We got up early and drove out to Long Beach yesterday.  It takes about 2 1/2 hours to get there.  We have stopped at many of the interesting spots along the way many times : Coombs Country Market, Englishman Rivers Falls, Little Qualicum Falls, Cathedral Grove (with the giant trees), Sproat Lake, Kennedy Lake, the water-carved rocks pull-out, all the beautiful places that you can stop, just for a few minutes, and enjoy the Island.  But yesterday we wanted to drive quickly out to the Beach to enjoy the day.
We got there around noon and bought our parking ticket for the day and headed down to the beach.  It is always a wonderful feeling to be on the edge of the continent, where the water meets the land.  There is a special energy there at the cusp.  The white sound of the surf and the wide expanse of the ocean in front of you... I love it!
We walked and talked and looked for gifts from the sea... We took Sugar Bear and Spice Girl with us and I tied their leashes together so they could not run off in different directions and they would be easier to control, if necessary.  When we went past the rocky outcropping as far as we wanted we turned around and walked back, but higher on the beach, where all the big white driftwood sculpts the edge.  Then we returned to the car and got out our picnic lunch.
We took it down to the beach and parked ourselves next to a driftwood hut that someone had constructed.  Sugar & Spice dug themselves a hole and settled in.  Then Lochlin decided that this would be a good place for us to build our sand-castle.  While I went back to the car to get all the tools and molds, Lochlin set out the base structure, a large rectangle formed with pieces of driftwood.  When I brought back the shovel he began to dig "the lake" as we called it and to form "the mountains" for our setting.  I constructed the large lower floor, then started making the ramps that sloped up to the higher structures...  It enjoyed working and playing together in the cool ocean breeze and warm summer sun.  We finished up around 6 pm and took our pictures of our fabulous structure.  I had called it "the Temple of the Sun". 
We took a bit more time to walk down the beach to the South this time, then a cool wind came up and we decided it was time to head home, happy, tired and hungry.