Each month as I drive the many miles from Sechelt to Pender Harbour to attend a weekly Weaver’s Circle and the monthly Guild Spin-in at Yvonne Stowell’s wonderful yurts at FibreWorks Studio and Gallery I have become aware of some special and unique attractions along Highway 101 that make me smile.  These are unique to the lower Sunshine Coast and I want to share these smiles with you.

When you retire an old lawn chair where better to put it than at the Bus stop for others to rest on and enjoy your kindness?

These six little tricycles I like to think are put out in honour of perhaps six grandchildren by creative and loving grandparents.

As I near the yurts I look forward to seeing this highway sign … but have never seen the turtles.

On a trip back home with my daughter-in-law we stopped at the Grasshopper Pub for lunch and in the parking lot we met this couple from Chilliwack who had just placed their pets – Pedro the Chihuahua and Sarah the Schnauzer – securely on the back of their motorcycle before carefully attaching their dogs’ goggles and helmets.  Then buttoning up her pink leathers and his black leathers they rode off down the highway to the ferry.

Stopping along the Sunshine Coast highway can produce some wonderful encounters while meeting some great people.

(Sadly, since we had lunch there the Grasshopper Pub was destroyed by fire … they will rebuild.)

Photos and words by Deanna B. Pilling