Vacations and hot days and beach time, oh my!

I'd never had the chance to experience the loveliness that is going "up island". That's what the locals call the short trips to Qualicum Beach and Nanaimo and Campbell River and other such places of intrigue and adventure. However, this "up island" experience has officially been had. K and I headed up to Qualicum Beach last Friday for a single night of relaxation at a B&B, courtesy of the S, the best man at my wedding, and his lovely girlfriend D. We've had the gift certificate for almost a year and finally had a chance to use it, so we hopped in the Hyundai with our poor man's A/C (windows rolled down and feet hanging out the window) and made the 2 hour drive north to one of the most berautiful places in the world.

The town was beautiful, and although it took us far too long to get onto the right highway (due to our terrible, hand-drawn map without directions), we enjoyed the evening. We had dinner on the patio of a cute little pub on the water, enjoyed some drinks as the summer sun faded into the northwest sky, and walked along the beach to get some ice cream.

I guess there's no need to point out the fact that I like ice cream. The one in my left hand is, in reality, K's. At least, that's the story I'm sticking to.

After working the rest of the weekend, I also had the pleasure of heading to Thetis Lake as well. A couple friends from school saved a piece of beach for us, and after K got off early from work, we hit the road again with out hot hot hot hot car and did some sunbathing. I needed extra-dark sunglasses so the glare off my chest didn't blind me. And although my SPF 1,000,000 protected me from the suns evil death rays, I'm still a lovely shade of clear between my elboys and my knees. Everyone that's seen me knows that I can compete for nicest farmer tan in town.

I'll leave a couple more pictures on here, but I don't have too much exciting to say for today... it's been glorious here on the West Coast the past few days, so lets hope the weather continues...