On Sat. the 13th we were going to take a ride in Miles’ colleague’s 6-person motorboat. As Ben backed the boat into the water, the winch unexpectedly released and the boat slid on the trailer. Miles instinctively tried to stop the boat from sliding and his left hand was hit repeatedly by the spinning handle of the winch. I was standing on the side and was concerned about the boat falling off the trailer and getting scraped on the ramp when Miles walked over with a very bloody hand, with fingers at odd angles and calmly said, “Oh, I think I busted my hand or at least a couple of fingers.” Men. Sigh! So instead of a boat trip, we ended up at the emergency room at a small hospital near the boat launch.
After a lot of waiting around and x-rays, Miles had indeed broken the middle finger of his left hand in a couple of places and broke his ring finger, too, but not so badly. Fortunately, none of the finger joints were broken. They had to cut his wedding ring off since his hand started swelling and the ring was cutting off the circulation. (He says now, without his ring, he has a “get out of jail free” card. Oh, he’s so funny.) When the doctor said he’ll have to put a splint on the whole hand, Miles asked, “Well, if possible, can you only splint the 2 bad fingers, so I can type on the computer?” The doctor laughed and said he understood academics who need to type, so he did this and told us to tell the surgeon at the main hospital (where Miles would have surgery) that it was the patient’s idea, not his.
The surgery was yesterday, Wed. 17th, and all went well. It was a 1 1/2 hour procedure and the doctor put a plate and pins in the middle finger and pinned his ring finger. He's all bandaged up again and will have to go back to the hospital next week for follow up. He'll go to physical therapy to get some exercises. When we get to Paris, he'll have to have the pins removed. We are both so grateful that the accident wasn't worse--Miles is a fast healer and it's not stopping us!
In between the accident and the surgery, with the doctor's permission, we went ahead with our plans to visit "up island" to Campbell River and Strathcona Provincial Park. And what a trip we had! We rented a car and headed north.
Day 1: We first stopped at Duncan famous for 40 totem poles spread out around the downtown area. This is the world's largest urban collection--who knew?
Next stop was Chemainus where we saw murals on public buildings which depict historic scenes and also reproductions of paintings by BC artist Emily Carr.
Rathtrevor Beach is special because it's sandy--lots of families enjoying the beach. We ate our picnic lunch while trying to escape the very friendly bees.
We then hiked to Englishman River Falls--just beautiful:
Our next stop was at Coombs to see the goats on the grass covered roof atop the country market. What a space-saver! (Be sure to click on the picture to see the goat)
What else is special about Coombs, you ask? Well, LICORICE, of course. Huh? There we were, just driving along when we came upon a huge sign beckoning us:
And the sign didn't lie. This shop, owned by a Dutch family, has no less than 65 kinds of licorice (and all kinds of Dutch food items.) What a treasure trove! Miles was in licorice heaven!
Our next beach was a rocky one called Qualicum and what a view--so peaceful and serene. When the tide goes out it exposes half a kilometer of tide pools. Unfortunately, we missed the low tide.
Finally, we reached Campbell River, famous for salmon fishing. We stayed in a motel over looking the river and had a delicious fish and chips dinner. Ahhhhh......
Day 2: After checking into Strathcona Lodge (more about that later), we drove 45 minutes around Buttle Lake and hiked to Lower Myra Falls:
And then because we read the sign wrong (don't ask), instead of getting to Upper Myra Falls, we ended up hiking Phillips Ridge path which we hiked for 1 1/2 hours basically straight up through the forest--never got to the end (my legs and I thought is was endless). Hard but beautiful!
Now a word about the Strathcona Lodge: We were very lucky to get 1 night there because it's usually very busy. This is mainly an outdoor education center where groups of school kids come to learn about rock climbing, kayaking, nature, etc. We had a very special room with a lake view to die for--just see for yourself:
And at night, what a view of the stars with absolutely no light pollution! I never saw so many clusters in my life! It was totally amazing and beautiful--too bad we couldn't capture it with our camera. Miles even saw a shooting star (no pain med hallucination!)
Day 3: From the lodge, we hiked the Beau Trail and reached high above the ridge:
After driving back towards Campbell River we went to Elk Falls Provincial Park and hiked to the falls and continued on the river walk:
We also stopped at the Quinsam Fish Hatchery where we saw Pink salmon. There are 5 kinds: The largest salmon is the Chinook (Spring)
with the smallest being the Pink. Other species include the Coho (Silver), Chum and Sockeye.
Our last stop before returning to Victoria was at the Kinsol Trestle Bridge, the largest wooden trestle in the Commonwealth and one of the highest railway trestles in the world. Very interesting!
Ben before the fateful launch
After a lot of waiting around and x-rays, Miles had indeed broken the middle finger of his left hand in a couple of places and broke his ring finger, too, but not so badly. Fortunately, none of the finger joints were broken. They had to cut his wedding ring off since his hand started swelling and the ring was cutting off the circulation. (He says now, without his ring, he has a “get out of jail free” card. Oh, he’s so funny.) When the doctor said he’ll have to put a splint on the whole hand, Miles asked, “Well, if possible, can you only splint the 2 bad fingers, so I can type on the computer?” The doctor laughed and said he understood academics who need to type, so he did this and told us to tell the surgeon at the main hospital (where Miles would have surgery) that it was the patient’s idea, not his.
Miles giving me the finger
The surgery was yesterday, Wed. 17th, and all went well. It was a 1 1/2 hour procedure and the doctor put a plate and pins in the middle finger and pinned his ring finger. He's all bandaged up again and will have to go back to the hospital next week for follow up. He'll go to physical therapy to get some exercises. When we get to Paris, he'll have to have the pins removed. We are both so grateful that the accident wasn't worse--Miles is a fast healer and it's not stopping us!
In between the accident and the surgery, with the doctor's permission, we went ahead with our plans to visit "up island" to Campbell River and Strathcona Provincial Park. And what a trip we had! We rented a car and headed north.
Day 1: We first stopped at Duncan famous for 40 totem poles spread out around the downtown area. This is the world's largest urban collection--who knew?
The widest totem in Duncan
Thunderbird totem
Chemainus mural
Rathtrevor Beach is special because it's sandy--lots of families enjoying the beach. We ate our picnic lunch while trying to escape the very friendly bees.
Rathtrevor Beach
We then hiked to Englishman River Falls--just beautiful:
Englishman River Falls
Our next stop was at Coombs to see the goats on the grass covered roof atop the country market. What a space-saver! (Be sure to click on the picture to see the goat)
Can you see the white goat on the left side of the roof?
What else is special about Coombs, you ask? Well, LICORICE, of course. Huh? There we were, just driving along when we came upon a huge sign beckoning us:
A quick licorice fix for the addicted
And the sign didn't lie. This shop, owned by a Dutch family, has no less than 65 kinds of licorice (and all kinds of Dutch food items.) What a treasure trove! Miles was in licorice heaven!
Happy Boy!
Our next beach was a rocky one called Qualicum and what a view--so peaceful and serene. When the tide goes out it exposes half a kilometer of tide pools. Unfortunately, we missed the low tide.
Qualicum beach
Finally, we reached Campbell River, famous for salmon fishing. We stayed in a motel over looking the river and had a delicious fish and chips dinner. Ahhhhh......
Campbell river balcony
Day 2: After checking into Strathcona Lodge (more about that later), we drove 45 minutes around Buttle Lake and hiked to Lower Myra Falls:
 | |||
| Buttle Lake |
Lower Myra Falls
And then because we read the sign wrong (don't ask), instead of getting to Upper Myra Falls, we ended up hiking Phillips Ridge path which we hiked for 1 1/2 hours basically straight up through the forest--never got to the end (my legs and I thought is was endless). Hard but beautiful!
Now a word about the Strathcona Lodge: We were very lucky to get 1 night there because it's usually very busy. This is mainly an outdoor education center where groups of school kids come to learn about rock climbing, kayaking, nature, etc. We had a very special room with a lake view to die for--just see for yourself:
View from our room at Strathcona Lodge
Hello from our balcony!
Sunset on Lake Buttle
Day 3: From the lodge, we hiked the Beau Trail and reached high above the ridge:
Beauregard Lookout
Elk Falls Park
Pink salmon
Our last stop before returning to Victoria was at the Kinsol Trestle Bridge, the largest wooden trestle in the Commonwealth and one of the highest railway trestles in the world. Very interesting!
Kinsol Trestle Bridge
Just checked in to read about Laurie and the vicious seal rescue and Mile's middle finger. It makes me think it might be safer to be in this country!
ReplyDeleteWe wish you both Shana Metuka. We are going to Prague and Budapest at the end of the month - pretty soon.
All good wishes from your neighbors down the street.