The rustic cabin in Port Renfrew doesn't look very difficult to take. Both its exterior and interior, though not what might be called spacious by urban standards are fairly upscale. In fact, in that spectacular setting that is remote and rural British Columbia why anyone would need more room than is required to be comfortable and efficient is beyond logic.

A fully equipped kitchen, a place to relax, a bedroom and washroom, all functioning and gleaming with the look of high-grade technology. But step out your door, pull on your boots, hoist your backpack and away you go.

There's old-growth forest nearby, and there's the ocean. Both brimming with wildlife, both landscapes aesthetically stunning, peacefully tranquil.  All it takes is the energy of appreciative curiosity to set off on hikes, covering ground with long, loping strides, stopping occasionally to marvel at the breadth of a tree, the sea spuming against the coastal rocky shoreline, sea lions basking in their element, crowding one another on the rocky slopes falling into the ocean. At night, nocturnal aquatic predators can be watched, like an octopus whose groping arms reach into ledges where fish may be lingering asleep.

The octopus's probing, suctioned tentacles startle the fish awake and they stream out of the ledge, but for those held fast to become a meal for the scavenging hunter. The sky is darker, velvety royal blue than ever seen elsewhere, countless winking stars stippling the blue, light cast by the moon illuminating heavenly light, streaked-white clouds over the horizon. This is the ultimate natural wonderland. His verbal descriptions to us of what he sees and how he reacts, along with the photographs place us in that very landscape and we imagine being there with him.

The setting sun ... approaching night.

But that, of course, is as far as i goes. There was a time when we used to be there with him. We'd fly out to Vancouver and set out with him on trips, adventures we would never undertake on our own, although it was our sense of adventure and curiosity when he was much younger that took all of us out on trips to natural settings, exposing him, his brother and his sister to all aspects of the natural world surrounding us. His own developed sense of adventure and his decision to follow his inclination toward nature became his professional life work, augmented by his never-ending intimacy on a personal level with the world surrounding us.

As for Irving and me, nothing quite so dedicated or spectacular Other than our own compulsion to making continual forays into natural surroundings an important part of our own lives. We remain committed to immersing ourselves briefly on a daily basis within the natural world, but the extent to which we do that is limited now by our energy levels dictated by age. Despite which we still gain daily opportunities gaining all the positive aspects we're left with; both physical and psychological health.

And the pleasure of immersing ourselves in an ever-changing seasonal landscape, the opportunity to see things we would never be exposed to in a strictly urban landscape, and the pleasure inherent in having two little dog companions whose own exuberance unleashed in nature entrances and pleases us no end. We are, in essence continuing to share outdoor adventures, however 'tame' they've now become, with a new, extended family who now share our home and our predilection for nature with us.