Yes, yes, I know. This is a Habs blog. So I’ll just say this; almost everyone who works here – ticket agents, terminal attendants, deckhands, officers, catering crew, engineers, captains – are Vancouver Canucks fans. (Although a few hate hockey). I have no one to talk to about the Habs. That’s why you guys are so important.

The Boston Globe ran some incredibly beautiful pictures recently from the Olympics, including the one below which is where I work, at the Saltery Bay Ferry terminal. This picture was taken from the ferry.

They’re all right here, at Olympic photos. Have a look. Trust me, they’re unbelievable.

The ferry was full and I didn’t get on. The car directly in front of me was the last to fill it up.

I repeat – I didn’t get on the #&%&$#$ ferry. And I’m a ^%$#*&#*ferry worker.

Go Habs.

I’m only going to say that I heard the score on the radio, the 2-1 loss to Philadelphia, and I’m very concerned about what’s been going on lately, as I’m sure you are too.

Alex Tanguay has been a bright spot. Other players have been hot and cold. Some, like Alex Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec, and yes, Carey Price, have been warm at best since the beginning.

We’re all getting sick of this.

I work for BC Ferries, and the weather’s been blistering hot. So therefore, it’s been busy. Really busy. And the days at work are long. Did I mention the days at work are long? And busy?

And my wife wants me to look at some paintings on the beach put up by local artists, before I go back to work, which is soon.

And then I go back to work and do it all again. It seems that every human being on the face of the earth is travelling this weekend on the Sunshine Coast by way of BC Ferries. Except you, of course. You’re stuck in a room reading this right now.

NHL training camps are still a month away. A lovely woman named Carol Huynh from Hazelton, BC, which is way up in the northwest of the province, won gold in wrestling. The Habs signed third round draft pick Yannick Weber. I saw a bear a couple of weeks ago. Last year my wife saw a bear on our street, two doors down. Schools sit quiet. There’s lots of plus-sixty year olds who drive Harleys. And my cat loves me.

So I have to go and look at paintings on the beach now, and then I have to go to work and help travellers travel.

It’s really hot.

Sorry about this.

But it’s a beautiful little west coast town, although I’m still waiting for summer to arrive.

If you really don’t want to drive and take ferries to get to Vancouver, you can fly in a small 12 seater that takes 25 minutes and costs about a hundred bucks. I’ve done it a few times and it’s excellent. This photo shows the view of Powell River fron the air. Gaston never has to pay because he just hides in a suitcase.

  Gaston and his ’56 Chevy sitting by the monkey tree with a palm tree in the background. Monkey trees are named monkey trees because they say it’s the only tree a monkey can’t climb. The limbs also look like a monkey’s tail.

 Gaston and shot of the ferry docked over in the distance, with the paper mill further back. Way up that way about 30 kilometers is a little fishing village called Lund, and people in town still talk about the celebrities that stopped there for gas and supplies for their yachts. People like Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Walt Disney, Kevin Costner. And I just heard that up in Toba Inlet, Michelle Pfeiffer has a place. And Colin James has a place over on Savary Island, just off Lund.

 In part three, Gaston and I go for beer and natchos at a local pub and discuss the draft.

Powell River is located on Canada’s west coast, 80 miles north of Vancouver, and right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It’s a really creative place, full of writers, musicians, and poets, with old-time American Vietnam War draft dodgers who came here, planted roots, and contributed to Canadian society, plus a lot of loggers and fishermen who add to this magical west coast flavour.

Palm trees grow here, housing prices are reasonable, and deer come into my yard and eat the flowers. There’s 20,000 people, a paper mill that continues to downsize, and a little bit too much rain in the winter, although there’s hardly any snow, and the temperature rarely dips below freezing. (That’s why there’s palm trees!). Cruise ships cruise by, and whales aren’t far away. And in the evening as I sit on my deck, I can hear sea lions barking as I watch the ships and tug boats out on the water.

And if it sounds like I’m rich, think again. I simply paid 85 grand five years ago for my house with an ocean view.

If you’re coming from Vancouver, it takes two ferries to get here, one in West Vancouver, then an hour and a half drive by car, then another ferry, then a 30 minute drive after that. About five hours in total. The highway on the west coast stops north of Powell River, and that’s it, you can’t drive any further up the coast. But going the other way, you can drive all the way to Chile on this one road.

There’s no hustle bustle. You can get all your stuff done round town in about 20 minutes, and the pace is nice. Several big-time athletes have come from here, including several NHL’ers, a Super Bowl Champ, an Olympian, a world-class soccer pro, and a senior hockey team that has been been one of the best in the country for the last ten years and has won two Allan Cups. I’ll mention these people in the upcoming days.

Anyway, I’ve decided to take you on a little tour and I’ve enlisted my good friend Gaston to help. This’ll be done over a few days, so I hope you enjoy, and maybe I’ll see you out here someday.

Gaston sits at the ferry terminal in downtown Powell River. This particular ferry brings folks to and from Vancouver Island.

This is how you would see Powell River from the ferry. Gaston loves being in pictures and I don’t mind. He’s helping me.