Tuesday 14 August 2012

No Plan and No Map

Week One 
Lightning, thunder, rain,  and life in a small trailer turns into a car trip to Kelowna to shop, eat, shop, eat and stay in a hotel.
We had one day of boating, tubing and wake boarding and the other nice day we went to a pool party at the neighbors.
Several cocktails were consumed - it's okay I was on holiday!


Week Two
This is the Without a Plan and Without a Map part and done in a borrowed not too modern motor home.

We drove 
We shopped
We drove
We ate
We drove

We saw where The Husband grew up -yikes! (quite remote and a very small village)

We took the ferry
We saw a snake (I HATE snakes)
We saw bears, deer and a raccoon
We drove


We bungeed - well not me I'm afraid of heights

We zip lined - again not me  (heights)

 We hiked

We travelled in a motor home which is an experience not to be missed .  ugg

We stayed in a resort

We surfed -not me - (someone needs to hold the stuff)

We skim boarded - (not me - someone needs to keep Archie the Dog out of trouble)

We ate

We laughed.  And laughed and laughed - I think too much fresh air is not a good thing for your brain it makes everything funny.

We played in the tidal pools

We ran into our neighbors who were as stunned to see us as we were them.

I did laundry

We stopped in Lytton, Savona, Vancouver ,Nanaimo,  White Rock, Tofino, Uculet ,Cathedral Forest, Parksville ,Coombs, and Hope,
In Lytton I tried to buy cheese and the clerk said the only cheese they had was inside the smokies.   ?  !  

We are glad to be home.

I am putting all the photos at the end so that you can silently say, "Oh God here she is with slides of her vacation" and then quitely slip away to get a cold beverage...........

Too close to home to get out of the motor home.

Maybe we'll just drive and never get out.

Anyone want to hike to the waterfall?  no..  no.. no.. sigh.


Parksville sand castle contest.  We were not the builders, just the gawkers.


Driving to Tofino


  No. no echo here.


This is where Son #1 lost a $50 filter to his camera and we had to convince him The Vacation was not ruined.

It is 32 deg C here while you wouldn't know that by the attire.


The husband is an adventurer - he rode his bike from London to Greece and back! (he didn't cycle the entire way he did take a couple of ferrys). I would have flown home from Greece.  Well, to be perfectly honest, I would have flown back from the first ferry crossing which is the English Channel.  



I think there's something dead in here - or maybe someone's sandwich - but Archie the Dog is determined to get it.


Archie the Dog hopped onto this log by himself and the nearby tourist thought he was an agility dog.  HA!  He only has to be agile enough to hop up on our bed.  He had fun though.








This is Tofino.




This old boat has been turned into a "hotel".  They were calling a B & B except they didn't offer the second B.









MacKenzie Beach where we stayed in the motor home and also found the great Crystal Cove Resort.



Chestermans Beach.

See the tiny black dots in the upper left side of the photo - this is where the surf lessons were taken.

Arm indicates 'I'm going that way'




Leg indicates "darn it!"


Wet sand indicates its not as easy as once thought



Five hours was just about enough of this for them.



ahhhhh, the smell of dead ocean things!



A bit chilly.  Next year Florida? 


Crystal Cove Resort.
Much more comfortable than the motor home......



....which we had to leave at the front gates as motor homes not allowed.



They are always waiting for me they say but when we get to where we are going it's "mom did you bring the....?"




Things I hate to step on when I'm in the water.


This kite surf almost drove Archie the Dog insane!  He ran off down the beach to attack it and when he saw just how large it was he spent the rest of the day growling but with his tail between his legs.


Long Beach surfing was most unsuccessful but they had a wonderful time.


Long Beach - 22 km in length



More Long Beach





Downtown Ucuelet



Cathedral Forest

Zip lining over the Nanaimo River.

 Bungy over the Nanaimo River!



And finally, the video of the Bungy Jump.  The voices are myself and Son #2.  Speaking was very difficult but considering the dry mouth, while holding back the urge to puke, I think I did okay.



Okay, that's it.  Back to reality.
Next post - vegetables and crafts (or maybe not).

4 comments:

mermaid gallery said...

What a great holiday!...reminds me of many that i have taken in the same areas....love our province...B.C. rocks it big!....great looking family....and Archie looks like a character. What fun!!!

Razmataz said...

Beautiful photos. I love that one of Tofino. Nothing like the West coast.

Busy Bee Suz said...

Holy moly. I can't get the video at the end. I wish I could.
Your trip looks as amazing as ours was. You know, if I was those kind of comparable kind of people; which I am not. But if I were....we would be neck and neck. :) If only Archie could have come with us!
The girls (and Coach) loved learning to surf....but alas, like you I had to take photos. *sigh*
One day I am going to get up to your part of the world...cause darn it....it looks amazing.
And if you want to come to Florida; we have guest quarters. Includes coffee and donuts.

ps. Your ziplining does not look as death defying as ours. I'm just saying...you know if you want to compare. LOL
Back to work??? Blahhhhhh.
Please let me know when I can see the video.
xoxoxo

Debra She Who Seeks said...

My Rare One loves Tofino and Cathedral Grove. She promises to take me there some day. We also plan to rent a motor home and go across Canada, stopping at every Big Monument in every small town.

Your holiday looks like it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed all your photos!

Is Crystal Cove Resort at Tofino? It looks really nice.