How?
How am I possibly going to do justice to the events of this past week?
I really don't think I will be able to but I will try to document the fun we've had as we've travelled to Tofino and back. (Warning: This recap will require a few posts, more than a few photos, and as many details as I can remember to add;)
First off a little background info:
John grew up with a good friend named Terry. As a teenager I had an acquaintance named Shauna.
One day (years later and years ago;) Terry and Shauna got married.
Terry and Shauna are still friends of ours.
In fact, amidst all of John's and my moving around, Terry and Shauna are perhaps the one couple that we have continued to stay in contact with. John and I aren't great at reaching out to others, but Shauna is, which is probably why we've remained great friends. Anyways, Shauna has been trying to get our families together for a camping trip for a few years now and (shocker) John and I always seemed to bail out. Things always came up. Responsibilities and all that.... Blah blah blah....
Last year Shauna suggested, again, that we try again - only that we plan bigger.
"Let's go to the ocean!" She said.
And do you know what I said? "OK!!"
And I meant it. With all my heart, I meant it. I'd been to the west coast once as a teenager when I participated in a school Marine Biology trip and I had always wanted to go back. I also have felt lately as though John and I have grown too accustomed to just letting life pass by without making time to enjoy it a little. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to get away, explore a little and be a bit adventurous for once.
Shauna and I had lots of conversations over this past year as we developed our plan. Thankfully, Shauna and Terry (BC residents) are more familiar with the coast and she really led out in planning the fun. So, after months of talking, planning, booking and pre paying - August 12th had finally arrived! We'd spent the morning watching our small town parade with John's sister Rachel and her family and then right after lunch - we headed out. As we left town one of our kids (Nate I think) quietly said, "I can't believe this is really happening." My thoughts exactly kid;)
Our first day was spent driving to Golden BC. It was only a five hour drive but felt more like a seven hour drive because John wanted to travel along the famous "Cowboy Trail." (A more scenic but slower route) I pretty much hated it and didn't hesitate to make that point known. At one point we were stuck behind a tractor I believe, going 70 km an hour and I distinctly remember saying, "Let's never ever in our whole lives ever take this road again! Ok?"
Clearly we were off to a good start;)
We got to Golden in time to find our first Campsite of the trip. Eco Adventure Ranch. (Otherwise known as "that place where people party until the early morning hours, bug spray costs $20 and dogs are free to run around other peoples campsites.") I think that sums up our night there.
Thankfully, the plan was to meet up with Terry and Shaunas family the next morning and I knew that was when the fun would begin. I'll allude to it more as I journal this week but I need to start out by saying that these friends of ours were the perfect travel companions. It was common to see these two pouring over a map as Terry made sure John understood which roads to get on and what direction we were headed, should we ever be separated. Not that we were ever separated. Terry led the way always staying a short distance ahead so we could follow. We were sure grateful for that!
I wasn't expecting this but the drive through BC is pretty much all mountain. Up and down, twisty turning mountain. We'd had the brakes replaced on our van the week before but what we didn't know at the time (and wouldn't discover until we got back home) was that the mechanics had been shipped and installed a faulty set. For two days, as we made our way to the coast, our brakes squealed at us in a most alarming way. There were times, particularly when driving through Rogers Pass that I was certain they'd give right out on us.
Despite the challenge this road was for our vehicle - it was a breathtaking drive!
We stopped in Salmon Arm to attend church in Sacrament Meeting and were excited to see some former College day friends of ours. After we all got married we were even in the same family ward together. It was fun to see them again and visit for a few minutes.
After that little break we were back on the road again and didn't really stop until we reached Langley BC. We just had to see the temple there and I'm so glad that we did. It's a beauty!!!
It's amazing to me that every Temple can have its own style and always look so spectacularly regal!
After having supper together at the nearby LDS Picnic shelter - we continued on our way with renewed determination to not stop until we reached our Vancouver campsite. As the sun went down, we reached the city. This was one of the first bridges we crossed over and we all thought it was the coolest thing. (Obvs it doesn't take much to wow us country bumpkins;)
I was thrilled to reach the city as it meant we could give our van (and its angry brakes) a rest for awhile. It also meant that we were near the ocean. We were so excited that not even our teeny tiny almost too small to work campsite could dampen our spirits. We were barely able to set up our tent and had neighbors 6 feet away on each side of us (a city life;) but we were near the ocean. Even though we couldn't see it - we could feel it!!
Above our campsite was a path that led to Lions Gate bridge and as soon as the sun rose the next morning (before checking out) we took a walk along that bridge to catch a view of the shore.
It took our excitement for what lay ahead to a whole new level!
The harbor was full of ferries and tankers and fishing boats. And the smell!!!
The Salmons had decided to camp that night outside of the city, so we had a couple of hours to burn before we met up with them. It gave us just enough time to get a little closer to the water and explore a bit.
Within minutes we'd spotted and otter, some seals, we watched a salmon jump and Jessica had filled her fists with as many beautiful shells as she could handle. It was around this time that she proudly declared, "I am going to be a Marine Biologist one day. This will be my home!" haha. This wasn't the last time we'd hear this from her;)
Sigh.......
We'd agreed to meet up with the Salmon family at the Lynn Valley park where we did a small hike across the super cool suspension bridge.
In the weeks leading up to the trip, the thought of this shaky bridge had caused Nate a bit of concern but he rocked it. Not literally, thankfully, just figuratively;) I was super proud of him!
It was during this hike that I really noticed how lush and vibrant things are on the coast. Moss and ferns covered the forest floor and crawled up the trees. Giant slugs could be found everywhere and the whole forest smelled earthy and fresh.
My family couldn't get enough of the wild growing Blackberries!
No matter where we went, we could count on stopping at a blackberry bush for a snack.
Our afternoon was spent at Stanley Park.
This day was also Sam's official birthday and the kids were delighted to get to sing to him and have "Cake by the Ocean?" I think there is a song about this because the kids all acted like it was the perfect thing ever to actually get to have cake by the ocean.
I love this kid and I love that he thought finding starfish and jelly fish was the perfect way to celebrate his day.
We spent a couple of hours walking the path around the park, familiarizing ourselves with the coast and enjoying the atmosphere of the park.
Even with all of our exploring, we didn't even scratch the surface of what this park offers.
One could spend all day here!
Unfortunately, we didn't have all day. By 4:00 we were headed to our next stop Tsawassen where we would catch our Ferry out to the Island.
I love that no matter where we stopped - there was always beach to enjoy. Tsawassen was no exception. While we waited for our departure time to draw near, we explored the nearby shoreline.
One of the biggest perks to travelling with friends was that Shauna (a hobby photographer as well) was always nearby and ready to photograph my family anytime.
This hermit crab was a fun little critter.
Off in the distance we could see the Ferry and around 7:00 we made our way over to it, ready for our next adventure!
The ferry rides may perhaps be one of those experiences that our kids remember most from our trip. I think each one of us were a little shocked at the size of these ships. We were directed to the lowest deck where we parked our van and were allowed to explore the ship as much as we wanted.
Or course the top deck was where we all chose to go.
These Ferries are SO fun! There were gift shops and little restaurants and lots of places to go to watch the sun set. We explored up top until the sun went down entirely!
As soon as we docked at Duke, we said goodbye to the Salmons for the night. They would be staying at her brothers and we were to camp in "The Living Forest" that night. Thanks to a wrong turn on an unfamiliar road, we didn't actually find our campground until about 11:30 pm. I've never been so happy to lay down on an uncomfortable cot in my entire life! haha. We were up at the crack of down though and couldn't break camp fast enough. This was day three of our trip and we were finally going to make it to Tofino! I knew that was where our funnest time would be had and I could not WAIT to get there!!!
I'm glad we were meeting up with the Salmons though. Since they'd been on the Island before - they knew all the cool places to stop along the way. Places like this one -
a charming little store called "Goats on a roof" in a small town called Coombs. I'll give you one guess as to why they call it Goats on a Roof! haha
Not only does this store boast the originality of having Goats that actually live on the roof, it also contains some of the coolest and niftiest merchandise ever! We could have spent a fortune in this store.
There was a market feel to this place. Definitely a fun rest stop along the way.
Our second rest stop on the way to Tofino was at Cathedral Grove.
This forest contains trees that are 800 years old!!
When I picture the famous Redwood forests, I picture trees like this.
It boggles my mind that there are plants on this earth that have lived this long.
This was one of the oldest and tallest trees in the forest. Clearly we were only able to photograph the very base of it. Pity.
After leaving Cathedral Grove we started the last leg of the trip. There is only one road into Tofino and it is a wicked windy one at that. I can't even begin to describe the elation I felt as we drove that road though. I was glad to be far away from the dreaded "Cowboy Trail" (haha); I felt such relief that our van had held up and gotten us this far (bad brakes and all); and I could feel this sense of calm begin to well up deep inside me. Kinda a feeling of being able to let it all go and not worry about logistics anymore. It had been a really really long time since I'd felt relaxed like that and it felt good.
The closer we got to Tofino the more certain I was that this was going to be an amazing few days.
