Mas fino Tofino

We headed to the ferry terminal without a reservation.  The thought of sitting for hours with a 2.5 year old watching several ferries leave without us was not enticing.  Luckily, not only did we get on the next ferry after arriving, but Trish, Erik and Aspen did too.  So, we had a lot of fun riding on the ferry together, getting caught up and planning the next 4 days in Tofino.

After we got off the ferry, we headed in to do some grocery shopping.  While we were there, Erik asked if he could offload some weight onto our rig as he was right at his tow capacity for his borrowed Airstream.  So, we moved about 300lbs to ours and eventually shifted seats around for comfort.  Trish rode with Tim and they brought Georgia and Aspen (so much for naps along the way) and Karen and Erik drove slowly over the hills.    But not before we stopped to see the ‘Goats on the Roof’.  This is an attraction on Vancouver Island that apparently can’t be missed, because I think the entire island was there.  And when Trish told Karen to turn into the parking lot, she did.  Thank goodness someone was looking out for us because Tim said (at that time riding behind with Erik) that Karen missed hitting the trailer with the roof by a few inches.  But as Tim always says, an inch is as good as a mile.  Needless to say, after our break for lunch, Tim drove the rest of the way that day.  All the warnings about driving over to Tofino did pan out as it was not a relaxing journey.  However, as a result of our stops and slow pace (due to towing capacity), we took forever to get there.  Basically, Bre, Mark and Scarlett arrived an hour after us even though their ferry arrived 3 hours after ours!  The race was on to cook dinner.

As we had a large trailer, we’d booked a spot away from their camping site.  That meant that we had to coordinate evenings to accommodate sleeping children.  Luckily, Georgia was able to fall asleep in their trailer with Aspen and be transported and Scarlett was able to do the reverse.  During the day, all three children got on famously and had a blast together.

 

Erik reading bedtime stories after baths in our trailer

Tofino is known for its fog.  So, almost every morning was a slow start, lazing about and cooking breakfast together (including Erik’s famous paenekoken), then when the fog burns off, we head to the beach.  It truly is a stunning site to behold.

The first day we all went real estate shopping as Erik and Trish are considering buying up there.  The property was amazing and we all wished them the best of luck, thinking forward to our future visits!  We went for lunch at the ‘world-famous’ TacoFino.  

I have to say, they were the best fish tacos ever, especially the tuna ta-taco.  After that, we stayed on MacKenzie beach where our campsite was situated.  It was ideal, because there is a body of water that gets stranded after high tide.  It warms up, is still and is perfect for little people.

 On the second day, after a leisurely start, we headed out for a day trip to Florencia (Flo) Beach, one of Erik and Trish’s favourite surfing beaches.  With boards and wetsuits under arm, we all headed to the beach (Tim and Karen were not surfing that day!).  We plunked down in the sand and took turns watching the kids play in the surf and building sand castles.  The others tried surfing in full wetsuits, including booties and hood. 

 Our evening meals included filet steak, low country (shrimp) boil, bbq chicken, and the most amazing seafood boil, sourced from Trish and Erik’s local fisherman.  He actually rode his crab traps out on his surfboard and asked the commercial crabbers where to drop them.  Of course, after the kids went to bed and over the fire we roasted marshmallows.  Only this time there was a contest for the best roasting skills.  Tim won with his infamous ‘back-roasting’ technique.  It was fun to all sit together around the fire and shoot the conversation with friends while our kids snoozed.

We were sad to leave Tofino, however we passed on Erik and Trish’s invitation to stay for a couple more days because we were anxious to hit Salt Spring and finish our journey.  So Tim completed one last flush out of the trailer’s systems and we headed for the ferry.  Luckily, we pulled up just as it was loading and we were on the first ferry again without a reservation!

Leanne's in North Van (couver)

We got up early and pushed it to Vancouver.  Again, we were looking forward to crashing with family, having a breather, grocery shopping and doing laundry.  Leanne and her family welcomed us with open arms.  Leanne, Sarah and Olivia came back early from their dance competition in Seattle just to spend time with Georgia.  Georgia lapped it up.  The main assignment the girls were tasked with was brushing Georgia’s hair and pulling it off her face.  I think they did it with style and G felt like such a princess.  

Georgia spent most of the afternoon bouncing on the trampoline with Sarah.  I wonder how hard it would be to fit one in our back garden in London.  It was so much fun for all.

The next day we got up and went for a walk on Cleveland Dam on the Capilano River.  

It’s amazing that 5 minutes from their home is such a lush and natural place to walk. 

We enjoyed the rest of our time at Leanne and Gary’s taking in the family life.  

Unfortunately, we had to finish our trip with a visit to Leanne’s friend’s garage to investigate what appeared to be an oil leak in our truck.  L  Luckily they didn’t see anything insidious and we haven’t seen it again since, fingers crossed.

The bounty of Kelowna

A couple of hours up the road and along the lake, we headed for Kelowna to park up and visit Tim’s uncle Philip.  We arrived at our campsite in an orchard.  Unfortunately, the campground put us in the wrong campsite.  Karen and Georgia were down at the playground when Tim had to move the whole rig (after the 30 minute setup).  Unfortunately, we found out later that he compressed the trailer to the truck taillight and broke it, DOH!  A quick run into the Ford dealer the next morning allowed Tim to resolve that truck issue rather quickly.

As it was smoking hot and we didn’t think we could run the air conditioning due to the electricity type provided, we headed out quickly to visit Laura and Philip.  They built their house overlooking Okanagan Lake five years ago and it was stunning.  Karen immediately regretted declining their offer to stay there due to her allergies to cats.  This affliction comes with a large price to pay!

We sat down on one of their many porches to relax and catch up.  The friendly dog that belonged to the neighbours and Philip and Laura’s cat were happy to see Georgia.  

That afternoon, we walked down to the public access to Pebble Beach, where Tim, Karen and Georgia enjoyed yet another beautiful Okanagan lake.

That evening, the Beckmanns treated us to a delicious Mexican dinner inspired by Philip’s current culinary muse, Michael Smith.  We enjoyed watching the sunset on the lake from their deck.  At dark (almost 10pm) we drove back to our trailer to sleep.  The next morning, we got up (after fixing the truck) and headed back to Philip and Laura’s.  They had a fun day planned for us.  Laura was packing a picnic lunch.  We headed up to a local winery, 3 minutes drive away (tough life), bought a bottle of Pinot Gris and enjoyed lunch on their lawn.  Georgia played amongst the grapevines and met a family with young children to play with.  

That afternoon we went in search of bits for dinner and fruit for the road.  We took a trip to the local, small farmer’s market (next to an adorable park with water toys) and then to other fruit stands (the Okanagan is swimming with wonderful, local fruit).  Tim co-chef’ed with Philip with our findings to create a delicious salmon dinner and we came away with 3 pounds of blueberries picked that day and a huge punnet of raspberries, then cherries, etc.  After dinner, we played in the neighbour’s yard on their swings and with their lovely dog. 

Karen was blown away again by Philip and Laura’s vegetable garden (we pulled potatoes, onions and tomatoes for dinner), the cherry trees in their yard and the fantastic ability to grow delicious food in the Okanagan valley. Tim was blown away by the number of wineries and purchased a few bottles for the road.

It was great for Karen and Georgia to finally meet Tim’s Uncle Philip and Laura.

Penticton

Just an hour and a half up the valley, passing uncountable wineries and fruit stands we stopped again in Penticton. We spent three nights at the north end of Skaha lake. We visited Bonnie and Sandy Ross and their family, old family friends of the Beckmanns.

They have an idyllic piece of land amongst the vineyards overlooking Lake Okanagan. They have lots of fruit trees and flowers and when we arrived the family and friends were all sitting out on the grass having drinks and enjoying themselves. We quickly joined in and sat outside laughing about the old days for hours.

The next day we visited with the Cowans (another of the Beckmanns close friends) and the whole Ross clan joined us at their amazing house on Lakeshore drive across the street from Lake Okanagan. A wonderful meal and a few glasses of exceptional, local wine later we sat out and continued our reminiscing from the night before.