We've just spent a few days in a different world. We spent a long weekend with a group of close friends at the Grouse Nest Resort in Sooke, British Columbia. The web site doesn't do the full experience justice. The place is very David Lynch-esque -- it's fascinatingly weird, with secret passageways, winding stairways and hallways, and elaborate but decaying decorative touches. Visitors to the Grouse Nest are constantly stumbling upon things that make them say, "???!!!" It's a bit dusty and oddly equipped (toasters two floors below guest kitchen, refrigerators in secret room hidden from kitchen, etc.), but has overall felt like camping with the additional benefits of a roof, heat, hot water, and electricity.


For the kids it has been very exciting. Our group totalled 27, including some kids they know well and some they have met periodically over the years. There was also a familiar crew of friendly adults to engage with. Most importantly, we let the kids run around the resort on their own, within reason. (There's no staff on the premises.)

On this trip the kids discovered the following: Double-decker buses, bidets, roasted potatoes, Playdoh with sparkles, the traffic jam game, and fishing. Emi caught a slim little minnow which James helped her released. Many questions followed re. how big a fish must be to be kept, what would happen if she caught a shark, etc. Tucker's plan to catch a jellyfish and release it fortunately came to nothing, the jellyfish being uninterested (!) in our bait of balled up Havarti cheese.

On the last rainy afternoon James spotted a sea lion leaping around a fishing boat far out in the bay. It turned out there were three of them -- two who just popped their heads up and one who was a leaper, diver and general show-off. The sea lions stayed out there all afternoon and could be seen from the windows of every room we spent time in. Most precious of all was not the sight of the sea lions but feeling relaxed enough to take the time to sit there and watch them. Like I said, a different world.