Blogs from Tofino, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, North America - page 6

A post-conference four day weekend spurred a much needed get-away for two of us middle school teachers. After completing our final parent-teacher conference we hastily headed for our separate homes where we gathered gear and surfed the web looking for anywhere within a day's drive to play in nature. Settling on Tofino, we loaded kayaks, checked ferry schedules and bagged the necessary books, cameras, maps, cards, and iPod. First thing in the morning we would begin our adventure north. Not having ever traveled together (Sarah, being new in the area and I having recently lost my adventure buddy to Singapore) we didn't know what to expect for the weekend. We shared goals of relaxing, hiking, and being on the water in some fashion. But it wasn't until Sarah called on her way to my house, joyfully ... read more

Since my last entry I have been up camping near the Pacific Rim National Park with Ben and Kristy from Perth who are friend's of Sarah. They have this kick ass little camper van and we spent the whole long weekend surfing and hanging out on the beach and in the forest. Met a cool local guy who took us whale watching and we got to see grey whales, californian sea lions, humpback whales, porpoises and loads more. It was a gorgeous sunny day and definitely one of the highlights. We camped out in the forest and I stayed in a tent near the van. As we were cooking tea we were talking about bear and wolves and I started to get a bit nervy but the guys said don't worry there is hardly any of ... read more

Canada Day, take 2 It’s been overcast much of today, and at 5:00 pm it seems to be turning cold. We are parked again at Long Beach, amongst the surfers, who are here in force. When we first got here, around 8:30, all the best view spots were already taken. We settled for one of the lesser view spots, made and ate our breakfast of oatmeal, Buck grapefruit, and mocha, and then headed for Tofino, where we aspired to use the Internet and take showers. We succeeded at the first, but failed at the second, so I think tonight it’s going to be sponge bath in the camper time. Or maybe we should fill the black plastic shower bag and put it on the roof for a few hours to see if it works in this ... read more

Long Beach, July 1, 2005 Hello everyone, Roberta here. Happy Canada Day Yesterday we spent a glorious day at a part of Long Beach where we can park the van just 20 or 25 feet from the beach. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner in our van, facing the beach. We walked along the beach, the sun was in and out from behind the clouds. Katherine flew her kite. We sat outside and read intermittently while watching the waves roll in and out. It was a perfect day. Today we are in the same area, and had breakfast here, but it is raining off and on. I’m so glad we took full advantage of yesterday’s sunshine. There are several Canada Day celebrations starting in an hour or two. We plan to go to one of them. ... read more