Home again, home again, jiggety-jog

Bella Coola trip, Part VII: Last leg.

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI)

The sun was shining brightly when we left the hotel in Port Hardy that morning. At the harbour, the water was as smooth as glass.

We had no deadlines; the Nanaimo ferry runs every couple of hours all day; we could dawdle all we wanted. But we were tired, and it was hot. We kept moving.

Except here, where I braked in a hurry. Beside the road, a young bear was grazing in a bed of clover.
Yes, that is clover and he is eating it, like a cow. I never heard of them doing that before.
He ignored us, even though we were only a few feet away. When a second car stopped, he turned and ambled over the top of the hill and out of sight.

We had lunch in a rest stop; sandwiches, boiled eggs, tea and coffee. A river flowed just below us and the air was cool. A pair of Steller's jays hung around waiting for scraps. Afterwards we walked around a bit, stretching our legs, and found great masses of ladies' tresses, Spiranthes romanzoffiana, a native orchid, in the gravelly spots.
We passed Nanaimo in the late afternoon and decided not to take the ferry after all. We were just too tired. We found a motel and crashed.

In the morning, we checked out a couple of local antique shops. Laurie bought some Japanese porcelain, as usual, and I picked up a cute pair of saltshakers. (I don't really need any more: I have some 100+ on display already.)
Is he henpecked, or what?

I also found this big clay duck from Tonalá, Mexico. I love their pottery, traditionally done in earth tones, unglazed, and burnished with a piece of wood.
And that was it; we had lunch on the ferry, were home by suppertime. It was good to be back.