Exploring Vancouver Island

Friday, May 15, 2009--Victoria to Port Alberni

We drove out of Victoria to explore part of the island north from there. We made several brief stops. In Duncan, we stopped to see the totem poles that are scattered around the downtown area. In Chemainus, we walked the downtown area to see the murals it is famous for. Both were nice small towns.

One of the fun stops was in Coombs. It is a small village that became popular when some hippies built a foodstore with grass on the roof and put goats up there to eat the grass. The highway sign says, "See goats on the roof." The store is fascinating for such a rural area. It has lots of groumet foods and is somewhat of a combination of Sun Harvest and Trader Joe's.

Our stop for the night was Port Alberni. It's a rather depressed community in the middle of the island, but several things were happening--a cinema had films, a theater was having a play festival, a rugby match was being held between two neighboring teams. Wes and I went to the park and watched the rugby match until it started to get dark.

Saturday, May 16, 2009--Port Alberni to the West Coast with a Return to the East Coast and a Ferry Trip

The other day was the LONG walking day. Today was the LONG driving day. We headed westward from Port Alberni to see Tofino and Ucluelet on the west coast. This area is known for the rugged seaside and for trails along it. We went to a market in Tofino, wandered around the town, took a tour of their quaint church, etc. Then we went to Ucluelet which we liked better. There was a wonderful trail through the rain forest and along the seaside. Also, we thought that the waterfront here was prettier than that in Tofino.

From there, we drove all the way across the island to Courtney, knowing that the last ferry of the night for the mainland would leave at 19:15. We went by the tourist office and got them to help us get a reservation for the night across on the mainland. Then we went to a park to see the end of their Highland Games competition. There was a massed bagpipe band playing when we arrived--probably 125 bagpipers playing together. It was exciting. Then we watched the pole tossing event which ended the competition for the day.

The ferry took us back to the mainland. We bought sandwiches at a supermarket to eat on it for our dinner. We were exhausted after reaching the other side, and just checked into our motel and went to bed.

Sunday, May 17, 2009--Powel River to Burnaby

We had stayed in a motel in the Powel River area overnight. The coast from there to Vancouver is known as the Sunshine Coast, and we had a wonderful day of sunshine for driving it. It took most of the day because of two ferries we had to take. Each of them really slowed us down. Also, the timing of the ferries made it difficult for us to be able to stop and explore along the way. Anyway, the drive was anti-climactic for us--not really what we expected. I guess we thought it would be somewhat like the Bir Sur drive in California. Here, however, we mainly saw trees. There were no dramatic mountains, and there were seldom views of the water.

We drove across Vancouver and checked into a hotel in Burnaby so we would be on the eastern side of town for our departure tomorrow. We went to a nearby park and walked a trail that took us through a wetlands area with lots of birds.

On hindsight, I would suggest that visitors to British Columbia should go to Vancouver and when they go to Vancouver Island should restrict themselves to Victoria and the drive westward from Victoria to Port Renfro to see the wild coastal area. Then they should drive back toward Victoria and take the ferry back to Vancouver. I would suggest skipping the rest of Vancouver Island and skipping the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver Island. The rest of the time in B.C. would be better spent visiting the mountainous area and the wine growing district north and east of Vancouver.

Monday, May 18, 2009--Burnaby to Hope

We left Burnaby and headed for Fort Langley as our first stop. What a great choice that was. When we arrived, they were setting up for their May Day (also known as Victoria Day) Parade. The town is a quaint town. We walked among the parade entries seeing them as they lined up. Then we walked through the quaint town. A band was playing in front of the Town Hall, so we stayed there and listened to the music and watched the people until the parade arrived. There was a HUGE crowd. And the parade was a long one with old cars, horses, old tractors, floats, bagpipe bands, marching bands, live music bands on floats, dancers, acrobats, Renaissance Festival people, people dressed as pioneers, scouts, etc. It couldn't have been better.

We were also lucky that the fort was open for free today. Along with many of the other parade watchers, we went there. They had Maypoles up and had the children performing Maypole dances. They had people in appropriate costumes demonstrating barrel making, blacksmithing, etc. We toured the old fort buildings. We saw a young boy find a piece of gold as he panned in a slouth. It was fun.

We drove over back roads continuing eastward. We stopped at a park. We went into a tea room. Eventually we arrived at Hope and got a room for the night. We hiked a trail that followed an old railroad route and had lots of tunnels. We walked the downtown area seeing the statues made from logs using chainsaws.

Overall, it was one of our better days on the trip. Tomorrow, we will head up into the mountains.