Vancouver Island

Since we arrived in Squamish, we have planned to spend some time on Vancouver Island. There are quite a few reasons for wanting to go; I have quite a lot of family on the Island, Ashley's very good friend Bonnie lives on the West coast of the island, and we are both hoping to get jobs at a lodge there for the fall.

Since this weekend was the Squamish Mountain Festival, we decided that it would be a good time to make an escape before the hordes of people arrived. So on the morning of July 15th, we packed up the car, and headed to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal. There we met up with my Mum who was in transit to Holland, but spending a few days in Nanaimo on the way.

Baby on the Ferry

After sailing across the straight, the three of us made our way to my cousin Devin's house, who was kind enough to give us a place to stay as well as, shuttle us around the city. It was great to see Devin, it had been about a year since we last got to catch up with each other.

On our second day on the island we drove down to Victoria to see my cousin Stephanie and her partner Jason. We had a great day in downtown eating tasty vegan/veggy food at "Rebar" and looking around.

Sunset in Nanaimo

From Nanaimo, the plan was to drive to Strathcona Park Lodge (where we would like to work for the fall); then spend a few day climbing in Strathcona Provincal Park (arguably the best alpine climbing on the island); and then to drive to see Bonnie in the town South of Tofino, who's name starts with a U, and is neither pronounceable or spellable.

Things started to get interesting once we arrived at Strathcona Park Lodge; the two of us seem to have lost all concept in the last month of what day of the week it is(and sometimes even what time of day it is!), and so we were informed upon arrival that the chief instructor was gone for the evening, and since tomorrow would be Sunday, that he would not be back until Monday morning. All pretty predictable stuff, and yet it seems to have escaped the two of us. At this point the best thing to do was to find a place to camp for the night. Being a Saturday evening on a beautiful July weekend, all campsites were full in the area, also fairly predictable. In the process of driving to find a campground, we found ourselves in Gold River, a beautiful and somewhat remote town on the West coast of the island. By this point in the whole process, there was some talk of the fact that Bonnie might try to find a ride up to meet us in the Strathcona area, and also that she only was off work for the next few days. Now the problem for (relative) suburbanites such as ourselves, was that there is absolutely no cellphone service in this area (for at least an hour's drive in fact!), the horror! This meant that Ashley and Bonnie could not communicate rendezvous information to each other. After much discussion, and failed attempts at using a pay phone (that somehow seem to cost as much as successful attempts), it was decided that due to the impossibility of communication, in combination with Bonnie's work schedule, we should proceed immediately to the town South of Tofino who's name is neither pronounceable or spellable.

So, at approximately eight thirty in the evening we began our backtrack to Nanaimo, where we turned off West and headed back to the West coast, only this time several hundred kilometers South of our previous position on the West coast. About a third of the way through this crusade, in Campbell River, we decided that it may be prudent to send Bonnie an email to keep her up to date with regards to our to our wildly erratic and unpredictable methods of trip planning. We found a Starbucks where, in the six minutes before closing, I procured a quadruple americano, and Ashley sent off an email that went something like "We are driving to you! We don't know where you are! Text or email me if you can!". We arrived in the town that begins with a U and is neither pronounceable or spellable at one o'clock this morning. With no good ideas of where to camp or stay, and little energy to search out such a place, we found a nice spot to roll out the sleeping bags amidst a residential neighborhood, and proceed to sleep under the stars (in a figurative sense only, it was actually under the fog, which in turn was under the stars).

I awoke around seven this morning to a thick coastal fog; the thick salty smell of the ocean; the lonely cries of a solitary seagull, punctuated by the staccato chatter of the small forest birds; the distant ringing of a buoy somewhere out in the fog; and I proceeded to try and wake up Ashley before the residents complained and had us arrested. It took over an hour. This morning we found ourselves a nice little cafe, with great muffins, and wireless internet.

Ashley sleeping... You can't tell, but there are houses all around us.

Bonnie has just sent Ashley a text message, so we'll be able to meet up with her in a few minutes. Yet another great success!