Saturday 29 June 2013

Post #4 Next we visited Duncan, B.C.: totem poles!

Here we be: road trip post #4.
Caitlin particularly liked this one!

I first visited beautiful British Columbia in 1979, when I was a young 23-year-old, pregnant with Caitlin! My first husband and I went to Vancouver, Burnaby to visit his friends, and then Port Alberni, to visit his aunt. We went to Victoria and into Butchart Gardens, too. I went back between husbands, around 1997, and visited my brother who loves in Campbell River. He took us whale watching.

My first, real selfie!
Saturday, noonish, we arrived in Chemainus, B.C. from Ottawa, via the Nanaimo airport! We missed the first flight, as it was full!
We rented a car and took off south. Caitlin kindly drove; I was the drive-by shooter!
We checked into the hotel, had lunch with the Jesse (my son), Stacie (his GF) and Stacie's mom and her friends.

They had an 8 p.m. performance, we planned on attending the matinee next day, and so Caitlin and I decided to go for a drive.
I was awed by the hills and mountains behind every building and around every bend.

(The show was fabulous and I wish we had gone to two shows. More about the shows next!)
Poor Caitlin. I kept singing:
♪♫The hills are alive, with the sound of music!

But, for an Ontario landlubber, like me,
the mountains are amazing.



Duncan, as with many of these coastal towns
on the island, were changed by the trains.

Cleverly, they have maps of the totem poles,
but, as with the murals in Chemainus,
you can follow yellow footprints for a self-guided tour!

We were fascinated with the totem poles. For posterity, I photographed each totem pole with the description.
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Not to be outdone,
Duncan has murals, as well!


Isn't this fun?! 
An interesting part of Duncan, is how they have honoured the contributions of the Chinese people who worked in logging and on the railroad. 
Whilst the old homes have been torn down, there is an alley with large photos and testaments to those who toiled in their new country.
The crane is working on the new bank,
old houses, now torn down,
in the back.
This man was a tailor, who went into the camps
to outfit people. 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed all your photos of Duncan, brought back memories of our 2 visits there.

Anonymous said...

Those totem poles are very beautiful. We have something similar on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Jim said...

Those totem poles are amazing. Thanks for your comment on my blog.

Al said...

I love British Columbia the couple of times I've been there. Nice shots!

Red said...

Duncan really does have totem poles . It would take me along time to go by these. I like to take my time and look at them.

Anonymous said...

What wonderful totem poles.

Looks like a fun visit.

Dana said...

Yet another place I'd love to go. :)

And now I have that earworm stuck in my head. LOL Have a great Sunday. ☺

Judy said...

Sounds like you had a load of fun!!! I love the murals!!!

Kay said...

Those are amazing totems. What fun to collect photos of them.