On the Road With Business and Pleasure

Late last week we made a trip to Vancouver Island and more specifically to the stunning area of Strathcona Provincial Park about 40-45 minutes outside of Campbell River, BC.

We delivered a beautiful Esquif Presage to Campbell River for the good folks at Coast Mountain Expeditions.  Be sure to visit Ralph and Lannie's amazing Discovery Islands Lodge off Quadra Island sometime.  We can't wait to take them up on that rain cheque :)

From Campbell River we made our way to Buttle Lake Campground to connect with our good friends, Ian and Beth.  Some of you may remember Ian from his days as the Sales Manager at Current Designs Kayaks when they still called Sidney, BC home!

We enjoyed canoeing and hiking in this, British Columbia's oldest provincial park, founded in 1911. 

This was also a fantastic opportunity to stop in at Strathcona Park Lodge and say hello to Jamie Boulding.  I have worked in some capacity with Jamie for over 15 years as we connected when I was first working at North Water Rescue & Paddling Equipment.  The thing is, Jamie and I had never actually met in person!!!  The Boulding family has an incredible property on the south end of Upper Campbell Lake and runs one of the most respected outdoor leadership programs in North America. 










The COLT (Canadian Outdoor LeadershipTraining) Program started in 1977 and twice a year ten students arrive at Strathcona Park Lodge for a unique experience that will change them forever. The three-month program uses the Vancouver Island backcountry and this world-class outdoor education centre as a classroom to teach leaders and educators invaluable life long skills.

 As Jamie and I were sitting in the Lodge restaurant, Myrna's (named after his Mom, Myrna) along with longtime sea kayak guide, Richard, canoeing-goodess, Laurel Archer and Mark we smiled thinking of the perks of mixing business and pleasure.