British Columbia Whitehorse to Haida Gwaii - Alaska and Points North: Tips and Tales from the Road - page 246

Called The Rainbow Shop, it was packed floor to ceiling with LOTS of arty stuff to buy
but most interesting were the rocks. The fellow must have some massive tumblers going
somewhere because he had such vast quantities of these gorgeous rocks, the same ones I
was picking up on the beaches. He sat at a table gluing them to objects: lamp shades, shoes,
mugs, mirrors, seemingly whatever came to hand. There was no apparent artistic muse dir-
ecting his hand. He would just pick up a rock, any rock and give it a hit of hot glue then
press it onto a flat surface. It was baffling. But he seemed happy. The shop was for sale. I
briefly contemplated finding my bliss in the rocks of the Charlottes, then I remembered the
unrelenting rain.
We walked the waterfront, fascinated by the vast numbers of eagles perched wherever we
look. Two of them were sparring - flying at each other then doing barrel rolls to evade, a
highflying game of chicken. Ravens are everywhere too, cocky big black birds that figure
hugely in the mythology of the First Nations people.
One morning we drove out to Rennell Sound on the west coast of Graham Island. Exposed
as it is to the open ocean and situated on the edge of the continental shelf, we had expected
the west side of the island to be considerably more rugged. But we found a lovely, peaceful
seascape. The recreation site provided for campers has a dozen official sites with a com-
mon pit toilet but no drinking water. All the official campsites were occupied so we just
chose a nice patch of grass along the beach, popped the roof and pulled out the chairs.