(+10 insets) (please scroll down for information about the insets!)

Trip Talk: Our Stay at Living Forest RV Park, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island

Boy, I'll tell you one thing about RV parks. They range in quality from one extreme to the other and some of them are so greedy and money-grubbing that they will stop at nothing to make a buck.

When we pulled into Living Forest RV Park, we got excited because we were so impressed by what we saw. Driving towards our reserved spot we were dazzled by the spacious RV sites tucked between groves of huge conifers, lots of room between each camping area--it looked super! However, when we arrived at OUR site, that elevated opinion quickly deflated. It turned out that our reserved location was part of a newly developed area and it was totally ridiculous to the point of being dangerous. The sites were crammed right next to one another with no trees and very few plants between them. In fact, there was barely enough room to put your rig into position. Incredibly, they had to build up the ground to make enough room. This meant that the dirt was soft and at the edges of the sites the dirt fell off down the hillside. They didn't even build embankments to hold the dirt in place! On top of that, trying to back a rig into the site was extremely difficult with almost no room for error. And just to add insult to injury, if anyone needed to drive by they would be stuck until we were in position. We have no idea what they were thinking except that it was high season and they needed more room in a hurry. In any event, Steve was totally infuriated (and my nerves were fried) after he spent 15 minutes trying to get the trailer backed into our site properly. Just when he nearly gave up and drove to the office to give them a piece of his mind, he was successful at inching the trailer into place, with no room to spare. Talk about stressful!!

That being said, if you ignored the area where our RV was located, the park was wonderful. During our trip, we learned that Vancouver Island has many marshlands and Living Forest sits right where the Nanaimo River empties out into the bay. The view was pretty from our campsite but when we hopped on our bikes and went down to the shore, we were awed by the beauty.

About Today's Main Image and Associated Insets
The marshland abutted a protected bay and there at the bottom of the Living Forest's hill was a boat launch and also a pretty gazebo (which is also the feature of today's presentation). Steve and I had a lot of fun with our panoramas but spent plenty of time staring out over the water too. I found some gorgeous woodland views that included the marsh through the trees. It was a wonder.

Later we decided to ride our bikes around the whole park. It was big enough (53 acres) that walking on every road would have taken quite some time so we were happy to have the excuse to take a bike tour. It was obvious that the park had been there for quite some time and in the wooded areas tucked away from ocean views we found the park's full-time residents. The condition of these RVs varied from nice to completely dilapidated but the folks we passed by smiled and waved hello.

The Story of Some of Today's Insets
Just as we were heading back to our RV, Steve put on the brakes and slowed to a stop in front of some odd artwork standing outside of a full-timer's RV. Hopping off our bikes we stood and stared. What the heck were we looking at, anyway?!

A group of animated-like characters in bright colors had our attention and we could see they were meant to be likenesses of tv cartoons, though we couldn't say which. Steve laughed aloud when he realized the commonality of every artwork. "PROPANE TANKS! They are all made from used propane tanks!" (Propane is the fuel used in RVs and every rig has at least a couple of these tanks.) I exclaimed in agreement, "YEAH!! Woah, that's so cool!!" Nearly every piece was made from a propane tank or oxygen cylinder, with other pipes and fittings used for legs and appendages. Old BBQ grills and other pieces found at an RV dumpsite were all put to artistic use and we chattered back and forth as we identified another item. We were delighted! How CLEVER AND FUN!

Though we couldn't identify some of the animated characters, we exclaimed out loud, "PIKACHU!" "BATMAN!" "A LEGO KNIGHT!" "STAR WARS TIE FIGHTER!" "THE ENTERPRISE surrounded by SHUTTLECRAFT!" "A PIRATE SHIP!" I looked up on a tree nearby and yelled, "LADYBUGS and a DRAGONFLY!" "A TRAIN LOCOMOTIVE AND CARGO CAR!" What fun we had!!

After looking online for a while, I discovered that the trio of animated characters we didn't recognize are from a show called "Rick and Morty", though I still cannot identify the hilarious-looking purple one. I found a Rick and Morty Wiki page that shows all of the characters but there are just too many to look through. If you find out which one the purple one is, please let me know! :D

Pam, have you ever been much of an animated show watcher? As a kid I love them to a degree but honestly, most were just too totally stupid and I couldn't stand them. Saturday mornings were always fun though, I'd sit and watch the garbage until noon. As an adult, I've always been crazy about anything Pixar of course. I used to enjoy Disney movies but they slowly descended in the realm of merchandised trash and I am generally disgusted by it all. On the other hand, Japan's "Disney," Hayao Miyazaki, is amazing, and the film, "My Neighbor Totoro" is my all-time favorite animated film, one that brings out my inner child and reduces me to tears upon every completed viewing. My favorite American animated film, "The Iron Giant" is a VERY strong second thought, and also turns me into a heap of blubbering tears at its end. Great stuff! *MANY HUGS from southern Oregon* :)

Explored on 12/17/19; highest placement #13.