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Day 140 – The 1939 Royal Tour of Canada Spoon

Chances are, if the British Royal Family traveled somewhere on official business, there’s a spoon dedicated to that trip. And if it has to do with British Royalty taking a trip to Canada, chances are I own a spoon for that.

In this case, it’s a spoon from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s royal tour of Canada in 1939, one of my favourites.

From May 17 to June 15, 1939, the King and Queen toured every single Canadian province, plus the Dominion of Newfoundland, mostly by rail, except for June 7-11, when they made a quick detour to the States. 

This spoon has a beautiful enamel maple leaf at the top with silhouettes of George and Elizabeth, and reads “Canada 1939.” It needs polishing, too.

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Day 139 – The Craigdarroch Castle Spoon

Nestled in a quaint neighborhood above the harbor in Victoria, British Columbia is Craigdarroch Castle, a 25,000 square foot mansion built for wealthy coal baron and local politician, Robert Dunsmuir and his family. Completed in 1890, the 39-room castle was home to Robert’s wife, Joan, for 18 years and after her death, served as military hospital and housed Victoria College for 25 years. 

We’ve visited the castle twice now, and although we didn’t see any ghosts, we did manage to find the gift shop, where I picked  up this spoon. 

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Day 138 – The Mount St. Helens Spoon

37 years ago today, Mount St. Helens erupted and forever changed its surrounding landscape. 


This spoon depicts the post-eruption mountain with what might be a Roosevelt elk majestically posing in front. Not sure what the pink stuff is supposed to be, but I’m pretty sure that’s clear blue sky above the mountain. We haven’t seen that in months though, so I can’t be sure. 

I was 12 years old when the mountain erupted. It just so happened that my dad had rented a Cessna 150 for the morning for a trip to see the mountain up close and personal. When he heard the mountain had erupted, he decided to keep the reservation anyway, because what could possibly go wrong? 

Here’s his pilot’s log with the entry from May 18, 1980:


Our flight plan took us from Boeing Field to within 10 miles of Mount St. Helens. I was asleep most of the flight and I remember him waking me up to see the massive black cloud in front of us. Zero visibility, but what an unforgettable experience. 

(It says “10 mile point Mt. St. Helens” in his log. Where was the red zone on that day? Were we IN the red zone?)