YELLOW POH

Relax at a close-to-hoi

T LODGE

HAVE YOU ever sat in a traffic jam on the Lions Gate
Bridge and wondered why? I mean, here we are in Canada,
the second biggest country in the world after Ronnie’s new
favorite, and we squeeze into 33-foot lots and office towers
and cars made from recycled beer cans.

Some of us shoe-horn into
airliners and go to Hong Kong and
Holland, where the crowds are
even denser, and we tear around
seeing monuments and eating
lunch in the middle of the night,
and we come home exhausted.

Go to these places, for they will
open your eyes, but in so doing
you are going for the experience.
For a vacation, for a rest, you
need something a little closer, a
place in the same time zone,
somewhere like Yellow Point
Lodge.

Just getting there is a pleasure,
courtesy of B.C. Ferries. to
Nanaimo, and 1 never cease to be
amazed that it only costs $21 for a
car and driver; a similar journey
from Dover to Calais is about
$150, and then you have to cope
with fellow drivers who have been
swigging duty-free plonk in the bar
all the way over.

From Nanaimo you drive three
miles south on the madness that is
the Island Highway, then go left at
Cedar Road for another 10 miles.
Yellow Point Lodge has a van that
meets certain ferries. by arrange-
ment and you can also fly into the
nearby Cassidy Airport.

And then you’re there, 180 acres
of forest and parkland and a long
private drive, and as the trees
stand to attention and filter the

sun to a warm glow, you feel you
are entering a special place.

Two tennis courts come into
view on the left, then a cabin on
the right, then there’s the main
lodge, a magnificent structure with

David Wishart

spines of fir 26 inches across. As if
on cue, an eagle does a fly-past as
we step from the car.

Nick the dog, half Newfie and
half black Labrador, shambles
over in greeting.

Compietion date Aug. /88
_ now 70% leased
Desired tenants to expand existing services

FOR ALL YOUR
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Pizzamania

be rage

The view is stunning: a huge
saltwater pool below and parkland
to the right, to the left rustic little
cabins balanced on rocks along a
deserted waterfront, and ahead a
shimmering sea and the islands of
Gabriola, Valdes, Thetis, Kuper
and Saltspring.

This was the picture that cap-
tivated Gerry Hill when he started
to build Yellow Point Lodge 50
years aga. It was slow work with a
handwinch and A-frame, but then
again the trees had not been in a
hurry to go up. His favorite, a
Sentinel Fir — 21 feet in cir-
cumference, which he called Uncle
Claude — is still going strong to-
day, and about 1500 years old.

Over the years the resort won a
devoted following. There was a
certain atmosphere at Yellow Point
that drew people back: no one was
sure if it was the hearty food sery-
ed at common tables, or if it was
the flora and fauna, or the eagles
and whales, or the loungers by the
pool, or the good times in the basic
Barracks Room, or the open-air
showers, or the girl with the
come-to-the-hot-tub smile.

Gerry Hill was a card, there was
no doubt about that. And he had a
spiritual communion with Yellow
Point so that sometimes he would
go and sit beside Uncle Claude and
figure out whatever problems can
bother a man in paradise. Then, in
October of 1985, when he was 90
years old, the place burned down.

Gerry Hill being the man he
was, and having an able son
Richard, and some very good
clients who were really old friends,

. ”
S nertene”

25 - Sunday, July 17 1988 ~ North Shore News

1@ acest

simply started to build the place
again.

The Friends of Yellow Point,
known affectionately as FOYPs,
joined work parties in all weathers;
photo albums in the new lodge
show them peeling logs in the
snow. Look up and the chances are
you'll see the same faces across the
room.

And what a room: wood and
glass and breathtaking views, an
immense fireplace, overstuffed
chairs, backgammon and books
including lots on birds and trees.

Up to 100 can be accommo-
dated, but it never seems crowded,
for the deck goes for half a mile in
either direction. The food is as
bracing as the air, and wait ’til you
hear what all this costs — the best
room in the place, which has
private bath and is very luxurious
indeed, is $145 a night for two
persons with all meals, and that
includes full breakfast, morning
coffee and afternoon tea and
snacks plus fruit.

ination

Wine and beer is available at
prices that should make other
restaurateurs ashamed. Beach
cabins are $110 and the Barracks,
where you can hear the ocean, and
perhaps more besides, are $80. As
Richard Hill says, this is one step
up from camping.

Richard, 27, who has run Yellow
Point since his father died in
January, says it was as if his father
wanted to live to see that
everything would be all right. Old
Gerry lived in the new lodge for a
year, and yes, he liked it, although
he and Richard would sometimes
argue if it was better than the old
one. Richard naturally stuck up
for the new lodge, and recalls that
if it ever got to the point that he
was winning the argument, his fa-
ther would cross his arms, go silent
for a moment and then say: ‘‘Well,
you had a crane!”

Yellow Point Lodge is at 1-245-
7422, Guests must be over 16, and
no pets. The first is a house rule,
the second is Nick’s,

On the North Shore since 1955

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