Knock knock knock… Trick or Treat!
<silence>
Sorry kids, they’re not over from Vancouver this weekend!

That’s exactly what I thought when we moved here.  Then I learned that everyone goes to the fire hall for Halloween, the kids dress up in costumes, and we all relax by a big fire.  Sure, I’ve got fond memories of sprinting door-to-door on the Canadian prairies, while trying to avoid sliding on black ice when I was a kid.  This version just seems so much more civilized.

Every year, the fire department lights up a bonfire, roasts hot dogs and brews up a big batch of hot chocolate.  The community gets together and has a great time; the kids play, and then they put on a pretty nice fireworks display.  We’re into year 3 of living here, so now we’ve definitely got a wide range of friends in the community, and I’ve moved from being a paranoid city parent, to being a laid-back island parent (it probably has something to do with Rei being in school now too).

I’ve attached a short video from the night.  Some of it is filmed Blair Witch style, so if you’re likely to get motion sickness, might give it a miss (you’ve been warned!)

I was pretty excited about paddling the north shore of Mayne Island.  Not only would I be paddling past my house, but also I’d get to see Edith Point, which I’ve hiked countless times, from the water and get to check out the other houses along my street.  I thought that it would probably be fairly relaxing with somewhat interesting scenery.

We started out leaving Bennett Bay as the tide was coming in.  There wasn’t a lot of beach left when we headed out, and there was absolutely no beach to land on when we returned.  I managed to get in and out without going for a swim surprisingly.  Crossing the opening to Campbell Bay, I was really concentrating on my technique, and had a really good rhythm going.  We rounded the corner and started paddling along Edith Point.

There’s not much else I can say about the trip.  Turns out it was my least favorite paddle so far.  I don’t know if it was just my mood that day, but I didn’t enjoy the coastline as much as I was expecting and paddling felt like a chore.  When I got back to shore, I was tired, sore and didn’t really feel like I had accomplished much.  The tide was incredibly high, and the wind picked up half way through our paddle;  we were mostly paddling without any sort of currents (at slack), so if you stopped paddling, you would just stop in the water.  I’m willing to bet that this trip would be a completely different experience at low tide.

We made it to Oyster Bay and then turned around and headed back to Bennett.  Again, nothing remarkable on the return trip.  I had an interesting moment when I realized that between Active Pass the week before, and this trip, I had paddled around approximately half of the island.  I guess, in reality I’ve managed to do the entire shoreline now, but the consecutive week realization was kind of neat.