Last year, I didn’t get to come to Ruskin. I’d been told that our division president was coming out to Calgary during the same week, so I stuck around.
And was shafted by other politics at play.
So I missed out coming to my favourite place in Canada. One of my favourite places on the planet. And I don’t say that lightly.
It’s genuinely peaceful here. It’s a rural area, about 150 metres from the Fraser River. The most annoyance is that the provincial government decided it was a great idea to expand Highway 7 (120 metres away) into a 4 lane road. Which it really didn’t need. (Have too many cars on the road? Maybe find a way to reduce the number of cars…)
I came out here on Sunday evening, after When Word Collide. I went right to the airport even before my last session ended. The flight was packed. Say what you will about there being a “minor” airport east of YVR, but Abbotsford bleeds a lot of traffic away from the larger airport to service those who live east of New Westminster.
I didn’t get enough time here this trip. Though I never seem to get enough time here. I never want to leave. And it’s going to be at 6am tomorrow morning.
We went to Fort Langley on Monday. I’m really losing interest in the place. It’s so gentrified now that it really only belongs in Hallmark Christmas movies (which, true story, they were filming at the time we were there). It was a good afternoon to get out, but really not seeing the appeal of going back.
We did Granville Island on Tuesday, which was a lot busier than I’d expected for mid-week. SkyTrain from Coquitlam Centre to Main Street, then Aquabus to Granville Island. When the kids were young, the Aquabus/False Creek Ferry was a fun experience. Now it’s $50 for three of us, round-trip. It’s a real shame that the transportation companies aren’t working to reduce the number of car trips (see above about getting cars off the road), ‘cuz at that price, I’ll be seriously questioning doing that again.
Harrison Hot Springs was Wednesday. I’d never been to Harrison before (which is mildly sad, given how many times I’ve come out here). It was … okay. It’s relatively nice and wasn’t too busy, but … well, it’s a lake town. I’ve been to a bunch of lake towns and they all feel the same. There’s nothing special about Harrison Hot Springs, its just a nice place to spend an afternoon on an artificial beach where signs warn you of swimmer’s itch.
The real score of the day was Homestead Cider. To say this place is off the beaten track is like suggesting a forestry service road is a major highway. It’s 5.5 km almost due east of Harrison, but there’s a pesky mountain in the way that you have drive around. Then you have to drive through Seabird Island. And take a couple of sketchy, unmarked turns before you end up in a gravel parking lot in front of a vague Alpine-looking house next to a field with four long-horn cows.
But behind it? Paradise. And I don’t mean because of the cider (though dry, it’s very good). It’s the atmosphere. It’s the sort of place you can see yourself sitting in for hours. And apparently on certain days, there’s food trucks with live music. Definitely going to make a return there on a day like that.
It’s dark here, now. The light is growing dim. The bats are out hunting bugs, the cat (Natalia) is hunting … whatever she hunts. And it’s time for me to have a shower and go to bed. It’s a long drive back to Calgary.