Cat Attack!

Tonight we are in Golden, British Columbia, in the Monashee Mountains, at a place called the Sportsman Lodge. It's Day 12 and we're on our way back to The Fort. Let me get you caught up though on what we've been up to. I left off in Duncan with our visit with April and Rick. For those of you who don't know, Rick is my brother. On Saturday, August 8, we went to Shawnigan Lake and spent the day at April's son's place. Bart and his wife, Colleen, have a beautiful house right on the lake and it was a day of play. Hannah went out on the sea doo and played in the water for most of the afternoon. We had a wonderful time and it was a great visit. It was so nice to be out of the van. We had driven in from Duncan in the morning and needed to go and check into our new hotel. There had been a bit of confusion about that as we had been told that we didn't have a reservation when we stopped in the first time. Rick had booked it for us the night before but as it turns out there are a lot of Deer Lodge Hotels in BC and we ended up booked into one in Vancouver. It was the long weekend and there were no rooms available anywhere and we wanted to be as close to Shawnigan Lake as possible. We got it all straightened out though and checked into the right place. The view from our room was fantastic! I fell in love immediately and we decided it was time to splurge and stay two nights. We had a large room with a fireplace and a view of the bay. The grounds were lush with huge blossoms everywhere. The hotel in Duncan was owned by Chinese Buddhists and it had beautiful gardens as well. In the morning on the way to breakfast there was the smell of Nag Champa incense burning at the entrance to the hotel and there was a lovely courtyard perfect for reading a good book. We were having good luck with accommodations. We went back to Colleen and Bart's for a bar-b-q and another visit and then back to the motel to get the kids into bed.

The next day we went into Victoria for a few hours of sightseeing. We went to an undersea museum which was a boat that was sitting in the harbour. It was not worth the money we spent but Hannah seemed to enjoy it. I spent most of the time chasing Josiah around the gift shop while Art and Hannah watched an undersea diver showing examples of all the sea creatures found off the coast of BC. We walked around a bit and then went to a petting zoo which the kids loved. There was a Vietnamese pot bellied pig with little piglets which were adorable. Later Uncle Rick and Aunt April told Hannah about Sweet Pea, the pig they used to have. She was supposed to be a Vietnamese pot bellied pig too but according to how big she got they figure she must have been something else. Josiah loved the baby goats and he learned to sign 'billy goat'. We met April and Rick for lunch and then they took us on a drive to the coast where we got to dip our feet into the Pacific Ocean in the Juan de Fuca Strait. Just a few degrees cooler than the Atlantic Ocean actually. We then headed back to April and Rick's place in Shawnigan Lake. They have about 13 acres, absolutely beautiful, nice and private. It's a lovely property with lots of cedar trees. Josiah had fallen asleep in the van so we left him where he was. April took me in so I could use their computer as I had to get a phone number from an email for our next stop. They have a very handsome cat who goes by the name of Rusty. He's an old guy and a very big Manx. He's not used to kids so I told Hannah to give him a wide berth. He was very friendly with me though, he came out and hung out by my leg while I checked my email. I peeked out the window and saw that Josiah was waking up. In retrospect, I realize now I should have gone out to get him right away to avoid the crying which is what I would normally do. He was alone in the van and would obvioulsy not be too happy about that. I just assumed Art would hear him and go get him but as it turned out he couldn't hear him until he was pretty upset. By the time Art got to him and brought him into the house he was wailing. I got up to go and take him and that was when the cat attacked me from behind. Ouch!!! It took us a few minutes to realize that he was very disturbed by the baby. It only got worse because instead of getting to Josiah I was now clutching my leg. Rusty came at me again. I tried to block him but he sunk his claws into the bottom of my foot which hurt like crazy. I reached down to hold him off and he grabbed my hand. I was starting to freak out as he was hissing and spitting and I realized he wasn't going to give up. There was a lot of commotion and confusion as April tried to get the cat and Art got Josiah out of the house. Hannah was in the living room looking concerned and nervous but I told her to stay put while they got the cat under the kitchen table. April reached down to block Rusty and he swiped her cutting her hand. Rick took control of the cat and April and I got cleaned up in the bathroom. Poor Rusty, I think he was probably traumatized. I was pretty sore and bruised for a few days but no tetanus shot needed. We cut our visit short and went back to our motel. We lit a fire and enjoyed our last night on Vancouver Island.

The next morning we headed for the ferry in Swartz Bay. We had tried to make a reservation but it was booked so we were expecting a big delay in the first come first serve lineup. We arrived and boarded 15 minutes later. It was a beautiful crossing, so many little coves and inlets along the way. We could see the snow capped peaks of Mount Baker in Washington state and Art told Hannah how he had once skiied down it. She was pretty impressed, it's a big mountain, and she told a lot of people that story. We arrived in Tswassan way ahead of schedule so we decided to head into downtown Vancouver and take the kids to the Aquarium. It's about an hour drive from Tsawwassen as it is at the other end of the city but we were arriving on the mainland a couple of hours ahead of what we originally figured. Even though it was Monday, the holiday, we decided to be adventurous. The Aquarium turned out to be the highlight of the trip for Hannah and Josiah. It really is an amazing place, I think I enjoyed it as much as they did. There had to be thousands of people there and it was 38.5 degrees and inside it was humid. We were in a sweat within minutes, literally skin soaked. It was wall to wall people and Josiah was in the stroller which made things tight. We eventually had to take him out so he could get right up to the glass and see the fish. He pointed and screamed with delight at everything, it was priceless. Their reactions to the place made it all worthwhile. We saw these incredible giant air breathing fish from the Amazon that looked like they must be prehistoric. There was a tank full of sharks that Hannah, after a few minutes of hesitation, peered into forever. She is so afraid of sharks that she doesn't even like to look at pictures of them but she was fascinated. She said they were fine because they were only small sharks. The best part for everyone was definitely the belugas though. We watched them in the hot sun for awhile and then found our way underground to watch them swimming underwater. We tried to get pictures but they didn't turn out unfortunately.

To Be Continued...