There and Back Again - A German Volunteer's Tale
Jogee reporting here...It's Sunday and it's barely been 48 hours since Taylor, Christoph, Sebastian, Felix, Josh, Tamara, and I returned from a very quick, but exciting, trip out to Vancouver Island.
We should start by answering the question "why". Well...because we can.
Just kidding!
Seriously though...Why ARE you driving some of your staff out to the coast? Well - the answer is simple. It's a giant thank you to our annual German Volunteer staff. Many of them come really wanting to see (and jump into) the Pacific Ocean so we made it happen. It was a big adventure and we did a ton of sight-seeing and travelling around the lower Main Land and Vancouver Island. Here's how the trip went and some pictures that captured our favourite moments:
Just kidding!
Seriously though...Why ARE you driving some of your staff out to the coast? Well - the answer is simple. It's a giant thank you to our annual German Volunteer staff. Many of them come really wanting to see (and jump into) the Pacific Ocean so we made it happen. It was a big adventure and we did a ton of sight-seeing and travelling around the lower Main Land and Vancouver Island. Here's how the trip went and some pictures that captured our favourite moments:
Monday - We started out at 6am to beat Holiday traffic and drove to Stillwood Camp and Conference Centre - that's off of Cultus Lake near Chilliwack, BC. It was great! Traffic was basically non-existent and we got some fun pictures along the way. Probably the highlight of the day was when we got to Cultus Lake. Felix and Christoph decided to jump in the freezing cold lake. Brrrrrr.
Tuesday - Day in Vancouver. We hit Granville Island markets and Stanley Park where we got one of my favourite pictures:
We went to the Vancouver Aquarium and learned about all the fun fishy life that can be found in BC Pacific waters like jellyfish, sea lions, and clams. This knowledge played a big part in one of our more funny moments.
We finished the day out by taking the ferry across to Vancouver Island and staying the night at Camp Qwanoes.
Wednesday - This was probably one of our favourite days. We started it by jumping in the Pacific Ocean off of Qwanoes' docks. Well...by we I mean Josh, Felix, Christoph, and Tamara. Taylor, Sebastian, and I preferred to stay high and dry. There was a bit of trepidation over what might living in the water (remember, we learned about all of the sea life the day before). I assured everyone that there wouldn't be anything bad in the water. As the four lined up to jump in...we started the countdown...right when we got to 'one' Sebastian pointed behind the group and there floating 15ft off the dock were 2 sea lions. Let's just say that it didn't go over very well with one of the jumpers (her name starts with T and ends with amara). After we all calmed down, we counted off and this was the result:
and this:
and this:
and this:
We continued our travels to Victoria where we experienced the Parliament Buildings, Dallas Rd., and the Empress. It was a wonderful day followed by an unfortunately early morning.
Thursday - Back to Vancouver! We caught the 7am ferry through the San Juan Islands and headed back to the Main Land. White Rock, fish and chips in Steveston, pictures downtown at Science World and Rogers Arena and then back to Stillwood to recharge for the journey home.
Friday - Party Van!! That's what Felix would call out every time we piled into the van. We headed home again at 6am and experienced a smooth ride home.
Highlights from the week included the Aquarium, jumping into the Pacific, Victoria, and "everything". We're tired but happy and ready to welcome all of our Spring Staff in a few short days!
Jogee
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