Tofino/Ucluelet, Vancouver Island

Where better to spend an extended September long weekend than hanging out on the beach in Tofino and Ucluelet and attending a fabulous wedding?  Rod’s friends from his Montreal-days converged on Vancouver Island for a week-long party/sight-seeing adventure, where we made it out for a few days of pre-wedding fun in Tofino.  Photo credits go to myself, Rod, Derrick (all the professional looking ones are his), Trish, and a random British bloke on our kayak tour.

Tofino is a small surf town on the West side of Vancouver Island.  It’s a harrowing drive to get there on winding roads where one is inevitably stuck behind mega-large-RVs, only to pass one after 50 km (passing lanes are few and far between) and promptly get stuck behind another equally-large RV.  But when you finally arrive, you are blown away by the beautiful endless stretches of beach (one beach is literally called “Long Beach”) and the incredible realization that there is nothing but Pacific Ocean separating you and Japan. 

But before doing the drive you first have to take the ferry across to Nanaimo, where we caught a beautiful sunset and enjoyed hamming it up in the extreme wind on the sundeck.

We rented a cute little house with four others just across the street from Chesterman Beach.  The bride, groom and some of their friends however splurged on an absolutely gorgeous house right on the beach which was the place to be.  They were right on the doorstep of the world-famous deluxe Wickaninnish Inn  (say that 10 times fast!), which glowed beautifully in the evenings.  It got chilly at night and a campfire was pretty much a necessity.  I can't believe some of the guys are still wearing shorts in ~4 deg. weather!

The beaches were picture-perfect but unfortunately there were no waves for surfing (those people in the title photo were probably tourists who got ripped off at the surf shop).   After some unsuccessful frisbee throwing (too much wind for one of us ;) we decided to rent bodysuits and boogie boards and just hang out in the Pacific.  More hilarious but unfortunately with no photographic evidence was us struggling to get out of our wet wetsuits and then help another friend in.   Also funny were the stereotypical surfers at the board shop.  Hard to believe, but one guy actually said “excelente” at the end of every sentence (e.g. “Everybody got a suit?  Ex-cel-en-te.”)

On our last day in Tofino we took a kayak trip to Meares Island (pictured in the background).  It wasn’t quite as athletic as I would have liked, but I guess on a beginner’s trip they have to make it easy enough that any couch-potato can handle it without drowning.

Lots of majestic red cedars on the island.  Plus we all got to wear Crocs (this trip may have convinced me of their comfyness).

Three cuts from a log the guide swore weren’t carved in any way (well, at least the last one on the right).  Do you see the resemblance to three bear cubs?

Cool panorama from a British guy who dared take his camera out on the water (unlike this scaredy cat).

After Tofino we ventured down the coast a little to Ucluelet where the wedding was taking place.  Unfortunately the weather got  a little cloudy but a short hike along the Wild Pacific Trail still had some great views.

The Broken Islands peeking out of the fog

Amphitrite Point Lighthouse

All along the trail there were buoys with protests against the Northern Gateway pipeline.  Definitely attention-grabbing.

 

Wedding day!  Which way’s the beach?

The beach ceremony was followed by a reception at the swanky Black Rock Resort (pictured in the background).   Highlights were the Pimm’s cocktails, delish appetizers, candy bar (although some kids beat me to some of the good stuff) and of course the great company and dancing.  Like any ultra-successful dance party, the guys had their ties around their heads by the end of the night, although I don’t think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle look is particularly attractive.   Unfortunately embarrassing photos of this haven't emerged yet!

Moscow, Idaho

This summer I went on a road trip to Idaho for the first time (other than a drive through Coeur D’Alene as a kid).  Our destination was Moscow, Idaho, home to the University of Idaho and a fun disc golf course, and located on the border with Washington in the heart of the Palouse (kind of a fun word no?).  It’s also home to Katie and JB – good friends of Rod and JS – who got married over the August long weekend.   

It was interesting to cross over from relatively liberal Washington and Oregon (where I normally visit in the US) into conservative, rural Idaho.  Being a university town Moscow is probably as progressive and diverse as they get and it’s still 92% white (2000 census), has Smith&Wesson gun demo trailers similar to food carts, and you are greeted on the highways by signs such as “Be cautious of drunk drivers”  (with sad pictures of victims) rather than signs saying “Don’t drink and drive”.    The picture above is the view from our hotel room; I loved that it captures the US flag, the university, and the rural setting.

Also fun is the name itself, which probably wasn’t too popular at the height of the cold war although they pronounce it Mos-co rather than Mos-cow.  I find the name-your-town-after-a-famous-international-city-but-pronounce-it-different phenomenon fascinating.   Did you know there are no less than 16 Oxfords, 16 Florences, and 12 Athens’ in the US?  My favourite creative pronounciation is Versailles (“Ver-sails”).  I think Louis XIV would turn in his grave.

But enough tangents and onto the festivities and the Idaho visit itself.  This was probably the most relaxed, well-organized and down-to-earth wedding I’ve ever been to.  They got their flowers from a U-pick, transported guests to and from the ceremony in charter buses, invited everyone to the rehearsal dinner and Sunday morning bagels-n’-coffee breakfast at their place, and there was even a Thriller flash-mob (led by the bride herself) at the reception.    This couple also has a great sense of humour, where the opening line at the ceremony by the officiant was “Ma-widge is wat bwings us togeder too-day” (from the movie the Princess Bride in case you didn’t recognize it). 

I didn’t want to get into the bride and groom’s faces (there are professional photographers for that), but here is what I (and handing my camera off to others) did manage to snap:

Our trio looking sharp at the ceremony before wilting in the heat.

Selfie.  As a result of taking this picture the happy couple behind us struck up a conversation.

The bride spent several years in Japan and I think she wanted to touch of the Orient for the wedding décor.  She and her friends spent hours folding ~800 paper cranes (their goal was a 1000, but hey who’s counting). 

Loved the light and dark cake and fresh blueberries.  

Moscow has a vibrant main street with a charming farmer’s market and great brunch places.

Brunch!  Monster omelettes, bottomless coffee, and delicious huckleberry zucchini bread.  JS prepares to attack his chicken-fried-steak and gravy.

On our way back to Vancouver we stopped at Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park.  Very dry but extremely hot (close to 40 degrees) we hopped out of our air-conditioned car for a quick tour.    The park features over 40 species of petrified wood created when trees were buried in volcanic ash ~16 million years ago and the organic matter in the trunks was gradually replaced by minerals in the groundwater.   I loved the mix of bleached wood and multi-coloured stone.

The park also has over 300 petroglyphs created by the Wanapum tribe.  

 The park is on the shoreline of the Columbia river offering great views.

Another highlight of the trip was our last night spent at a campground just outside of Leavenworth, Washington.  This town is modelled on a Bavarian village and having experienced the real thing I was pretty darn impressed!  Unfortunately we got there a little late in the day and the bakery and beer gardens were shutting down, but I still enjoyed it and felt like I could pretend I was back in the Alps.  Incorporated in 1906, its transformation to Bavarian-theme-town wasn’t carried out until 1962 as an attempt at revitalization. 

Summer re-cap, Vancouver

After the driest/sunniest/most wonderful September on record  in Vancouver (at least in the last 160 years),  fall and extreme rainfall warnings have returned to the West Coast.  Time to re-cap some fun summer activities while they’re still relatively fresh!

Title photo is from a great BBQ+sunset in the West End.  Could it get any more picturesque?  I would have appreciated it though if our neighbouring-BBQers hadn’t put Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call me maybe” on repeat for OVER AN HOUR, but I guess I shouldn’t whine.

In late June Rod and I headed out to Alberta to visit friends and family in Canmore, Calgary, and Sylvan Lake.    Lots of driving in the span of a few days, but at least they know how to build highways out there which has me smiling.

Only in Alberta would I get stuck behind a pick-up with its own quadruple-life-size gorilla reaching out to crush me.

Fun times with Becky and family at Sylvan Lake.  Despite the rain we enjoyed ice cream every day and were serenaded by precocious guitarists every night.

Canada Day bike ride down to Steveston for the festivities and tasty salmon burgers.  We decided to Skytrain it part way back and then bike out to Jericho Sailing Club for some great views and pints.   I bought a touring bike in May and was so happy to have it after my knee injury.  It’s definitely one of the best ways to get around in Vancouver....except when it pours.

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Spoils from berry-picking with Hannah.  These made great strawberry coulis, strawberry smoothies and ice cream toppings.  I've still got a bag or two in my freezer to get my strawberry-fix through the winter.

My sis and I on a lovely evening in Vancouver going for a walk after having stuffed ourselves with sushi.

Visit from Becky and Mike in July – we crammed a lot into a few days including a quick look at the impressive blue whale skeleton at the Biodiversity museum at UBC.  Worth a visit if you’re ever out here!  It’s a pretty crazy story of how they dug up a whale in PEI in 2007 which had beached itself in 1987, found all the bones, figured out how to clean them, and then get them into the museum. If you’re brave, you can even take a whiff of what twenty-year-old dead whale smells like. 

I finally did a good chunk of the Baden Powell trail, taking in the views from Grey Rock near Deep Cove and working my way over to the Lynn Valley suspension bridge which is very cool and absolutely free (unlike the ridiculously expensive Capilano Suspension bridge, currently running at $32+tax to cross).  

For late summer and my birthday I went car-camping with friends at Harrison Hot Springs (/Freezing Lake).  Seriously, this is one chilly lake but it was smoking hot and we braved it for a little while.

Trev and Pat doing their best Bo Derek imitations while the rest of us laugh it up.

The weekend was great with good food (car camping is awesome when you’re used to hauling everything up a mountain on your back and doing without), tasty drinks, and guitar sing-alongs.   Campfires were unfortunately banned although one member of our group brought this crazy contraption he called a “Bubba” which was essentially a propane tank with some indestructible insulation glued on top.  Turn it on and it looks like a fire at night, although the insulation is pretty ugly in the daylight.

The Bubba:

The campground was pretty much what you’d expect from most urban car camping experiences; your tent is two feet from your neighbours who are inevitably on the opposite schedule as you with kids up and screaming waaaaay too early and Grandpa swearing like a sailor trying to retract the awning back into the RV and pack up by 7 am.  But what we didn’t expect were the hordes of Muscovy ducks who lived there.  They were kind of creepy and would hang around the washrooms, sleeping right in the middle of the path and look at you with half slit eyes in the middle of the night and red cancerous growths on their faces.  Although I guess they’re kind of cute during the day.

That’s it for now, but stay tuned for highlights from the 3 weddings I went to this summer.