Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Today was a work & school morning — Andi did his conference calls at the picnic table outside our RV from 8:00am-11:00am in, you guessed it, the rain. So much rain! I guess that’s to be expected in a temperate rainforest environment. We’ve barely seen the sun since we arrived on Vancouver Island last Thursday.

I was thinking this morning how most people would use our small living space & less-than-idea working conditions as a reason why they wouldn’t be able to travel as a family, but my husband never complains about it. It’s not ideal to work outside on cold mornings, or to sit in the rain, but he does it several mornings a week so that our family can spend the rest of the day exploring someplace new. No matter how many times I offer that Andi can take calls inside the RV (the kids and I will be quiet!), Andi always says he doesn’t mind going outside, and braves the elements to work outdoors. A selfless act by Andi that I really appreciate.

While Andi worked outside the RV, I got Tory and Aden out of bed and prodded them to get dressed for the day. I usually use this time in the mornings to straighten up the RV, wash any dishes left from the evening before, sweep, and sanitize the bathroom.

Next, I made the kids breakfast and we did Math & Language Arts lessons at the dining table together.

By 11:30am, all four of us were finished with our tasks and ready to explore Tofino — the small, coastal community we’ve heard so much about. Andi drove our RV from Tsawaak RV Resort into downtown Tofino, circling for several minutes to find a parking spot. Tofino is not a very RV-friendly place with lots of hilly streets and many “No RV Parking” signs. We’re a motorhome, yes, but we also fit into a regular-sized parking spot so that rule shouldn’t apply to us, right? After searching the whole town for acceptable parking, Andi finally parked in one of the No RV spaces anyway. “If I block the sign, maybe nobody will notice,” he said.

Finally, the four of us were ready to go. Or, actually, three of us were. Andi, Aden, and I stood outside the RV with our shoes and raincoats on, ready to see the town when Tory suddenly said, “I just need to put on my makeup first.” Seriously?! We waited another 10 minutes for her to get ready.

Tofino is a charming coastal town with a population of 2,500 residents. Its quaint downtown is filled with advertisements for grizzly bear and whale watching tours, boutique shops, and restaurants. Several people walked by us wearing full-body rain slickers like they’d just come off a fishing boat. I couldn’t tell if they really did, or if this was the typical garb for someone living in a coastal rainforest.

Andi wanted to walk down to the harbor to see the water, so that’s where we headed first. The scenery was so picturesque! It reminded me of being in Alaska. The gray, cloudy skies made our surroundings feel so moody and perfect.

The four of us walked through downtown Tofino, stopping in a few shops to browse. Aden complained of being hungry, and it was lunchtime. We settled on the first restaurant we came to called The Shed. The restaurant had a full patio with outdoor heaters, so we decided to dine outside. The weather was perfect for this, actually; cloudy with temperatures around 55 degrees, but the air was warm and humid.

The Shed’s food menu looked really delicious, and so different than anything we’d see in all of British Columbia. Vegetables! There were beets and brussels sprouts on the menu, butternut squash, kale, and whole grains. I knew just what I was ordering — the pachamama bowl.

Andi loved his Shed salad topped with freshly-seared tuna. Aden raved about his homemade chicken tenders and french fries, and Tory said her Lil’ Ricky burger was perfectly sized. The only thing that wasn’t so great were all the bees in the air that kept finding their way into our drinks.

There’s several popular rainforest hikes and beaches to see in the Tofino area, but it was high-tide so Andi and I thought we’d start at the Pacific Rim N.P. Kwistis Visitor Centre. This Canadian national park is divided into three sections — Long Beach, the West Coast Trail, and Broken Island Group, but only Long Beach is accessible without a boat.

Inside the visitor’s centre, we watched an informative video about the national park and spoke to a very friendly park ranger who recommended a few easy hikes along the coast. The kids enjoyed playing with the interactive exhibits in the museum portion of the visitor’s centre. The skull of a gray whale was on display, and was neat to see up close. Its size was massive!

From the visitor’s centre, the four of us followed the South Beach trail. This rainforest walk provided stunning peek-a-boo views of the wild, rugged coastline and several places to stop at the beach along the way. It was fairly absent of people which was also nice.

We stopped at a few spots along the trail to scour the rocky coastline for sea creatures and watch the big waves barrel toward shore. Instead of soft sand, the beach is made up of millions of crushed mussels.

The west coast of Vancouver Island is popular with surfers all year round, though only for the bravest. The water is fierce and not very warm any time of the year, so surfers wear wet suits for protection. Tory and Aden had fun chasing the line of the waves rolling up and down the shoreline. I was certain this would be one of those hikes where Aden walks back to our vehicle in his underwear, but he stayed surprisingly dry except for his tennis shoes. Tory kept trying to get “preppy” pictures of the waves. (Teenager speak, ha ha! Whatever that means.)

The park ranger at the visitor centre recommended several other easy hikes nearby, but warned us that they all have fairly small parking lots. Andi and I weren’t in the mood to deal with stressful parking situations this afternoon, so we decided to drive to the nearby town of Ucluelet, find a place to camp for the night, and see if we could find something to do within walking distance there.

When planning our time on Vancouver Island, many people we talked to recommended staying in Ucluelet vs. Tofino. Both towns are located along the western Vancouver Island coast, but Ucluelet is less touristy and offers more affordable lodging. It’s not as charming as Tofino though.

There weren’t a lot of camping options in Ucluelet aside from the Ucluelet Campground, and a few spots beside the Eagle’s Nest Pub. We drove through both, and decided on the Eagle’s Nest. Benefits of this camping spot were that it was right on the water and we were the only people camped there. The drawbacks were that it wasn’t as close to town and the electrical box looked like it’d seen better days. “OK if I we don’t plug in to power here?” Andi asked me. That electrical box looked like it’d seen better days.

We decided to grab dinner to-go from the Co-Op grocery store. None of us felt like sitting down at a restaurant for an hour, but we didn’t have any meat defrosted to cook for dinner either. Pro tip: The grocery store deli counter is typically a solid take-out meal solution when traveling. We bought a couple of personal-sized chicken pot pies, jo-jo potatoes, and two pieces of fried chicken for Aden, and took the food back to our campsite to eat. We also opted for a container of Ben & Jerry’s instead of going out for ice cream. Aden begged for a bottle of Beetlejuice-themed, apple-flavored Fanta for his treat. I told him it was going to be gross, but he wouldn’t listen. Doesn’t he know by now that mom is always right?

Low tide was around 7:00pm this evening, so the water line was fairly low. Andi, Aden, and I walked around on the shoreline which was made up of thousands of oyster shells. A couple of sea lions swam in the water nearby.

After dinner, Andi and I decided to walk around the marina. Tory and Aden both said they wanted to stay back and watch Netflix on their iPhones. The marina was quiet this evening, except for a few guys working on their boat and a few others loading supplies. Andi and I strolled along the docks, taking it all in, before walking back to the kids about 30 minutes later.