Trip Out West Part 2

Let's make some of my American and International readers envious of this great country. Not for any other reason than to give you a peek of what you should come here to visit on your next holiday. I am a very proud Canadian and in ever-awe (I just made that expression up, pretty impressive, eh?) of the beautiful landscapes we have up here.

I am a little sad to say that I don't have a lot of photos to show you from the rest of our trip out west. I saw some beautiful things and some amazing scenery, but most of it was from behind the wheel. Gram's mobility is limited, so we opted to "just go for the drives". I think that I have an idea for an invention that could make me a lot of money (so don't steal it). I think new cars should have 360 degree swivel cameras mounted to the roof, with its display and controls sitting in the car's dash. It killed me to pass such beautiful sights and even a brown bear that may have been a grizzly! and not have been able to take a photo while I drove. So in order to continue with my efforts for Tourism Canada to request to be one of my blog sponsors, I need to show you some of those sights via some stolen (gasp!) photos. I apologize. But it's for the good of this great nation's future tourism industry.

So last I left you was in Victoria. Oh, Victoria! I miss you already. We took a scenic drive when leaving the city and followed the water's edge. Every time I saw beach and all the families playing on it, I was thinking "do these people really appreciate how lucky they are to live like this?"

(my photo) of Gram

So we drove up to Victoria's Butterfly Gardens. Did I tell you how hot it was in British Columbia last week? Biggest heat wave they have had in years. I guess that's the 'pro' in being stuck in a car so much-the air conditioning. But in the Butterfly Gardens, it was heated to tropical temperatures so it felt like a sauna. I'm not complaining too much because it was a beautiful place, almost magical.

(my photo)

Check out this atlas moth. It can reach 12 inches in width. It can live up to 5 years in its cocoon and it emerges for the sole purpose of procreation (hope it was good for her), flies only at night and dies within 3-5 days. It really was beautiful to see in the tree, but I wouldn't want to feel it fluttering by my face in the middle of the night.

After the gardens, we drove up the Island Highway to Nanaimo.

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We came across so many beautiful sights along the coast. It constantly amazed us to see thousands of acres of forest that were untouched by disease or pine beetle. Just green for miles. Gorgeous.

(my photo) From somewhere before Duncan, BC

Nanaimo was our next destination, where we stayed for two days. We weren't really impressed with the town itself, but its natural surroundings were undeniably beautiful. Our hotel sat right on the harbour and it had air conditioning. What more could you ask for?

(my photo) Our view from the hotel room balcony of the Nanaimo Harbour

The hotel receptionist was a bit of a dork. When he heard we were checking in under my grandmother's last name, Conners, he got all excited because it reminded him of Spiderman. Spiderman????? Is that the first thing you think of when you hear the word 'Conners'? Apparently, there is some character with that last name from the comic series. Nutty. I had been sooooo looking forward to eating some fresh seafood on this whole trip and it had been quite a mission to convince Gram to go, seeing as she doesn't like seafood. We found a restaurant sitting on the water, I ordered a grilled whole lobster and drooled, waiting for it to come to the table. When it did, it was like gelatin. Uncooked blob. Makes me gag just thinking about it. The waitress told me the cook insisted I was just eating the wrong part of the lobster. I wasn't. I can't tell you how disappointed I was. Especially because now I'm afraid I may never be able to eat lobster again.

(my photo) Gram at least, enjoyed her pasta with scallops. I've got her eating seafood!

We left early in the morning for the drive across the British Columbia Highway 4, known locally as the Alberni Highway and the Pacific Rim Highway. It is the longest east-west main vehicle route on Vancouver Island, with a total length of 163 km (101 mi). I don't know what I expected, but I didn't expect it to be so beautiful. I guess I thought it would be boring, with no coast to look at, but I was wrong. It snaked its way through ancient forests and alongside some beautiful lakes.

(my photo)

Coombs Country Candy was like an oasis in the middle of a desert, or in this case, a forest. We were greeted with homemade fudge, peanut brittle, caramel corn and ice cream. Had a great little conversation with the owner, who also happened to be from Toronto.

Am I a geek to love trees? Because I love them. Just like in Lord of the Rings with the scenes with the Ents, I love the look of ancient trees that have stood and watched the change of the times below them.

(not my photo)

We pulled over to take a walk through Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park. What a feeling it was to walk through that forest amongst 800 year old trees. The smell, the sounds and the feel of the place will stay in my mind forever.

(my photo) taken from the highway, at the mouth of the path into Cathedral Grove

After driving through some harrowing, cliff-gripping highway through mountains, we reached the Pacific Rim. When I saw my first sight of the Ocean I wanted to cry, I was so happy. We drove through a rainforest before we reached one of the most beautiful places in the world- Tofino. Ahhhh, Tofino. I wish I could have spent a week there. Or a year. Or even a day. Because sadly, we just stopped in. But it will forever be on my bucket list of places I need to travel to again.

(not my photo but wish it was) Tofino

Just a few kilometres outside of this gorgeous town is one of the most gorgeous beaches I have ever seen (not that I have ever seen a lot). Long Beach.

(my photo) How's that for a worry. No sharks to worry about, just some wolves and cougars on the beach and not the women over 40 kind.

(not my photo) My photos of Long Beach wouldn't do it justice like this one does.

We made a final trek over to Ucluelet before turning around and heading back to Nanaimo. From Ucluelet, we never had the chance to see the ocean, but I hear its views are beautiful. The town seems a lot more working class and less geared towards the higher end tourism. Jason Priestly's family operate a resort out there. Wonder if they've got a Peach Pit?

I'll have to stop here and write about our drive home in another post. I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did. You must consider it as a holiday someday. BucketList!!

When Gram met Granny in Victoria

So I'm happy to report that there are no stories to tell about having to tie my grandmother to the roof of the car on this trip, though I may have been tempted once or twice to throw her into the harbour.

Our road trip started in Calgary on Friday morning. We drove through Banff, Yoho, Mt. Revelstoke, and Glacier National Parks. I saw a brown bear just past Lake Louise, but otherwise no other wildlife. There was a haze through every valley we drove through and the smell of smoke was so thick through Roger's Pass, that it hit you in the face when we got out of the car.

Roger's Pass

We have heard that the fires are 20% controlled and our highway has opened up if we choose to drive back through the Okanagan, but I don't know how safe (or smart) that will be.

fires still raging near Vernon and Kelowna, British Columbia

We will decide closer to our return date. The forecast predicted thunderstorms throughout the day, but someone forgot to mention it to the sky above us, because we had cloudless skies right through until we reached Hope, British Columbia. It's an interesting little place. You drive through some incredible scenery to get there and the town itself is where the Fraser River is met by the Coquihalla River at the entrance to the Fraser Canyon. What it may be best known for is that it was home to the filming of Rambo: First Blood. If I could remember any of that movie, perhaps I would have included some photos of the sites that appeared in the movie, but I'm afraid I have zero recollection, other than Stallone's terrible acting.

backdrop from the movie???

We set out the next morning for Tsawwassen to catch our ferry to Vancouver Island. The second we parked the car on deck to board, I was in love. It's amazing how one forgets the effect the sea has on your happiness, until you're near it again. I can live without living near the water, until I stand at its shores, then I think that I can't live away from it. Ironic that I live in one our few landlocked provinces. :( I watched a flock of seagulls chasing a bald eagle, I saw trees that were foreign to Ontario or Alberta, on the islands that we passed. I loved every second of the hour and a half ferry ride.

We arrived in Victoria Saturday afternoon and settled into our wonderful, family-run hotel. We are sitting a block and a half away from the harbour, right behind the famous Empress Hotel. Check out the view:

Today was awesome. After much coercing (a very frustrating experience to convince my grandmother to go whale watching, knowing full well that she wants to go while she enjoys complaining and sulking that she doesn't)- we boarded the 5 Star Whale Watching catamaran and had a great time. We saw our J-Pod and it was so great.


From left to right, I was told that they are Ruffles (58 years old), Granny (98 years old), Taquisha and a new unnamed calf. 98 YEARS OLD!!! How amazing is that! It was beautiful to watch these guys and they seemed to jump out of the water just for me to take their photo.

We went for a little ferry boat ride through the inner harbour and stopped at the Fisherman's Wharf for lunch. I decided that I want to buy one of these floating houses. How neat are they? Didn't Jason from the Bachelor live in one of these?



This is the Empress Hotel. So pretty. I'm sorry to be leaving tomorrow, but we have more of the Island to explore. We are hoping to visit the Butchart Gardens and/or Victoria Butterfly Gardens tomorrow before heading up to our next stop in Nanaimo. I'm looking forward to having more pictures to show off!!

Memorable Moments

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I had a scare this week. My laptop went kaput over a month ago and I didn't have the money or the courage to call up my computer guy to repaire it. I needed the courage to find out first, whether or not I could afford the repair and second, I needed the courage to face the possibility that I may have lost all of my photographs and videos taken in the past two years. My own stupidity caused me to not bother to backup everything on to my external hard drive. I've learned my lesson. Lucky for me, Johan~ said computer guy~ manage to salvage all of my stored documents, but the bad news is that I just nearly paid a car payment on the cost of the repair for my replaced hard drive.

Having my pictures back gave me the chance to browse through some again and reminisce. I was even more thrilled to find yet another blogging game that would satisfy that need.

This is one of my favourite photographs. It was taken last summer and when I see it, I can't help but remember the beautiful location where it was shot. It was our one and only, first family holiday. We rented a cottage in the Shuswaps, British Columbia. We had waited a long time for Owen and Will to be ready for such a thing. Prior to that vacation, they hadn't slept in any bed but their own. All of our fears ended up being unfounded and the holiday was a success. This particular photo of Jake makes me laugh everytime I see it. Two seconds before the shot, I had just told Jacob that I could see Shirley the Shuswap Monster swimming up behind him. You've never seen a kid doggy paddle so fast. :)