The Bearbnb Tourism Info Centre

 Hullo! As a Bearbnb host, I like to provide our guests with lots of information to help them plan their stay.

We have an Info Board at the front door with all sorts of brochures for local attractions.

There is so much to do here!!

Some of these I haven't even done... like the Malahat Skywalk. It is high on my list!

Of course... trails... I know trails!

Vancouver Island is soooo beautiful and there is a LOT to see and do.

Remember... if you ever come here, drop me a line... I have lots of tips!

The other thing we have is a laminated wall map of Vancouver Island. Did you know Vancouver Island is the same size as Belgium? But soooo much of it is much harder to get to than most of Belgium!

I put coloured, numbered dots on the map...

Can you guess why?

We have a list of Our Favourite Places!

If I could sing... I'd be singing that song from The Sound of Music... My Favourite Things... but it would be... My Favourite Places! .... It's probably a good thing that I can't sing... (although I can rhyme!).

Finally... we have some brochures and bigger promo materials on the coffee table...

Lots of guests love our Info Centre - it gives them ideas on what to do!

A Successful Stinging Nettle Hunt!

A few months back, I went on a failed stinging nettle hunting expedition... but we did have success a few weeks later (yes, long delayed blog post!).

But on this day... in this spot... (top secret too)... we scored big time!

Nettles everywhere... and just the right size.

So many nettles... but don't touch them... 

Unless you are wearing gloves...

Double gloves are best!

We spent maybe 30 minutes here...

And the humans picked multiple bags of stinging nettles...

While they were busy, I took a few pics of the spring flowers...

Fawn Lily... beary pretty...

And trillium....

Along with violets!

Back at home... well... it turned into a major nettle processing adventure!

We are going to blanche them all... a big bowl of nettles like the one above...

Gets blanched for 2 min and then dumped in cold water in the sink...

And diced up....

To be put in a Ziploc and frozen. And used the same as you would use frozen spinach!

So one big bowl makes one package (or thereabouts) equivalent of frozen spinach. And then it's time for spinach (or nettle) pie! Yum!!!

Sandy's Bearbnb Support Team

Hullo! Now, I know you think I run this Bearbnb all by myself but... that is not true! I have a great stuffie support team to whom I would like to introduce you!

This is Leo!!

When Bearbnb sent me the Superhost t-shirt, they sent it a size too small! But it fits Leo perfectly!

Leo oversees the smaller bedroom where the kids and their stuffies sleep. He is there to give advice and comfort in case anyone needs it!

Then we have Fluff and Flopp! 

Fluff and Flopp are in charge of the toys cupboard which has various games and puzzles, colouring books and some plastic dinosaurs.

Flopp is very soft and fluffy... but we have to make sure that they are not left out and about when we have canine guests... it can get... well... messy.

Finally, we have two beary important stuffies who oversee the Power Outage Kit for guests.

Meet Polar and Honey!

They hang out in the power outage kit in case... well... in case the power ever goes out. And then they go into action! 

They dole out the power bank so guests can charge their cell phones...

They have access to these lanterns which are beary bright... and guests can then see what they are doing and even play old-fashioned board games!

There's also some extra flashlights in here...

Some granola bars...

And some water bottles...

We are going to take this opportunity to charge up the power bank fully...

And... supplement the emergency kit because I just realized there is something beary important missing!!!

Can you guess what it is?

Ooof... I know they are in here somewhere... and no, it's not tea... although if we set up the propane camp stove outside during a power outage, they could definitely make tea... no....

This is just in case there are any stuffies with the guests and... ah-hah!!! Here we go!

We need some emergency honey packets for stuffie guests!! At least bear stuffie guests... 

Whew! There we go... Now, the question... is there anything else we should have in our power outage kit? For an hour or 2 or 4 or 6? Drop a comment!