Tuesday, Ray spent the morning working on the sundeck micro irrigation system. We don't want to impose on our lovely neighbour Pat to water while we go on excursions this summer. lol I did a little grocery shopping in preparation for our trip to Tofino. Another gorgeous day where we spent time down on the dock. 31C Wow.
Wednesday took Freya to the vet for her annual bloodwork. Everything AOK. Back home finished packing up, ate lunch on the dock and then left for Nanaimo to spend the night with the kids. It makes an hour shorter trip to get to Tofino as well.
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| Hi Grandma |
Ray and Jason took a short trip to Jason's friends to show Ray the property that he talks about, as they were breaking ground for a new house. They own a lovely 3 acre property.
Thursday we left Kristi's bright and early at 6:50 am leaving Freya behind. Hwy 4 to Tofino has road work going on with intermittent road closures and a full closure everyday except Sunday from 11am to 3pm. We wanted to avoid all the traffic, so we planned to leave early. It was a lovely drive with very little traffic and only a 10 minute wait at the construction site on Kennedy Hill, a short distance before the junction for Ucluelet or Tofino. On the way here we saw the remains of an accident ... don't know where the truck was but this camper was demolished in the ditch. Maybe they were hurrying too much to beat the closure.
We arrived in Tofino about 9am. Called the resort and let them know we were in town as they had advised me to do. They managed to have our cabin ready by 11:30 instead of the 4pm check-in.
It was sunny all the way until we came over the last mountain range to the coast and then it was high fog which stayed all day until about 3pm.
First stop was a coffee place for brew and a bakery item as we had not had anything before we left Nanaimo. We spent the rest of the time driving around the town getting acquainted with all the spots we were interested in ... mostly for eating. :)
We were looking for a short trail down to the beach and found this bike park. Our son Garrett would have been all over this as a kid if he came here. Maybe Stella one day. :)
Ray and I took the Tonquin Park Trail down to the beach. Lovely old trees and boardwalk/stairs down. Would have been prettier if the sun came out.
There are some funky tree growth in this area.
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| This guy cut out his stairs from the granite rock, probably something they don't allow anymore. |
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| Cool tree in the parking lot, this tree couldn't figure out which was is up! |
We were hesitant to stay very long with the car still loaded with all of our belongings. Stopped briefly at the Tin Wis Resort and Ray popped out for a few pictures.
Note the memorial of 215 pairs of shoes at the base of the totem pole representing the children found buried in unmarked grave at the Kamloops Residential School. Such a disgusting part of Canadian history.
We then drove through Bella Pacific Campground. They have lovely small sites (some right on to the beach), just none that would fit us in the motorhome. They certainly have some unique trees. Next up was the Bella Pacific Campsite at Middle Beach. Once move some funky trees:
Next up, checking out the Wildside Grill that is very close to the resort as a possible "meal source". Sure is cute and well camouflaged with all the foliage. We found out later we'd missed the "famed" Tacofino Food Truck just past Wildside.
Received the text that our cabin was ready. What a gorgeous resort. Their flowers and shrubs are very pretty.
Home Sweet Home, Cabin #9 We have a lovely peek-a-boo view of the beach.
After checking into the cabin and unpacking it's off to the Hatch Pub for lunch. They have really cool planters put together with all types of lumber scraps.
Tofino Harbour Resort's Hatch Pub and 1909 Kitchen Restaurant:
Wow! A great view and great food. This was the first time we've eaten inside for many months. We felt pretty safe as the people of Tofino are all vaccinated with the first dose. Our server said everybody had been encouraged to have it as a condition of employment so all the establishments could get up and running safely again for the summer. Ray and I came late for lunch at 1:30pm and there were very few other people eating. We picked a table close to the open patio door so lots of air flow behind us. :) I started out sitting on this side of the table but with the patio door open the wind came up and had to move next to Ray. lol
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| Great wood fired pizza. |
They'd just received a delivery of fresh oysters harvested that morning and we ended up ordering a dozen as we haven't them this fresh since Newport Beach, CA over a year ago. Ray was a happy camper. A lovely hour spent.
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| So good, Ray had two batches. lol |
Did a bit of a walk around to take pictures of Tofino Harbour.
Interesting houseboats.
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| Observation walkway overlooking the harbour. |
As you can see not many fishing charters going out with the travel restrictions.
Back to the cabin and take a quick walk on our beach and check things out. As you can see it was pretty dark looking. This resort is dog friendly, in fact, they have a dog washing station. They do charge extra though, ($30 per stay per dog), if you do have a pet. We did not bring Freya as she is so old now that she really doesn't appreciate the long beach walks anymore and prefers to stay with her pack, at Kristi's.
Next door to Crystal Cove is Ocean Village Resort. We stayed there 40 years ago for our third anniversary. lol
The sun came out to play about 3pm. It had been high fog all day to this point. Fabulous. Ray and I decided to have a hot tub, but .... what we call the "Ray Factor" kicked in! The tub would not turn on even though it was warm! I must admit the staff were over fixing it PDQ. Took them a couple of hours. They replaced the computer board, pump and heating element. In return they brought over a bottle of wine and chocolates for the trouble. One time, (not at band camp) I booked three hotels for a short trip, all with hot tubs, and not one worked.
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| One guy ... |
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| Two guys .... |
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| Fixed! Yes Ray you are getting a "little" bare back there. |
While they were busy with the hot tub, Ray and I took a much longer walk on the beach while I enjoyed a glass of the red wine they gave us. lol
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| Kids play area. The little cabins are closed due to Covid. Tofino is a huge surfing town and as you can see they start them young here. |
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| One of their campsites and their "Tree House" units in the back. |
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| Our view again from our deck. |
Where is Debbie? The white spot enjoying my wine. lol
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| Wild strawberries clinging to the rocks. |
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| Meanwhile off he goes for that perfect picture. lol |
So glad the sun came out for a while to enjoy.
Got back from our walk and picture taking around 4 and headed into town for some milk and bread. The hot tub was warm and ready to go when we got back, so in we went. We were so full from our late lunch that we just snacked a bit for dinner on fresh bread and leftover pizza. :)
Ray headed back out for a bit near sunset to see if he could get some pictures down at our beach. A fabulous day.
Friday morning was a very lazy start, Carolan's and coffee for me and Ray ate his cinnamon bun we bought from the bakery yesterday. Started up the fire to take the chill off. They have radiant heat here in the cabin and when we arrived yesterday it was a sauna. Had to get them to turn it down before starting work on the hot tub. Of course this morning it was a little cold, but the fire warmed the place up in less than 30 minutes. It started to drizzle at 7 am but by 8:30 it had quit so we headed out to the Tofino Botanical Gardens for breakfast and then tour their gardens. What a delightful little spot. Lots of pictures to take. :)
While we were sitting outside on their patio waiting for our breakfast, the owner, George, struck up a conversation with us, telling us how the gardens began 25 years ago. He also engaged local artists for the sculptures. He is selling the 10 acre property to a Foundation in Victoria. He does not want to sell it to a developer even though several have contacted him. George owns the two lots with houses adjacent to the gardens. It was his lifelong dream to have a huge garden and the only way he could fund it was to make it public. The property encompasses quite a bit of foreshore along the Clayoquot Sound, so very desirable. George does not want to see his hard work bulldozed away. The foundation has ideas of replacing the boardwalk etc. and making it much more than it already is. So, hopefully this goes through for him. They host yoga and Tai Chi lessons, massages in a tent and also have accommodations for rent, probably for artists etc. The breakfast we ordered was great, and the setting, wow.
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| George |
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| A lovely breakfast spot on their patio. While Deb did the blog she was commenting she hadn't seen the "Naked Lady" statue identified in the brochure we were given. Uhh Deb, over your shoulder...... We may be back for one of their muffins tomorrow. |
Armed with our map, time to visit the garden.
The chef was cutting from the above herb garden for our breaky
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| George tells us that kids under 7 years old will ask what above statue is. lol |
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| Wireless telephone booth. lol |
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| The Wood Family |
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| The Frog Pond |
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| Goats and chickens. Even a baby goat. |
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| Nuu-Chah-Nulth Cedar Canoe |
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| Gollum from Lord of the Rings? |
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| In this tent they do massages. |
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| Huge cedar trees. |
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| Looking towards Meares Island and Browning Passage |
The boardwalk trail portion is sure showing it's age and needs replacing. Hopefully the new owners will attend to all this.
Bernado O'Higgins Homestead. "Imagine our surprise when turning the earth for a new garden we uncovered several South American coins". More digging revealed two metal boxes, buried in what had been the foundation of a chimney. Further research revealed the portrait of a remarkable young man, Bernardo "Ben" O'Higgins who settled in Tofino in the late 1800's."They also sponsor a Community Garden and rent out plots.
Slug Man
Ray and I returned to the cabin for an hour to relax after our walk. Ray was able to pop into the hot tub for 20 minutes as soon as we got home as he was a little sore from the walk. We timed it perfectly, as it started to rain quite substantially shortly after. At 11:30am we headed back into town, all of 2.5 km away, to visit a Native Gallery which was on Ray's "list". After snooping around for half an hour (and purchasing books for Amelia) we decided to order takeout from Tacofino. My Facebook post on eating in Tofino garnered at least 3 comments from our friends to eat there. lol They were all completely right! Their tacos are delicious. Fortunately for us it is only a 2 minute drive from our cabin.
The rain and wind really picked up through the afternoon. We relaxed watching our fire for the rest of the afternoon. Ray heard some drums beating on the beach and braved the rain to check it out and came back drenched and only caught the drummers heading off the beach.
While the tide was out earlier this morning, Ray harvested some Pacific Blue Mussels, which we ate for a snack this afternoon. They are a very strong tasting mussel so we never bothered harvesting any more.
For dinner I cooked up a beautiful rib steak and corn on the cob we purchased yesterday from the Co-op. Too wet and miserable to go out again.
While we were in Tofino, Freya was busy keeping an eye on Amelia. lol
Great little trip! Bet it was nice after being cooped up so long.
ReplyDeleteIt was fabulous getting to the beach.
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