Back to Vancouver

We loved Hornby, but finally left. Knowing our island time was coming to an end, we sprinted to Victoria for our last night and also visited the Tall Ships Festival. Morgane was very impressed by the boats. She insisted on trying out every one of the top bunks. She also went to pirate school and charmed everyone as the cutest pirate EVER!

We're back in Vancouver and summer has hit hard. Yesterday was at least 30 degrees, but we spent the whole day at Kits Beach, right until sunset. In the pool, by the ocean, Morgane and I were even cold! We ran into a couple of old friends and colleagues from ten years (eek!) ago at Coast Mountain Sports in Vancouver. They came to the beach, too, along with their friends and a little girl named Sierra who happened to share Morgane's birthday (just one year apart) and she also had the same hat, shoes and water bottle as Morgane.

We ate with Anthony on a terrace near the beach. He and Ghis had basil pizza that unfortunately had no basil on it. Anthony and I had good drinks with mint and lime and rum - what is that called again? All the while, we watched people on a rooftop terrace across the street because they were having fun dangling little toy spiders on very long strings and making people who happened to be walking by jump and scream.

Tuesday is Canada Day and there will be lots of celebrations around here. Tomorrow... who knows? But I do want to get back on a trampoline!

Hornby Island

Here we are, at yet another of my FAVOURITE places! We were blessed yesterday, getting here. We left the beach near Tofino around three and somehow got on the last ferry at 6pm with ten minutes to spare - and we were the second-last car on! Then I called and found that Seabreeze Lodge had an empty cabin for us and prices don't go up till July 1st. So, we arrived and found that on Monday nights they have a lovely home-cooked buffet with lemon-meringue pie for dessert and on top of that, they had a new margarite-making maching so we just had to try it.

Morgane was happy to see the kids' park and the horse. We were happy to see the view (straight out of our cottage and also our bedroom window) and the grass tennis courts. It's super quiet except for the quiet calls of birds. An eagle flew over my head while I was outside (cooling off after a hot tub). All we see from here is the ocean and in the distance, Texada Island, and the snowy peaks of the mountains on the mainland.

Today Morgane found a friend, but right now she is taking a much needed nap after our long day of travelling yesterday. When she gets up, perhaps we'll go exploring a bit. But staying here is pretty nice for now.

I used to come here as a kid, as a teenager, as a young adult. It's great to be back. It hasn't changed much, but I have.

Tofino, day 3

Went to Roy Henry Vickers' gallery this morning and Morgane chose her three favourite cards - all traditional first nations artwork - none of his more colourful pieces. Then we waited until the local Saturday market was set up. Ate a whole-wheat cinnamon bun. Then we went to Wickaninish Beach where Aboriginal Day was being celebrated. Morgane and I bought some bead necklaces and she had fun blowing bubbles and doing crafts. A lot of the craftspeople were weaving with cedar bark. There was a draw orgainzed by the park and I won us a lunch for two.

At the beach, there were lots of people trying to surf, but none very good. Apparently there was a competition at another of the beaches. It's great to be staying in town. I love going out walking. I hope I'll feel the same way when we live close to everything in Montreal.

We still want to take a water taxi to Meare's Island and walk on the big tree trail. I also want to take surfing lessons. And there's a great store in town that sells only sustainable clothing.

Tofino, day 2

Tofino is great. This morning, on the beach, Morgane was enamored with little olive snails that she found just under the sand. She must have dug up and relocated about a hundred to her snail resort. She also touched some seaweed and played chicken with the waves.

In the afternoon, I walked around town and discovered a lovely bookstore with lots of great picks and good kids toys too. The weather was pretty good and we had a view of many snow-capped mountains. Tonight we had a nice dinner and a locally-baked cake for dessert. Tomorrow I want to check out the market (every Saturday), and then we are going to celebrate the solstice or aboriginal day with celebrations at Pacific Rim National Park. So, we'll get to see some first nations dancing and other stuff, and all this on the longest of all the beaches (I think!). After that, I still want to take surfing lessons and take the water taxi to go walk with the great trees on Meares Island.

Tofino!

We're here in Tofino - hurray! It doesn't get any more west coast than this. I am looking out our window and I see the beach. It's 8:30pm and totally light out. Tomorrow I want to see the local surfers, and maybe even try! We are staying in these funny little cottages that look like bee hives or mailboxes. Super location. Tomorrow we'll move into town.

It looks like it might be low tide in the morning. If it is, we'll have to go looking for interesting shells. The seaweed that I saw washed up is very diverse and I'd like to take a picture of this ocean salad. Then, on Saturday, a First Nations' celebration.

Quick Update from Nanaimo

Yes, we brought a lot of stuff and we had to find a creative way to carry it out of the airport!

Time is still flying by. We just spent four days on Gabriola staying with our friends and observing them working hard to their organic bakery. We spent a lot of time eating wonderful scones, fabulous pizza, and of course, bread! We also spent a great day at the beach - so far we've seen orcas off the ferry and at the beach we saw seals and many starfish, even babies. Also jellyfish and Morgane's second least favourite animal: crabs. Her least favourite is sharks. She saw a bear when walking with her grandpa down their street in North Vancouver, but that didn't seem to bother her. Good thing she wasn't with me! I would've climbed a tree because I've been skittish since being chased by a bear, years ago.

Today we came to Nanaimo and went to the farmer's market where the Slow-Rise Bakery (our friends) were selling their bread. They had a line-up practically the entire time and sold hundreds of loaves and scones. At the end, they had only two loaves left.

Tonight we have a family room at a hostel right in Nanaimo, great for walking around. Morgane bounced up and down when she saw her bunk bed. She's learning a lot on this trip. She seems to have learned how to do a British accent while playing with our friends' kids.

Bonus: at the market today, I ran into the coordinator of my program at UBC and his wife and two kids. Turns out he makes bread, too, and they know friends who know our bakery friends. Our bakery friends are doing a good job of luring us back to the island - they have a housesitting job lined up for us, but we haven't decided on our plans yet. We just want to kick back and have a big sleep tonight.

Day 4

Already! Rain, rain and more rain today. I don't even want to go to the beach. We went to UBC where I found some nice books. Then we took Morgane to drop-in gym where she played on the trampoline (me, too :)) and the bars, etc. Then we got some lunch at Capers (and my chocolate cake!). Now Ghis is going to play squash while Morgane and I take it easy here.