Our Trip to Vancouver Island (or Beaches, Beaches Everywhere)

Posted under My Regular Mind on August 19, 2011 at 08h57

On Saturday morning, we took a couple ferries and buses and after a final uphill hike, we arrived at a beautiful B&B called Shanti House at the top of Denman Island. There was a dog there named Jake who loved playing Fetch. Actually, he loved playing Almost Fetch, which always ended up with him collecting the sticks I threw and not giving them back. The view and the sun there were a perfect combination to help us begin to relax.

One of the reasons we chose the B&B is because it has a beautiful yoga studio, which Irene enjoyed to no end. Meanwhile, while playing Almost Fetch with Jake, I learned that dogs can pick up very big sticks.

The next day we went out exploring Denman Island with some bikes that our host lent us. We went to the East side of the island, found a beach, then we went to the West side of the island, and found a beach. Go figure. In-between, we passed by Central Park, which wasn’t quite as perfectly centered as you might expect.

After a couple nights there, we caught a ferry back to the mainland and waited for our shuttle to Nanaimo where we rented a car for our long drive to Tofino. Before we started that, though, we had lunch at Lefty’s, a restaurant owned by two left-handed guys. Even the menus were printed the wrong way! =)

Tofino was cold and damp, although, thankfully, it didn’t actually rain like it was forecasted. We were surprised to find that it was actually clear and sunny for a couple hours one evening! I chickened out on surfing, but we filled our days there with some long walks on the endless sandy beaches and hikes in the rainforest. We also ate Ukee Dogs and some great burritos out of a truck.

Also, we planked.

Pretty soon we were on our way back across Vancouver Island, and since we had the car rental for another day, we went on a little adventure. During this adventure, we came across a bear that wouldn’t even give me a high five. He was kind of a jerk. Then Irene managed to find some last-minute vacancy at a cute little B&B in Qualicum Beach, where we could dry out our gear before continuing on our trip.

The next morning, thanks to a tip from our friendly German hosts, we checked out the last day of a sand sculpture contest. Interesting facts about sand sculpting: they’re not made with beach-grade sand and they’re sprayed with an eco-friendly glue every day for two weeks to get them to set.

My favourite was this one; check out the detail on that elephant!

We dropped the car back off in Nanaimo, did some laundry, and caught a shuttle to Victoria, where I finally found a bear that would give me a high five! Yay!

Wandering around Victoria was a bunch of fun, and our waterfront hotel room was a perfect place to come back to every day. It was a heritage building, and as such, our well-discounted room was poorly insulated and right above the band playing in the hotel’s pub. That means that since they played until 1, we were awake until 1. Kind of a bummer for people who are used to going to bed at ten!

Then on Sunday morning we bused to Sooke and took a hockey-heavy cab ride to French Beach. There was an early morning fog that rolled over the beach that was absolutely eerie. Our friends Chris and Alexia joined us for the last two days of our camping trip, where we explored the beach and its driftwood structures.