The west coast of Vancouver Island is one of the wetter places in Canada. During any visit, one should expect rain. I was prepared to have rain during my time there, but the rain had cleared up just after I arrived. The forecast had actually called for some form of rain. But it never materialized. The night passed with no rain and in the morning, I awoke to a beautiful day. I got up at the ridiculously early time of around 6. I'm not much of a morning person, but camping has seen me tending to go to bed earlier and thus getting up earlier. Not fighting it, I got up, packed and headed out to see more of the park. I first went to one of the beaches, Combers Beach. It was quiet, except for ... read more

In the morning, I got up and headed off to get some breakfast before checking in on my grandmother. I did decide I wanted something of a substantial breakfast, so I went to McDonald's. (Gasp!!! Yeah, I'm kind of disappointed in myself, too.) I ordered and then stood to the side, as I had been instructed. After a moment, this guy behind me asked if I was going to order. I said I was already done and he asked me, in a really annoyed voice, what I was doing there then. I should be standing off to the side. Then he walked up to the till to order and called me an idiot. I confronted him and he kind of looked as though he wanted to shrivel up a bit and disappear. That is one thing ... read more

The night passed uneventfully even though there was the threat of rain in an increasingly ominous sky. But there was no rain and I woke up to reasonably clear conditions and a nice enough seeming day. I headed out to the highway and it was still closed. It was supposed to be closed until around 1 in the afternoon, with a moderate degree of confidence. Wanting to know exactly what moderate might mean (if moderate meant it would likely open at the appointed time or shortly thereafter, I would wait it out; if not I would think about heading on the much longer detour to the south), I headed back to the visitor information offices. After discussing it with them, I learned that the road south had winter driving conditions and high water that was threatening ... read more