My wanderlust is insatiable. That’s mainly how our Tofino trip came about. Bob possesses a contentment that I’ve yet to find, while I’m always dreaming about the next adventure. As I write this I have visions of Newfoundland, Greece, England, and so many other ambitious plans. All in due time. We had talked about going somewhere like Seattle, but decided that our time frame was a bit small for all the stops we wanted to make along the way. After brief deliberation, we settled on a trip immediately after Christmas, planning for Saskatoon-Golden-Vancouver-Tofino one way, and heading home via Tofino-Nanaimo-Kimberly-Saskatoon.
I’m not sure if it was the grandeur of the mountains, or the novelty of our first adventure, but from day one our trip progressed so seamlessly. Traveling can greatly test a relationship, or solidify it. After all, there’s no one to talk to but one another! Thankfully for us, we don’t tire of talking. We had some of the most memorable talks on that trip that I really value. As far as the trip itself, our first stop was a brief one in Lake Louise. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t expect it to be quite as brisk that day as it was, so a series of photos shows me sans scarf, pink nosed, and laughing. Can’t go wrong with that, I suppose! I’m so pleased we settled on staying the night in Golden, BC. Our cabin we chose for that night was everything we hoped it would be – warm, rustic, and with a view more breathtaking than either of us expected. Also unexpectedly, we found ourselves briefly locked out of said cabin, and Bob tried to break in a window. But perhaps that’s a story I should keep to myself. We quickly remedied that situation, and had a great night’s sleep, setting out to Vancouver the next morning.
Vancouver really came alive to me during this trip. I’ve been many times, but never with Bob of course. I often think it’s more a case of who you’re with, than what you’re doing. That being said, what we did absolutely charmed me. We stayed in Kitsilano, which was new to me, and explored where Bob had lived during his move there. Our little basement suite had warned us beforehand of a short ceiling, saying you may have to sit down in the shower if you’re particularly tall. They weren’t exaggerating, and we got a good laugh out of that one! We quickly set down our bags, and walked to The Farmers Apprentice nearby. The Farmers Apprentice was wonderful. As we settled in, we decided on a variety of plates to share, and waited as each dish arrived in the order it was prepared. We chose to go there because of EnRoute’s Top Ten best new restaurants in Canada, and it didn’t disappoint. The desserts were my favorite this time around. The first we tried featured caramelized pear, earl grey sponge, and mascarpone. The second boasted blueberries, lavender, lime, goat milk sorbet, and crispy milk. I can’t neglect the sharing plates as well of course, where Bob and I both agreed that our favorite was an albacore tuna with king oyster mushrooms, orange, black bean, and scallion vinaigrette. Prior to leaving, I determined to eat as much fresh seafood as we could during this trip. Little did I know how much that would be…
The remainder of our time in Vancouver was spent enjoying Robson Street, visiting Kits Beach post eggs benes, and being tourists at the Capilano suspension bridge. The suspension bridge has to be one of my favorite stops from our trip, among so many! It was touristy, sure. It was also well worth our time, as we explored both a cliff walk and tree top suspended bridges lit with stunning white lights. Seeing globes of light and doves suspended about still water on that side of the cliff is an image I won’t forget. I loved it.
Moving on to Tofino was bittersweet, particularly because our early rising did us little good the day we headed out. We missed the first ferry of the day to Nanaimo, not knowing, as locals do, that we could have reserved a spot. Next time! We spent our wait determining if we could hike around the area and explore the bay. No, no, you can’t. We settled for lattes, and Scrabble on the iPad instead. I’m sure you can imagine, I was restless. This girl wants to get on with the adventure! At long last, we boarded the ferry continuing to Tofino, and so began a very winding drive. The road to Tofino is one best driven in daylight, but we found the light quickly faded during our drive. All this was forgotten, however, upon pulling up to our Tonquin Beach suite. Imagine a recessed suite, surrounded by aromatic cedar, and structured with clean lines. It was everything we needed for our Tofino adventures, revealed in my next post…
Til then,
Shan