A week on Vancouver Island, Post 1

From May 22nd to 29th, we enjoyed a wonderful week exploring Vancouver Island with Jim and Jenny (Ben's parents). Ben only got the week off work at the last minute, so when Jim and Jenny arrived back from their 7 night Alaska cruise, we told them we were taking them to the Island for a week... and leaving the day after tomorrow!

On Wednesday, May 22nd, we took the 10:40am ferry from Horseshoe Bay (Vancouver) to Departure Bay (Nanaimo), on Vancouver Island. After the 1.5 hour ferry ride, we had lunch at Aladdin's Cafe in Nanaimo... a nice little Lebanese restaurant I had kept in mind ever since eating there over 2 years ago!

Jim and Jenny at Aladdin's Cafe

We spent the afternoon relaxing in Nanaimo until it was time to head to Lorne and Michelle's house for dinner before the meeting. We had a delicious dinner with Lorne and Michelle, their children Portia, Will and Isla Rae, and Lorne's dad Phil, who was visiting from Australia.

One of Finley's favourite places to sleep!

Isla Rae, Portia, Finley and Will

On Thursday, after a decadent cooked breakfast, we hit the road to drive 3.5 hours to Tofino, a popular surfing town and winter storm watching destination on the west coast of the Island. People had been telling us to go there for years! The road was winding and scenic, and Finley slept almost the whole way.

In Tofino, we checked into our room at Whalers on the Point Guesthouse, which was awesomely located right on the water at the end of town. Then we went for a drive and ate fish and chips for a late lunch, strolled around the town, and checked out a couple of shops (Ben bought me a Mother's Day present: the green jacket you'll be seeing in lots of photos from now on!).

Whalers on the Point Guesthouse

The pier across the road from our guesthouse

Streets of Tofino

Later on, after relaxing at the guesthouse for a while, we ate a very yummy dinner at a restaurant called The Shelter, which the retail assistant from the sporting apparel store had recommended. We thought Tofino was a very appealing little town in an stunningly picturesque location, so we definitely hope to go back and explore it in more depth sometime!

The next day, Friday, we drove back to Nanaimo. On the way, we did part of the Lighthouse Loop Walk in Ucluelet, another coastal town about half an hour south of Tofino.

We also stopped at Cathedral Grove and went for a walk amongst the enormous Douglas fir trees.

We stopped again at the famous Coombs Country Market, aka Goats on the Roof, where there literally are goats living on the grass-covered shop roof!

That night we stayed in Nanaimo with Jason and Rachel and their daughters Brooklyn and Olivia (we had met them up at Whistler just before Christmas). They had invited some of the locals over to join us for a roast lamb dinner. It was scrumptious, and Rachel even made custard - an extremely rare treat in Canada! After dinner, we drove a short distance to the beach and went for a walk.

The next day, Saturday, we drove an hour south to Crofton and took a 20 minute ferry to Salt Spring Island for the Saturday Market. We spent a blissful few hours wandering around the market, enjoying the creative/ artistic/ delicious wares - vendors must "make it, bake it, or grow it" themselves.

View from the ferry

Jenny, Jim and Jason on the ferry

Rachel, Brooklyn and Olivia on the ferry

Salt Spring Island Saturday Market

Afterwards, we wandered through a few shops, ate some mini donuts, and watched the boats and float planes in the Ganges harbour.

Brooklyn, Jason, Rachel, Olivia

Back at Jason and Rachel's place that night, Rachel made a chocolate cake for Jenny as it was her birthday!

Rachel, Finley and Ben - and a deer!

On Sunday we had the meeting and lunch with Jason and Rachel, and then drove a couple of hours south to Victoria, the capital of BC, where we would spend the next 3 nights.

To be continued!