It was a dark day. California keeps burning and, with no respect for Canadian borders, keeps sending its smoke over to Canada despite our border being closed to non-essential travel. It didn’t even quarantine for two weeks—no respect for these pandemic times.
Still, all the smoke felt like a perpetual fog that smells of burnt stuff, not a sea breeze. I would not quite call it burning wood. It gave everything a yellow hue, as much of the light was filtered out. We’re not at red sky level like the northwest of the US, but it could get there given enough time and wind.
To pass the day, we drove North to meet some of the giant trees that make the west coast of Canada so famous. Hiking to any location with a vantage point on its surroundings was pretty much useless since we didn’t see very far. As it turned out, even the trees got a little foggy toward the top.
We drove two and a half hours on country roads to walk, essentially, a little under 2 kilometres. 300 meters each way on one side of the road and about 600 meters each way on the other side of the road. Each way was to see, of course, tall trees, but also old trees (more than 700 years old, we’re told). After all that excitement, another two-and-a-half-hour drive to come back. The car did get a lot more exercise than we did. The experience, however, was unique. Both the drive in what felt like dense fog and the walk in the forest under tree covers, and, to our eyes, a very white sky. The sky turned yellow, if you ask our cameras, but really, what do they know?
The evening ended at another well-rated, well-listed restaurant in Victoria: The Courtney Room. As always, at the higher-end restaurants, we clash with the more formal attire worn by most other patrons. As always, this proves two important things: one, we do not care how people judge us; and, as of yet, we’ve never been refused service at any restaurant for what we wear (for not having a reservation, yes, but not for what we wear). Granted, restaurants that post a clear dress code disclaimer are not part of our spice palate either. Restaurants should be about the food, not how fancy the patrons can dress, after all.