We left on February 13th and took the ferry across to Departure Bay in Nanaimo. After stopping for a quick sandwich at lunch, we proceeded onwards. Much to our delight we passed directly by Cathedral Grove where there are some LARGE TREES!

At Cathedral Grove we wandered around and politely chastised a young woman who was smoking, directly contrary to the many posted signs. She responded with a snarky "I didn't see them" and continued puffing away. Being Canadian, we did not pursue it any further.

We then continued on our drive to Tofino, which is on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The drive was very pretty and didn't take nearly together as long as MapQuest had told us. (Three hours including the Cathedral Grove detour.) The drive took us past a few gorgeous lakes and up into the mountains.

After stopping at the rental office to pick up the keys to our cabin, we arrived. The cabin was right in town, but felt very secluded being down a long drive and a secluded little path.

The inside of the cabin was lovely and cosy. (For more pictures check here.) It also had a wonderful view of the water.

The next day we went to the Hot Springs, after grabbing a coffee in Tofino. We had a wonderful boat driver, Pat, who pointed out bald eagles and gave us a bit of a history lesson on the area. We also saw several sea lions lounged out on the rocks.

Unfortunately our digital camera crapped out as soon as we got to the Hot Springs. But we took mental pictures of the enormous lush green trees veiled in moss. The walk itself, done at a leisurely pace with a long stop for a picnic lunch at a lookout spot Pat had told us about, took about an hour. (It took less than half that going back.) We saw more bald eagles and heard their lovely chirping call. Apparently it is often dubbed over in television ads for a more "macho" sound.

After filling up on ham sandwiches and granola bars, we proceeded on to the Springs, foreshadowed by their pungent sulphuric smell. There were about five other people when we arrived, although apparently in summer there can be up to a hundred. The springs themselves come up from the earth and then catapult over the rocks in a steaming waterfall that is almost too hot to stand under. Then it forms about four small pools, just the right size for sitting in. Each one is successively cooler as it nears the ocean. Julian decided to explore further down, and being unfamiliar with the sharpness of West Coast barnacles, took a bit of a fall and sliced himself up in about five places. But he was a good sport and didn't complain despite the blood dripping from his heel.

After an hour and a half at the springs, during which time we chatted with another couple, we headed back to the docks. As we left we heard a very upsetting argument between the couple. We returned to make sure things were okay but we weren't really sure they were when we had to leave.

Our ride back was considerably more exciting, mostly because I thought I was going to die. I had a bit of a sun headache having spent much of the day in a swimsuit without sunscreen. (Who remembers sunscreen when there's ice on the ground and it's February?) The headache contributed to my queasiness. We also took the outer route, which was quite a bit more turbulent than our trip on the way there. The small boat bobbed and tumbled on waves about the same size as it was (waves that looked very benign from the shore.) Nonetheless I knew we'd be back safely. We didn't see any gray whales, though one had been spotted the day before.

Back at the cabin we made a lovely chicken dinner and ate homemade truffles.

The next day we got new batteries for the camera at the drug mart in town. We then went for a nice hike through to Long Beach, a 10 kilometre stretch just out of town.

After that, we watched a beautiful sunset... though we had a little trouble getting the timer lined up correctly to take our pictures.

The next morning on our way out of town we stopped one last time to see Long Beach in slightly different weather.

Then we drove out to see Ucluelet (having just read Emily Carr's book about some time she spent there I was curious.) It was quite pretty.

Just outside of town we took another lovely walk through the rainforest and saw three more bald eagles. At least, Julian saw them while I tried to figure out how to work the binoculars. The view was pretty.