queen charlottes, the "bad"

One of the main places we wanted to see on the Queen Charlottes is a remote island that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. The totem poles were stood up and somewhat restored a number of years ago, although there is some controversy about whether they will continue to be propped up or whether they will be allowed to return to the earth as their creators desired. Anyway, we only committed to go to the islands because a tour operator we were working with assured us their 4-day tour was filling so we could go there. But when we arrived, she announced that it had not filled, but we could go on a 2-day trip that would go some of the other places we wanted to see, and then she had arranged for us to go down there by floatplane. What could we do at that point but accept that? So the trip went well. Then the plane trip was delayed a day, then the night before we were supposed to go, the boat operator who takes you from where the plane could land to where the totem poles are backed out. So no trip. We tried for our remaining few days to get there, but we were never able to. We also missed seeing an area that is supposed to have incredible marine life. We would not have gone if we knew we weren't going to get to see all we wanted to, since we will probably never get back there. So it goes...
Other minor bad inconveniences -- on the way home, we ran into a storm -- lightning all around -- so we decided not to camp. The motel we were in lost its power, but had some emergency back-up. Unfortunately it didn't cover the water pump. So no showers that night. Fortunately the power was on by the next morning... Lots of bugs -- I think I was bit by at least 3 different kinds of creatures. I was itchy.

But the good far outweighed the bad -- it's a place I'd highly recommend.

the fretting begins

Sunday afternoon we figured out most of the details of the trip to the Queen Charlottes, determining we can leave on Friday August 3, getting reservations for places to camp on our way to Prince Rupert, more reservations for where to stay while on the Queen Charlottes, getting a ferry reservation to leave. Nice to have that all worked out -- everything seems to be going together well.

So I woke up early this morning, starting to worry about all the little details. Like: what kind of food should we take for camping after we've been on the tour for four days, how expensive will food be on the islands, how exhausted will we be after spending all night on a ferry boat (and why does it take 9 hours to go 9 miles), how many pairs of shoes should I take on the tour (hiking boots, the required rubber boots I have yet to buy, tennis shoes, sandals??), etc. I proved to myself yet again that I am a very good fretter.