White-Out Snow

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Geo: 49.1311, -125.891

The day started off at the stupid early hour of 4-something AM. The baby was sick with the flu, and instead of accompanying us on our trip as planned, she was staying with the grandparents last minute. Suddenly our family trip became a couples' weekend get-away! So, we didn't need to wake up quite as early. Chris and I are well practiced at getting up and moving when need be. We got to the airport for our 6:30am flight- absolutely no lines at check-in and security, which left us with plenty of time to get coffee and breakfast. I had a soup and sandwich. Then our flight was delayed by 20 minutes. It made me a little nervous considering we had a second flight to catch in SeaTac. I pulled out my book and started reading to kill time.

The first flight was uneventful, and I switched between trying to nap (which never actually works for me on planes) and reading my book. So mostly I just read. We barely had time to get from one terminal of SeaTac to the next. Our flight was already mostly boarded when we got to the gate. Whew! Turns out that was because we were on a dinky prop plane that only had about 20 passengers. We were instructed not to switch seats because it would mess up the weight distribution of the cargo below us. One asshole moved- I blame him for the insane turbulence that ensued. It was literally about 30 minutes in the air but we were TOSSED around in the plane the entire time. I was so damned thankful my daughter didn't come with us. I was GRIPPING my seat so hard my knuckles hurt. Chris later described my face as a look of "death is coming" or something, especially when the plane just "dropped" us god knows how many feet in the air.

I felt sick after that flight but rather thankful to be alive. I think I've been lucky to have never experienced turbulence like that before. I told Chris this was hard evidence we weren't meant to be astronauts. It was already snowing in Sydney (that's where the Victoria International Airport is) when we landed. Snow everywhere. For an island that rarely sees snow (and we found out later that it hadn't snowed on the island in THREE years), there was sure alot of snow. In order to go over Highway 4, all vehicles are required to have Mud and Snow tires by law. I checked with the rental agency ahead of time, on the rare crap chance it actually snowed like this, that they supplied the tires, and thankfully all rentals come equipped with them in the winter months. So we picked up our rental car (a crossover) and headed out on our long drive. Without bad weather, it should have taken 4-5hrs. It was roughly 11:30am when we left the airport.

We were starving as soon as we arrived to Canada but without GPS we really weren't sure where to get food. We were navigating old school with printed MapQuest directions- veering off course was a little daunting. I used to navigate like this all the time in high school and college. Hell, we used our guide books, memory and locals when tramping across Europe. It was a shock to myself at how sheltered I'd gotten with smart phones and GPS (we didn't purchase a pocket WiFi for this trip). After about an hour we couldn't take it anymore. We pulled off in a small town at the first restaurant we saw- Whiskey Point Grill. It didn't look like a chain or anything, and we weren't disappointed. The food was amazing, the service friendly. I had a delicious steak sandwich with curry soup. Chris had a burger and the soup as well.

We continued north on Highway 1 after lunch. It was still snowing, and would continue to snow nearly the entire drive. It only got thicker the more north we got. Around 1pm or so we decided we wanted coffee. We passed by a placed called Serious Coffee and giggled at the name. A town or two later, we passed another- ah, must be a chain. So when we saw it a third time, we stopped. Our caffeine situation was getting serious after all. =D Actually, it was decent coffee. Better than Starbucks, and we only saw one of those the entire trip.

Coffee in hand, we began our ascent west across Highway 4. The drive would take us over mountain passes, which even this close to the ocean, were getting buried under snow this weekend. After about thirty minutes, we came across the one stop I had to make on our drive to Tofino- Cathedral Grove. The snow wasn't super heavy there yet- all the green sort of looked like it was coated with powdered sugar. We did the short, level loop walk on to the lake and back. So gorgeous. It was nice to stretch our feet after being in a plane and then a car all morning. We didn't want to take too long because it would be getting dark in a few hours and we still had at least that much before we got to our destination.

After a half hour we continued on our way. The snow got thicker and deeper as we climbed higher and higher. After a couple passes, the road just completely disappeared. We were driving on white into white. I was nerve-wracked at first. We had driven in snow like this in our own car (Ford Flex) back home the winter before, and Chris handled it like a boss. This wasn't our car and this wasn't our home, and it just made me nervous. I asked Chris three times, "are we gonna okay?" before I finally just accepted and believed in his confidence. We were going at a crawl over the passes. The sun set around 4:30pm but we were close. We were just passing Kennedy Lake when it got dark. The roads were clearing of snow as we descended fast to the coast. It was full on dark unfortunately when we hit the west coast. Thankfully, we were at least done with the curves because Chris gets migraines driving at night on curvy roads.

Another half hour later, and we were pulling into the beautiful Wickaninnish Hotel sometime around 6pm. This place has been on our bucket list for years. When we were in college, we used to watch random tv shows in the evening with his mom. A book called "1000 Places to See Before You Die" had recently come out, and the show was based on the book. They selected a newlywed couple to take around the world, traveling to a new off-the-beaten track place each episode. One of those places was storm-watching at The Wick in Tofino, Canada. Chris and I vowed to visit one day.

Immediately, and throughout our entire stay, the service at this hotel was impeccable. They literally thought of just about everything you could possibly need for your trip, and then some. And if they didn't, then they were happy to accommodate you. They asked if we wanted our wine and cheese platter now or later (it was part of the storm watching package we purchased). We were starving but we decided to take it later.

Our room was gorgeous. We chose a room that faced the rocks and water instead of the beach. I was really hoping for storm action. We got a little that first night but unfortunately it was pretty calm the following two days. Oh well. The trip was anything but a loss. The room itself had a fireplace, private patio with chairs, a hot tub with a giant picture window and even heated floors. This had to be the NICEST place I've every stayed. (The second and third nicest are probably Brewery Gulch in Mendocino and Kokuya Hotel in Shibu, Japan).

We gaped at the luxury of our room and then changed our clothes quickly before heading out to find dinner. We had heard great things about RedCan Gourmet Pizza. It was raining thick fat droplets, and I'm pretty sure I got soaked walking from the car and into the pizza place. They make your pizza to order, and instead of us just sitting around, they suggested we walk up the hill to the brewery for a pint. Oh no- no need to pay them. They'll collect money after we've come back. Dude- I love these people. I didn't feel like walking up the hill in the rain when I was this tired and hungry, so we drove the 500ft lol. The Tofino Brewery is in a warehouse. Everyone was talking and laughing inside where it was warm and dry. We each ordered a beer. I got mildly drunk fast on my empty stomach. You wanna know how nice Canadians are? Chris and I chose a seat that had a cute little tree between us. The bartender thought it might be in our way, and came all the way over to offer to move it. We were like... what...? No! We love the tree! All bars should have trees. Or perhaps all trees should have bars.

After we finished our drinks, we drove back down the hill to our pizza. It was effing delicious. I know I was starving and drunk at that point but goddamn, that was an AMAZING pizza. We wolfed it down in minutes.

We wanted to drink more but didn't want to deal with driving after, so we drove back to The Wick and shared a drink in the Pointe Restaurant bar, called On the Rocks. I can't remember exactly what I ordered.. some kinda spiced rum sour. It was also amazing. After that, we stopped at the front desk to have our cheese and wine delivered, and then headed back to our room.

The rest of the night we spent in the hot tub, eating cheese, drinking wine and then passing out to sleep. It had been a long day. One word of caution, don't try to open up the TV when you have an ice bucket of wine and glasses sitting on top of it. Chris' doing- not mine. I was filling up the tub when I heard a loud crash. He and I combed the floor for several minutes, getting up every ice cube and tiny shard of glass. We didn't want us or anyone else getting hurt.

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Photos

Map of the Island
We started out at Sydney Airport, drove north up Highway 1 and then all the way west across Highway 4 (where all the snow craziness is)

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Tofino
This location has been on my short list for years. Hopefully we will make it there sooner than later.

[tinyisgreat]

Tofino
It was so gorgeous! You have to make it out someday!