Westward Ho!: Easter weekend

Every weekend is busy here, but Easter weekend was verging on hectic. Good Friday we had two couples over for dinner and cards. The weather was warm enough to have happy hour outside, but a little cool to serve dinner. Our little trailer was converted to fit us all by adding three card table chairs and our short ironing board across the bench seats by the window. It was snug, but we managed to enjoy a delicious chicken pot pie followed by cherry and lemon pies and several hours of cards. Bev did notice however, that when she put the ironing board away it was cracked. Good thing our friend did not end up on the floor in the middle of dinner......oops.
Also on Friday about 140 weekend trailers rolled into the park like an invasion. We Snowbirds had enjoyed a very quiet winter and now the kids, bikes and dogs had arrived!!! Well we found it put some life in the park, it was like summer camping in Ontario, lots of activity. Dozens of kids on bikes, little children running and yes girls screaming, they had a ball. Fortunately though all was quiet by 10pm. throughout the park even with all the campfires they had and best of all they all went home on Monday.
Saturday night we went to a Mormon church for an Easter concert. A friend of ours was in the choir and asked us to join them. The music was beautiful and it was similar to a concert at home with all the same songs.
Sunday morning the park put on an Easter egg hunt for all those kids and their parents. They offered hot chocolate with whip cream and hot cider just below us at the cafe and then they hunted throughout the park for the chocolate eggs. Families converged on the cafe from every road and path until there was quite a large crowd gathering.
We left at ten to go to "our" church. It was lively and there was a cross at the front of the sanctuary with wire mesh all over it. Everyone in the congregation paraded down the centre aisle with a daffodil and fitted it into the wire. With a full church for Easter it took four times of singing all four verses of Jesus Christ is Risen Today, to get everyone through.
In the afternoon we went to Parksville and walked the boardwalk with Cassie and dozens of other dogs. Then we drove up to Coombs where the Goats on the Roof store is for some shopping, such a neat place.
All in all it was a good weekend, but it wasn't over yet. More to come. On Monday the park owners once again treated us. One of the owners also owns a 70ft boat that years ago they took people up the coast to Haida Gwaii, formerly Queen Charlotte islands, on nature watching cruises. At noon on Monday about 20 of us Snowbirds along with several of the family boarded the Bastion City for a short cruise to Newcastle Island, which is a Provincial Park. To our surprise all manner of food was offered.
Once docked, we made our way to shore. We went with another couple for the "round the island" hike, which is 8km. Some of the others took shorter trails and some opted to stay in a lovely grassy area near the dock and just enjoyed the quiet in the sun. I thought the trail followed the water, which would make for a fairly flat walk. Wrong again; the trail often detoured into the Island and we literally climbed many steep hills. It was a beautiful hike with many ocean vistas and we were back to the boat in about 2 1/2 hours.
We have been treated royally by the park owners all winter and it has been a wonderful place to spend our winter.
Gathering for Easter egg hunt