Four days on the beach at Qualicum Beach, BC
Our May 3-7 visit to Qualicum Beach, BC, for my eldest sister’s 75th birthday was mostly about family, which I won’t say much about except that it was wonderful.
On Friday, our arrival day, we just went into Qualicum Beach and did some grocery shopping, then went back to our cottage at the Seaview Beach Resort and enjoyed the views and great vibe.
On Saturday, we went to The Shady Rest restaurant on the waterfront in Qualicum Beach for an excellent early-lunch. The beach was very quiet but I expect this place hops when it warms up.
The birthday celebration began early Saturday afternoon. It was a surprise party, and Val’s reaction was beyond perfect. Nobody said anything when she walked in the banquet room at the Canadian Legion near her home in Bowser, we just let her slowly recognize people. We managed to get everyone out back for a group photo. When over 50 people from all over North America, from the Yukon to Ottawa to California, will show up for your birthday, I’d say you’ve led a good life. Most of the people in this photo are descendants of my father and his two wives.
Family members had booked all 4 beachfront cottages and a couple of others in the back at the Seaview Beach Resort, and we had a great evening around a campfire.
The spectacular sunset was quite a bonus, and we watched one of the first Alaska cruise ships of the season, the Nieuw Amsterdam, sail by.
The next photo shows family members chatting on Sunday morning as most of them prepared to head home. The Seaview, which Cathy had initially found, turned out to be as perfect a place as we could have imagined for an event like this.
Cathy and I just chilled for the rest of Sunday. We’re both very much drawn by the sea, and this location was superb.
Each evening, bunnies would come out in front of our cottage.
On Monday morning, a few of us gathered for breakfast, then one of my nieces led us to Little Mountain, a spectacular location near Parksville, just a few miles away. Being a weekday early in the season, we were able to drive up to the tiny parking area at the top – on a summer weekend, it’s quite a hike up. In this next photo is a grandniece I had never met before. This birthday celebration was the largest gathering of the clan ever 🙂
I love arbutus trees (Arbutus menziesii), and there are lots of them at Little Mountain.
The cliffs at Little Mountain have claimed a few lives in accidents and suicides. It was very easy to see why. A fence along the cliff edges was removed because it was found that it would encourage certain people to climb over it, increasing the danger.
Cathy and I had a 1:00 appointment for a tour of the nearby North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre. It was so awesome that it gets its own lengthy post, which will be next.
About The Author
