September 2023
A busy month
Saanich Fair
The Saanich Fair had it's first year in
1868 which makes this the 155th year. Surprisingly, this is
my first year attending. This fair is somewhat similar to
the Pacific Nation Exhibition (PNE) in Vancouver - a mix of
an agricultural fair and carnival rides. My kids made a bee
line for the rides.
The first ride the kids found is called
Yoyo - it's basically a circle of flying chairs that spins above
the crowd. Being first thing in the morning, the line up was
short and minutes later the kids were swinging around in the air.
Big smiles from that, the kids trying a few more rides - a smaller
flying car ride and then the zipper - a flipping seat on a track
that would make me barf. Lots of smiles.
The crowds were getting thicker so the line ups were longer.
The kids next choice was a music themed ride called Rock Star (You
get off where you get on). This was a more adult ride - the
ride goes really high and has a lot of dropping sensations.
By this time the kids have survey the whole event and figured out
that the biggest ride is called just "Speed" and it's basically a
crane with two long arms where you are at the ends of the
arms. This ride has the longest line up so the kids were
able to get a ride in on the carousel while Helen and I held their
spots in the line.
Eventually it was time for a ride on the big ride so the kids go
themselves ready (no natives) and tried to manage their
expectations.
Sure enough - it was a big ride and they were all smiles by the
end of it.
We did visit the agricultural fair. There are a number of
halls - one for smaller animals (rabbits, chickens etc) and
another hall for larger animals (Alpaca, sheep etc).
The treats at the fair are also a big attraction. There was
a bit of a food truck food court with nothing resembling a
vegetable.
The kids had one last ride on the Yoyo and we headed home for
dinner. The kids had a great day. I kind of wished I
could stay for sunset because all of these rides have lights but
dinner was too appealing.
Uplands Park
I quite like Uplands Park, but I usually
visit in April when the spring flowers come out. I decided
to take a walk in the fall to see what is out. Apparently
this park is also know for it's butterflies but September is not
the season to see them.
While walking around I managed to surprise a hawk in the trees - I
didn't see it until it was flying away. A few minutes later,
I spotted a Downy Woodpecker climbing on a lichen encrusted oak
tree. I already had my big lens out so a little tripod work
later I was watching this animal inspect the tree to rid it of
insects.
I didn't have much luck finding other things to see but
sometimes a single good sighting is all you need to make your day.
Science World
Claira wanted to go Science World and it
was a beautiful day so we decided to ride our bikes over and see
the latest exhibit.
The ride isn't very far (perhaps half an hour) so we locked up our
bikes and paid the entrance fare.
The big exhibit was on the submarines used
for filming the titanic and about James Cameron and his
films. It was a good exhibit, but quite dark. Science
world has a number of permanent exhibits and we attend so
infrequently that Claira wanted to visit them all.
Thankfully the crowds were pretty thin so
Claira got a play with a lot of the equipment by herself.
Keeping a science Museum up to date is quite tricky. They
had on large exhibit on cell phone signals, but it picked up 3G
signals and most phones today are on 4G or 5G frequencies and
didn't work with the display. Another display was a cool
computer graphics demo of persistent vision, but most iPad's have
the same effect in the built in apps. Other exhibits like
the plasma ball were new to us so Claira really enjoyed it.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Reifel bird sanctuary is probably the best
birding hotspot in the lower mainland - it combines many ocean
birds with fresh water ponds and some open forest. There are
birds you will see routinely here (Black Crown Night Herons,
Sandhill Cranes, Northern Shovelers) that are quite rare anywhere
else in the lower mainland.
There are often mixed flocks of Yellow Legs, Dowichers and
Sandpipers that are worth looking though for potentially birds you
don't recognized.
On the out dikes you can see birds finding food in the seemingly
endless bulrush wetlands where the ocean meets lands. Being fall,
there a lot of birds out here looking for food before they migrate
somewhere warmer or looking for food to get them through the
colder months.
I have seen the Pied Avocet in Hong Kong on previous trips so
seeing the American version of this species was quite a
treat. Both birds have a similar way of feeding - the
slightly upturned bill that they skim back and forth through the
water to pick out food. At Mai Po Marshes in Hong Kong you
can see a hundred plus birds in a flock. Apparently this
years visitor to Reifle number just 3, but that is better than
last years single bird.
I do keep track of how many species I've seen and I have says
Reifle bird sanctuary is always worth a visit.
Tags: Saanich Fair(29), amusement ride(15), Uplands Park(3), Science World(3), chicken(2), carousel(2)
People: Claira(14), Nara(8), Lloyd(2), Helen(2), Janet(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2025 to 2005 > September 2023
Last Modified Sunday, December 7th, 2025 at 21:32:15 Edit
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