cvm & reid
move to
victoria bc
may 2005 >
September 2005

pix from the road trip, vancouver, victoria and our new home at the end of the trans canada highway.

more pix posted soon
sorry about the slow load

more vancouver island pix

our peeps gave us a great send off. thankseversomuch for all the help.

good old uhaul... if i never see another one again it will be tooooo soon.
this company sucks in a big bad scary way. very unsafe.

good bye to daddio in orillia

it took forever to get out of ontario.
they dont call it lake superior fer nothin...
thankfully we had the lucky cow that reids dad made us...

and you know who came along for the ride as well...

our road kitchen. a must.
no self respecting vegetarian would rely on highway eats.

thunder bay will have to do without us in the future.
not my kind of town if ya know what i mean.
we even cancelled a gig there. sorry about that, eh?

aloha manitoba... looked pretty good at first..

but winnipeg is a town i may not visit again either.
the skeeters almost ate us alive. it was hot and muggy.
this corner has no sidewalk because its not fit for humans in the winter.
great ndp vibe going on there tho...
and we finally got to meet the very cool jeff robson

saskatchewan on the otherhand.
what a beautiful province.
who knew?

played the best gig of the tour at the ananda arthouse.
couldnt recomend this place more.
http://www.anandaarthouse.org

back on the road after a great nights sleep

and then off to alberta and a decidedly right leaning vibe.
though not all albertans are into that sort of thing...

calgary is a rich and beautiful town. when its not snowing in august.
had this crazy rooftop garden above a bank... it was huge and very lush

this was on the washroom wall at a vegetarian restaurant in calgary.
vegetarians in alberta need to be real tough.

in calgary we stayed with heather woode, our pal wende's sister,
that we had met only once before at a finn bros concert.
she took us to banff. she rocks. thanks, eh?

hot springs...mmmm

lake louise... postcard place fer sure.

dear everywhere. saw a couple of bear too
but didnt take a picture, too busy pooping my pants.

ahhh yes, driving a uhaul through the mountains.
can you say STRESSFULL!!

the reason for our 5 day long stay in rodeo town was so that reid
could be the feature performer at this great show
that was a benefit for big brothers and sisters.

it was held in this super fly furniture store called inhabitat interiors.
lots of money was raised. thanks to sue stangl for making it happen!

folks got to sit on all the cool and comfy furniture
while they watched the show and bet on auction goods.

and then on through the mountains and into bc.

holy crap this is a beautiful priovince.

everything is bigger.

eventually hit the big city and made an instore
performance at the vancouver chapters

reid's great uncle howie and vi showed up to catch the show.
howie is a great singer songwriter in his own right.
runs in the family i guess...

played a couple of festivals on the mainland

with some super nice folks like kevin kane from grapes of wrath
and linda mcrae from spirit of the west.

reid jammed with kinnie star

and we met our really good new friend and local balladeer courtney wing.
his band and all around good vibes were a highlight of the trip.

the vancouver aquarium is super cool...

i do believe this monkey had a thing for me.

he was the size of my hand and wouldnt stop showing me his testicles.

few things are more facinating than an octopus. i know this now.

hello big fat trees... mama is home...

we camped a lot between shows

taking the ferry to the island is quite an undertaking. but its beauty.

ogden point with victoria in the background.

victoria is lovely

yee old empress... and no, we havent been for high tea as yet.

the flora and fauna here is ridiculous

china town is swell, oldest one in canada. reminds me of home.
fan tan alley is nifty and narrow.

we have found great vegan eats at places like green cuisine
located in the ever sunny market square downtown.

we went to a victoria day parade as soon as we arrived

kelly and andre from the rivoli/queen mum moved here before us.
we figured good enough for them, good enough for us.

speaking of kelly and andre... you should see their place.
we also stayed there for a few days when we first arrived. thanks, eh?

you can watch whales from their livingroom.

or balcony

and they still have their dog doris, nice to see a familiar face.

they even have eagles in the back yard fer christsakes

we also stayed at our friend david's (also from rivoli/queen mum)
super swank rental apartment on the harbour.
http://www.victoriaharboursuite.ca/

its located right above the new queen mother waterside cafe
we helped out with the opening. tasty eats and wicked view. nice!
http://www.qmwaterside.ca/

and we also stayed at our old roommate tracy's place
on the craigflower spit. water on both sides of the house and geese everywhere.
we watched a fair amount of tv and reid played way
too many video games. it was nice to stay still for a little bit.

shortly after we arrived we played a show with old pal john southworth
who was also touring the country, but via train.

the next day we decided to meet up and hang out
on the beach at the bottom our street.

turns out his dad lives on our street too.

john had his cinematographer with him for the tour. a super swell fella named rusty
who actually designs childrens playgrounds in ithaca ny for a living. neato.

bull kelp will play a recurring role in our lives from now on...

look at this freaking beach man... its so underdeveloped.
and a 7 minute walk from our apartment.

even the wild flowers on the side of the road are spectacular.
orange poppies everywhere...

i finally bought a real bike and learned how to ride one.

they have this couple hundred kilometers of bike trail they call the galloping goose.
you can cycle to your hearts content without stinky old cars getting in the way.

this is where we live now...

across from beacon hill park. huge flowery park
with 4 ponds or something like that.

beacon hill park has the island's largest heronry.
great blue herons pass by our apartment daily, like giant pterodactyls.

the petting zoo in the park across the street is an
excellent way to spend 2 dollars. we became absolutely smitten
with these vietnemese pot belly piglets

they have an albino all white peacock...wow.

owl finch. cool.

you can get in the pen with the kids and frolic all you like

and they have a goat stampede at the end of every day.

the beach at the end of our street...

our building is on the left and is eerily similar to our
old apartment in toronto. it just happens to be located in paradise
and the rent is almost half of what it was in ontario.

and it comes with an outdoor swimming pool, heated and open 12 months a year.

did i mention the hot tub? nice...

our new pad

the view from our livingroom

]

more vancouver island pix

also see: paul's summer vacation in victoria