Sunday, July 31, 2011
all good things
After the six night stay in Tofino, we had a couple of days to knock about Vancouver. We = Neal, Maeve and me since Wendy poor soul had to work.
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| crepes at the Granville Island public market |
And then after some mental juggling, managed to get Neal down to Mink to try a chocolate fondue, which he (and I) had missed during the 2010 Olympic visit.
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| cheeky s'more |
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| unfinished |
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| (parkette just outside the window is where Georgia was killed by a flaming toilet seat in Dead Like Me) |
Maeve is a Food Network junkie, and watches Cupcake Girls. So we had to get to one of their shops.
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| Cupcakes |
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| NUTELLA!! |
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| mmmm... |
On the way from Cupcakes over to Granville St to catch a bus back to Wendy's we stopped at the Chapters to do some reading...
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| "real men don't riot" on the Chapters window |
and at the Fluevog shop on Granville (yay!). Maeve's feet are the perfect size for the Clearance table since shoes on sale always seem to be the smaller sizes. So she had loads of fun, but at his prices she will have to live vicariously through me. Yes, I bought something: Adrian Alli boots... in Red! The clerk told her that one day they may be hers... I say if she's lucky!
Maeve also got a chance to have a sleepover with her friend, which gave Neal and me a perfect excuse to go and see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (which was fantastic!). Had a couple of BBQs at other friends squeezed in before it was time to head to the airport and return home.
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| teardrops from the ceiling at the Vancouver airport |
To Saunatario: blech... I gave this province ten days to get the humidity out of its system and it just didn't listen.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
return
Yesterday was a sad day. Inevitable, but sad. We packed up our things, said our goodbyes to Tofino and Pacific Sands resort and after one last breakfast at Tuff Beans (and a wee bit of shopping heh heh) headed back across Vancouver Island to catch our 4:40pm ferry.
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| at Tuff Beans, waiting for waffles |
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| at the bow! |
Sunday, July 24, 2011
things grow big out here
There's something wrong with having to wake one's children up whilest on vacation, but this morning was 9am and they were still snoring. Don't want to sleep the time away...
Today we walked the Big Tree Trail on Meares Island. Dennis took us across from Tofino, and his dog Sawzen accompanied us. (even on the walk)
Unbelievably large trees. When they get that old/big the centre dies leaving an empty core. This one below had a crawl space.
On the way back Dennis showed us a First Nations village that has been inhabited for 6000 - 8000 years, and may have been around for 10,000 years. Different timescale out here.
Neal wanted to body surf some more so he came back to the resort with Wendy afterwards and Maeve and I went down to Ucluelet to go to the Aquarium. Marcel (our whale watching boat captain) mentioned that there was a Giant Pacific octopus in the aquarium, and that he had caught it for them so Maeve really wanted to see it.
The aquarium is open from March to October; everything is caught in March and released back to the sea come October. They pump sea water into the tanks and refresh it continually so that the animals have a natural environment while they're in the tanks. Maeve said that it was kind of like a summer resort for them.
There were three touch tanks available too: orange and purple starfish and dark batfish and sea cucumbers. But of course we came to see the octopus. And he didn't disappoint.
I wanted to go and sit on the balcony terrace at The Inn at Tough City so that's where we went for dinner. (I'd checked out the terrace earlier in the week when picking up sushi). It was cold enough out there that we gratefully accepted the offered blankets, but I really wanted to enjoy the coolness. After all we're heading back to Ottawa and the heat soon. Just as we were finishing up dinner the sun came out. And it didn't disappoint.
Today we walked the Big Tree Trail on Meares Island. Dennis took us across from Tofino, and his dog Sawzen accompanied us. (even on the walk)
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| Maeve and Neal with Sawzen |
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| this tree may be 2000 years old! |
On the way back Dennis showed us a First Nations village that has been inhabited for 6000 - 8000 years, and may have been around for 10,000 years. Different timescale out here.
Neal wanted to body surf some more so he came back to the resort with Wendy afterwards and Maeve and I went down to Ucluelet to go to the Aquarium. Marcel (our whale watching boat captain) mentioned that there was a Giant Pacific octopus in the aquarium, and that he had caught it for them so Maeve really wanted to see it.
The aquarium is open from March to October; everything is caught in March and released back to the sea come October. They pump sea water into the tanks and refresh it continually so that the animals have a natural environment while they're in the tanks. Maeve said that it was kind of like a summer resort for them.
There were three touch tanks available too: orange and purple starfish and dark batfish and sea cucumbers. But of course we came to see the octopus. And he didn't disappoint.
I wanted to go and sit on the balcony terrace at The Inn at Tough City so that's where we went for dinner. (I'd checked out the terrace earlier in the week when picking up sushi). It was cold enough out there that we gratefully accepted the offered blankets, but I really wanted to enjoy the coolness. After all we're heading back to Ottawa and the heat soon. Just as we were finishing up dinner the sun came out. And it didn't disappoint.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
there's a clue in Ucluelet
Went to the pancake breakfast at the Ukee Days festival in Ucluelet this morning. No gluten-free option for me so I had ham 'n coffee. yummmm... We had planned on going to see the giant octopus at the Ucluelet aquarium, but decided to do that tomorrow instead. Made it out of town just as the parade was about to start. Seeing as we were driving on the parade route, Wendy instructed us to just smile and wave if needed.
Spent the next four or so hours at Long Beach. Body surfing and kite flying for Neal and Maeve. Reading and napping for Wendy and me. Neal got a trick kite, and an instruction sheet of How To fly and do tricks so he started at the beginning with a figure 8 and went on from there. When it was Maeve's turn... well, let's just say I'm not looking forward to seeing her behind the wheel of a car!!
Had to go back to Tacofino to try their fish tacos. You know, for comparison purposes. Their Tuna taco was fantastic! Tacos: with all those food ingredient thingys mixing together aren't appreciated by Neal and Maeve so they had to settle for ice cream from Chocolate Tofino nearby.
In the evening we walked out to the end of the peninsula to view a beautiful sunset. (and all the beautiful homes filled with lucky people)
Spent the next four or so hours at Long Beach. Body surfing and kite flying for Neal and Maeve. Reading and napping for Wendy and me. Neal got a trick kite, and an instruction sheet of How To fly and do tricks so he started at the beginning with a figure 8 and went on from there. When it was Maeve's turn... well, let's just say I'm not looking forward to seeing her behind the wheel of a car!!
Had to go back to Tacofino to try their fish tacos. You know, for comparison purposes. Their Tuna taco was fantastic! Tacos: with all those food ingredient thingys mixing together aren't appreciated by Neal and Maeve so they had to settle for ice cream from Chocolate Tofino nearby.
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| Tacofino |
In the evening we walked out to the end of the peninsula to view a beautiful sunset. (and all the beautiful homes filled with lucky people)
Friday, July 22, 2011
wolf and bears and eagles, oh my
Today was bear watching by boat. Unfortunately it wasn't a zodiac, so Neal wasn't too happy. He was looking forward to donning the oh-so-fashionable bright red survival suit, and having his gonads bounced around. (okay, so was I...)
We went up the eastern side of the peninsula, and within minutes spotted a black wolf. There's a camera set up on a tripod, trained on a seal lion carcass. The wolf was apparently dining when we came by, but we disrupted it and fled down beach a bit and then settled down. "Put a collar on that wolf and it would look like a dog" says Neal.
We saw a couple of bald eagles, which were well photographed. Two passengers had quite the papparazzi lenses on them. And later I think I spotted a couple of harbour porpoises. But they're very shy, so it may have just been a jagged wave wake.
The bears come down to the beach during low tide to turn over rocks and eat the yummy crabs and worms underneath. We saw two black bears, probably about 1.5 years old; ~60kg. They were in their first year foraging for themselves.
We were instructed to look on the beaches for a large black shape, about the size of an oil drum. If it moved, it was probably a bear. How we actually spotted the bears was to look for where the other bear watching boats were hanging about and go over to them. Worked just fine.
At one point I was struck by the absurdity of all this: people piling onto one side of the boat, 3-4 boats all crowding one black bear on a beach intent on overturning rocks... heck, we used to see three or four sometimes just at the cottage dump! Better to see them in their natural environment, true.
And what an environment! Beautiful vista...
We went up the eastern side of the peninsula, and within minutes spotted a black wolf. There's a camera set up on a tripod, trained on a seal lion carcass. The wolf was apparently dining when we came by, but we disrupted it and fled down beach a bit and then settled down. "Put a collar on that wolf and it would look like a dog" says Neal.
We saw a couple of bald eagles, which were well photographed. Two passengers had quite the papparazzi lenses on them. And later I think I spotted a couple of harbour porpoises. But they're very shy, so it may have just been a jagged wave wake.
The bears come down to the beach during low tide to turn over rocks and eat the yummy crabs and worms underneath. We saw two black bears, probably about 1.5 years old; ~60kg. They were in their first year foraging for themselves.
We were instructed to look on the beaches for a large black shape, about the size of an oil drum. If it moved, it was probably a bear. How we actually spotted the bears was to look for where the other bear watching boats were hanging about and go over to them. Worked just fine.
At one point I was struck by the absurdity of all this: people piling onto one side of the boat, 3-4 boats all crowding one black bear on a beach intent on overturning rocks... heck, we used to see three or four sometimes just at the cottage dump! Better to see them in their natural environment, true.
And what an environment! Beautiful vista...
Thursday, July 21, 2011
this ain't the mainland
Maeve had a three hour surf lesson this morning. From Surf Sisters. She also bought a hoodie from the shop, and on the back it says Relax... this ain't the Mainland. :)
She did pretty good, but says that sea water tastes terrible and feels horrible up your nose. She got up a bunch of times, but fell a bunch of times too.
Maeve watches Eat St on the Food Network and they were highlighted in one episode. We bought one of their chocolate diablo cookies, which are the best chocolate cookies I've ever tasted.
No, seriously. Dark chocolate cookie with cinnamon, ginger, chili and big chocolate chunks. Gluten intolerance be damned; I was having a bite!
Neal found a whole sand dollar (not those nickel and dime pieces Maeve was finding), and it's drying out on our patio. Upon reading up on sand dollars afterwards, we think we may have killed a live one though and not removed a dead one from the sea. (oops)
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| Surf Sisters lesson |
She did pretty good, but says that sea water tastes terrible and feels horrible up your nose. She got up a bunch of times, but fell a bunch of times too.
And then we found Tacofino!
Maeve watches Eat St on the Food Network and they were highlighted in one episode. We bought one of their chocolate diablo cookies, which are the best chocolate cookies I've ever tasted.
No, seriously. Dark chocolate cookie with cinnamon, ginger, chili and big chocolate chunks. Gluten intolerance be damned; I was having a bite!
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| Chocolate Diablo cookie (devilishly good!) |
Neal found a whole sand dollar (not those nickel and dime pieces Maeve was finding), and it's drying out on our patio. Upon reading up on sand dollars afterwards, we think we may have killed a live one though and not removed a dead one from the sea. (oops)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
to Tofino
Arrived at the Pacific Sands Beach Resort yesterday, and within minutes Maeve was taunting Mother Nature again - the waves are fantastic and she just had to see how far she could go before one of them 'got her'. So she's baptized her new rain boots now.
We stopped at the Old Country Market in Coombs and MacMillan Provincial Park on our way across the island. The goats on the Market's grass roof were hangin out in the shade, not doing much. I know; shade implies sun. And a bit of heat. And it was! So we got some ice creams and hopped back in the car.
Cathedral Grove in the park was impressive, as is expected. I love how the sound of the wind in the tree tops is so noticably further away atop my head. And not only is it quiet and peaceful, but walking around there are places that there's no echo... your voice doesn't carry very far at all.
Maeve has given herself a goal: to find a sand dollar. On her first foray during low tide she managed to find about one-eighth of one so she's off to a good start.
And Neal has discovered that the hotel's wifi is much faster very early in the morning before the masses awake.
We went on a whale-watching zodiac trip this afternoon and saw not only a humpback and a couple of grey whales feeding, but some stellar sea lions, a chillin' sea otter and some very rare Tufted Puffins and Forked-tail Storm-petrels. At one point we were in the perfect location to catch a whiff of whale spray. (Smells like fish.)
Maeve: "I keep thinking that this trip can't get any more awesome... and then it does!!"
Neal: "I want to go back whale-watching... just for the ride!"
The sea was very very calm, with only 1 metre swells but we still managed to have a bit of a ride out towards the humpback.
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| Cox Bay |
We stopped at the Old Country Market in Coombs and MacMillan Provincial Park on our way across the island. The goats on the Market's grass roof were hangin out in the shade, not doing much. I know; shade implies sun. And a bit of heat. And it was! So we got some ice creams and hopped back in the car.
Cathedral Grove in the park was impressive, as is expected. I love how the sound of the wind in the tree tops is so noticably further away atop my head. And not only is it quiet and peaceful, but walking around there are places that there's no echo... your voice doesn't carry very far at all.
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| tree roots |
Maeve has given herself a goal: to find a sand dollar. On her first foray during low tide she managed to find about one-eighth of one so she's off to a good start.
And Neal has discovered that the hotel's wifi is much faster very early in the morning before the masses awake.
We went on a whale-watching zodiac trip this afternoon and saw not only a humpback and a couple of grey whales feeding, but some stellar sea lions, a chillin' sea otter and some very rare Tufted Puffins and Forked-tail Storm-petrels. At one point we were in the perfect location to catch a whiff of whale spray. (Smells like fish.)
Maeve: "I keep thinking that this trip can't get any more awesome... and then it does!!"
Neal: "I want to go back whale-watching... just for the ride!"
The sea was very very calm, with only 1 metre swells but we still managed to have a bit of a ride out towards the humpback.
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| after dinner s'mores |
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