At the end of my week off I am happy with the time I spent with my family in the sun exploring. On Saturday we began the day on the 8:55 am ferry to Nanaimo for our eldest daughter’s dance classes. Afterwards we hopped in the car and took the parkway out to Coombs for lunch in the sun while admiring the goats on the roof. We enjoyed samosas, foccacia, smoked salmon and yummy dessert before heading to Errington to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association to see the rehabilitated eagle release. We arrived early and wandered around the grounds seeing eagles, hawks, owls, ravens and many other birds much closer than ever before (alas we did not see the black bear). At 2 pm they released the eagle which was a spectacular event to watch. Then we were off for a quick play at the fabulous beach side playground in Parksville. After an energetic time of slides, swings, tires and tunnels we were heading back to Nanaimo in time to grab a quick dinner at Delicado’s in the Old City Quarter before heading home to Gabriola. All of this was done in a day and apart from 2 very exhausted girls we had a fantastic day trip that we will definitely do again!