Day 20 Blue Lake Provincial Park

I have followed Dan Buettner for a while now. Dan is a social researcher and author who has dedicated his life to studying geographic areas in the world where people life the longest, and healthiest lives. He calls the five areas he discovered Blue Zones, because he drew blue circles around these on the map during his research – irrelevant to the point, or to the whole concept of Blue Zones for that matter, but interesting trivia – how term names develop! Anyway, back to my point…not surprisingly, he has looked at what these areas have in common. They are geographically quite diverse, spread across the planet as they are, but they do have some things in common according to Dan. People in these areas follow a predominantly plant-based diet (though not exclusively!) of whole, non-processed foods. They have strong social connections and sense of purpose. Most drink red wine every day – now you know why I like Dan and his theories! This last point is actually quite controversial, with the current research on the effects of alcohol. Dan’s response to the critics is that he is just reporting the facts on his research, and most of the people who are over 100 years, enjoy a daily tipple with loved ones, case closed! One other very interesting fact that he reveals is that very few of these communities have a gym or health club even available! They live a lifestyle, and live in places that demand daily physical activity. They are places like Ikaria, Greece, where these octogenarians traverse the side of a mountain daily! This last characteristic is the one that is brought to mind today.

Today it rained pretty regularly throughout the day. We now live in under 200 square feet, and yet today we recorded almost 15,000 steps! Dan is quite right. Where you live, and how you live, influences to a great extent how active you are! We hopped out and walked around the campground when the sun shone, to ward off cabin fever. We actually went for a bit of a run the one time we wandered too far and got caught in a shower. We can’t just go the garage to deal with recycling – that’s another 2000 steps to walk there and back. Since the cell coverage is so bad, we have to walk over to touch base with Jonathan and Jenna. We had to walk to the opposite end of the park to enjoy an after-dinner ice cream treat. Blue Zones might not have endorsed the choice, but Jonathan was quite right, we deserved a treat being stuck in the trailer all day! Our last day at Blue Lake may not have been an ideal day, but we found little pleasures.

The first break in the rain brought us to The Fen so we could show Jonathan and Jenna. Imagine our shock when we found someone kayaking on OUR inlet - the nerve!
Some times during the day the sun shone and the skies were beautiful and clear.
A little guy filling his face. Check out those cheeks!
Enough said!
Not a great weather day, but another glorious sunset 🌇

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