabilitate them so they can be released. Sometimes they are successful, but sometimes the animals "imprint" on humans, so they can no longer survive on their own. The ones that they plan to release can't be viewed, but you can see the others that they keep there. You can also "adopt" an animal! If you adopt an animal the money helps to support the upkeep of that animal and you get a certificate and all the information about your animal's story and history. So of course-I had to adopt one. :) I adopted a Barred Owl named Blue. I'll get my certificate in a few weeks I think. That really made my day. There were many other animals: bears, bald eagles, great horned owls, ravens, hawks, and many other birds and lizards.

After that we headed to the hotel, relaxed and then had a nice relaxing dinner at a place down the road.

Friday was our outdoor warm up adventure, to help prepare us for the crazy day that was to come Saturday. We started off bright and early with a hike up to one of the self guided caves in the cave park. We spent about an hour and a half hiking in and out. At the back of the cave there was a waterfall that was really fun. Marcus and I were able to climb pretty far up the waterfall to the point where we couldn't hardly hear mom and dad down at the bottom anymore. It was fun to scramble around that cave and it got us into the mood for our intense caving to be done the next day. Afterwards we went on a hike around a river and waterfall. It was a leisurely hike, and once again, very beautiful.

We lunched at a pizza place and then headed out to the Cheeseworks farm! (My idea.) I got to taste cheese after cheese after cheese which just made me happy. :) The farm was a self guided tour, so we walked around and saw pigs and goats, bunnies and cows. You could pet the goats and the sheep and I even let a baby cow suck on my fingers. :) I know that sounds weird, but I used to do that with the calves that my aunt and uncle used to raise, so it was fun for me.

That evening, we tried to find an Irish pub...we found it! But it was closed. Sad news. Apparently, Canadian Irish pubs out in the middle of no where are seasonally open...and still not open for the summer! So we had to settle for a random bar and grill.

Saturday was our big day! It started off with our repelling training. We met our guide Laura, headed up to the side of a mountain and repelled off a cliff twice. Then we tried to climb a little. Marcus made it up, but it was very very slick because it had been raining. Neither my dad or I was able to make it (and took a couple of good slips and swings on the ropes), even as much as I love climbing I was ok with not trying again. I new we had much in store for us later on. And I was right!!!

After a quick lunch we hiked our 20 minutes to the cave opening and dived into the darkness. This was probably one of the most intense adventures I have ever been on in my life. It was a 5 hour tour to the bottom of this cave. It required crawling through spaces that were about 1.5 feet high, 2 feet wide for 10-15 feet. We had 3 repels, one was 7 stories down! We crawled, wiggled, squated, balanced, climbed, scrambled, we rarely just walked, all the while trying not to touch the Calcite formations. Calcite will stop growing if you touch it and it's very fragile. All of our climbs were down waterfalls. We saw some fantastic rock formations.

We reached the end, stopped by water, no one has been able to explore farther, so we headed back. The 7 story waterfall had to be partially rock climbed back up, but 2/3 of it was a ladder climb. There was a cable ladder for the next climb up, but the third climb was purely rock climbing.

It was quite amazing to get back to the opening and realize just how far we had gone and survived to come back! Not that any of it was exceptionally dangerous, but it's such an accomplishment to realize that you've done it! What a high! My whole family did it: mom, dad, Marcus and me. Mom had some hard struggles at some points coming back, but we got her through! It was so incredible and something I will never forget.

We were all hurting that evening, and the next day the sore muscles were really screaming. The ride home was quiet and pretty uneventful, other than the fact that we had a minor map misreading and ended up skirting Vancouver and went through a different boarder crossing. Got home, and crashed!

I think I got some good pictures, but my camera got kind of messed up at the butterfly place. So I'll get up what I have and any that I can steal from my brother and mom sometime soon. No pictures from the big cave, but we have some from the little cave, that can give you some ideas.

Now that we're back, my life is going to be consumed by studying! The library will become my second home I think. Anyway, signing off for now!