I’m back tonight after a quick two day drive up to Campbell River on Vancouver Island. Just for giggles I did the trip in the Jeep with no top. The weather was perfect. I opted to drive the old Island Highway so I could drive nice and slow and enjoy the ocean views and take a journey down memory lane as I drove this road many times when we lived on Vancouver Island more than twenty years ago. This route sure beats the fast way up the inland freeway! Taking the old route put me through all of the tourist spots. One such place, Parksville, is the location of Riptide Lagoon Adventure Park which we had a hand in designing and building quite a number of years ago. The two golf courses and all it’s features look pretty good!
Sub standard
As Peter and I were going through the thousands of posts and creating tags we noticed certain trends in the features we had built through the years. Ships, trains, planes and hot air balloons were numerous. We’ve fabricated more than a few flying saucers and alien craft. Cars and trucks were most likely the most frequent type of feature we had built. As we looked back we were surprised to count fourteen submarines in our collection of features. We couldn’t find pictures of some of the earliest ones as it was pre-digital in those days and I didn't take a lot of pictures back then. This submarine, built for Riptide Lagoon in Parksville, was most like a real submersible. Many of the rest were closer to mechanical fish.
Riptide Lagoon
About fifteen years ago, over a period of two years, we were delighted to design and build two eighteen hole miniature golf courses in Parksville, British Columbia called Riptide Lagoon. The story we told was about an early aviation explorer who flew a little too close to the ground and crashed his plane into a giant tree. He was stranded but after a closer look at the area he decided he loved it there and never left. Through the years a settlement grew with fishing and logging as the main industries. ‘Relics’ from that period are scattered throughout the golf courses, creating fun interactions for the many guests that continue to enjoy the golf to this day.
