Your Tour and the View [Restaurant Letter, page 2]
Your Tour of Hidden Cove Lodge and About that View
Moving across the dining room ... oh wait, at the back of the dining room is a beautiful old dresser with a four foot mirror across and a small ledge along top for collectibles which displays a hand carved native whistle and a Metis prayer entity.
The highlight of this piece of furniture ... on reflection is reflection! Oh so beautiful. You even look more beautiful.
How can you not when you see the reflection of surrounding trees, ocean, and maybe 100's of seagulls or a fishing boat drifting by?
Next to that dresser is a swinging door to the kitchen and beside that, behind a divider is where someone like me, the server, can make coffee and tea or set up for dinner. The dining room comfortably seats an intimate amount of thirty six people. And, the number of guests who come for dinner varies all the time.
This year the evening chef and I made a game of guessing how many will come for dinner ... funny how no matter what your age ... something like this can and does make for a great smile.
I haven't told you about the owners yet ... wait, let's go down to the living room. I love this room. There's a vaulted ceiling in the living room too. And, two 4 foot wide windows ... followed by eight 22" wide windows which curve (up to the front of the room) slightly with the outside deck ... all windows reach up to the height of eight feet.
It's hard to contain your enthusiasm once you've experienced the beauty of -- anywhere -- isn't it? I know because I haven't told you the best part yet, which is from here ...
The view changes with the tide. Beautiful variety. Experience picture perfect views special to each moment. Sunshine followed by reflection, Enjoy! Your view of one of the Pearse islands wrapped like a gift in fog, and the natural curiosity of any and all wild visitors, should they decide to pass by, all make the view ... this view spectacular. Join us!
The variety of mother nature demonstrates delight and beauty ...
The most beautiful part (and I'm not exaggerating) of this living room is when the tide is high because outside the windows is a view of the ocean ... whereby a tiny island appears at high tide and disappears at low tide. There's a 44' fiberglass boat tied up to a post on the island. And, a rocky beach across on the other side of the island.
The rocky beach becomes another favourite view from this room, the deck, and yard below when you see a bear flipping rocks for crab.
We offer crab too, Dungeness crab that is ... stored fresh at our dock. And, served with lemon butter. It's fun to share in the delight of a guest's first time eating crab. Each and every single time.
Back to the beach ... it was intriguing to watch a bear walk along the full length of a log. Especially when you're used to seeing people walk on logs, not bears.
Some days you can see fish jumping like crazy in the cove ... it's like watching rain fall into a big huge puddle.
And then one day, there was an eagle fly from tree to tree and four trees into it he swooped down to catch a fish. He had his dinner on the beach in front of a log ... which made it easier to see with the binoculars. Ever see an eagle catch a fish?
Behind the beach is a curtain of hemlock, fir, and spruce trees. Which leads me to say I believe it's because you're set back in this little cove that the sunsets are so intense.
Let me explain ...
Awe Inspiring summer beauty
The sunsets where I live are the most beautiful I've seen. The sky is open and the sunsets last well over an hour in the summer time.
This is another kind of beautiful. Because you're set back in the trees you have greens fading into evening and the overall blues which transition into intense overall colours of orange, pink, and purple or a combination of thereof.
One night it looked like cotton candy. Seriously, the pinks and blues of the sunset tinted the white puffy clouds which looked just like shapes of cotton candy.
Intensity of sunset colour ... has been defined for me. Your favourite sunsets?
This is what you can see from this room. By the way, how many living rooms have a front AND side view of the ocean?
Not only does it have a spectacular view it serves as a place for guests to mingle in conversation before and after dinner ... to enjoy even more animated conversation about the day's events. What better way to spend an evening after a day on the water ... and a superb dinner ... than with good company, a story or two, and a warm fire in the wood-stove?
The current owners built this lodge, just as it is.
Pioneers in Creating Greater Connection
There settled in this small cove is a lodge built and maintained by its original owners. Dan and Sandra Kirby.
A couple who each worked outside full time jobs, cleared the land, built the lodge and three cottages, put in two wells, created their own electricity, and raised a family of three children ... all full grown young adults now.
The youngest daughter was married at the lodge on June 5th of this year. The chef and I were just arriving for our shift when we saw a helicopter fly in and drop off the bride, maid of honour, and their father minutes before the wedding ceremony was to start. Very beautiful.
There are so many stories that will warm your heart to the history of this place ... which opened it's doors in 1990 with four rooms available for guests. Today there are nine rooms in the lodge and a cottage alongside it.
There are also two oceanfront cottages with spacious decks to enjoy the view of orcas, dolphins, and sea lions, should they decide to pass by.
Sandra was telling me yesterday that they got their first call from a travel agent in Quebec in 1989 ... they didn't open until July 1990. And they didn't advertise.
Their first guests were a couple from France. Their second ... from Florida. Just had to throw that in! They had sixty guests that first summer ... some from Victoria, Vancouver, Africa, and China ... so it hasn't just recently become an international holiday place ... it's been that way from the start.
Today, Sandra is still a log scaler and Dan works full time at the lodge. That is the short of the story about the owners of this lodge.
Dinner Invitation for Two
story first your tour and the view about dinner introductions before you decide invitation