Travelogue

Reno skylineI’m not a big Reno fan, but we had already driven over 7 hours and it had the most options. Ignoring our son’s advice that the River District was a bit sketchy, we booked a room at the Plaza Resort Club Hotel, right near the river.

We also picked it for two other reasons: it did not have a casino, and it had a free self-parking, parking garage.

That parking garage turned out to be a bit of a problem because we barely got in because our roof rack was just about scraping the top of the garage.

However, the room was very nice and had a great view of the city, but our son was right, the neighborhood was a bit sketchy with homeless people, and one in particular having quite an argument with himself.

We needed to eat something, so we walked to the Pizza Collective, not too far from our hotel. Instead of eating it there, we got it to go, because our room had a really large table, right near the window overlooking the city.

The pizza was good, the bed was comfortable, and the price was right. That’s all we needed.

Travelogue

Campbell House InnAs I mentioned in the previous post, even on long-driving days, we like to find something to look forward to at the end of the day. Originally it was supposed to be the Bend area of Oregon, but the air quality was just too awful to make that any fun.

So, as Herb drove, I played on my phone looking for something that would be fun and that we could arrive at no later than 6 pm to have time to enjoy.

Then there it was - the lovely historic Campbell House Inn in Eugene, Oregon, a lovely historic B&B and a cool town that we had never been to before.

Campbell House GazeboThe Inn did not disappoint. The Inn, which was originally a home built in 1892, had been fully restored as a luxurious boutique hotel. It was situated on an acre of beautifully landscaped grounds, right in the historic district of Eugene. I couldn’t understand why it was only $140 per night (including a sumptuous breakfast), when our crappy little hotel room in Port Angeles cost over $200. Apparently that still annoys me.

Each of the rooms were named after a Campbell family member. We were staying in the “Alfred,” which for some reason cracked us up.

Anyway, we started our evening with a glass of wine in the gazebo in the garden. We were having such a nice time that we almost forgot about dinner. Not wanting to go anywhere at that point, we ate some Pad Thai Salad that we had bought in a Ucluelet supermarket.

Then I gave our private bathtub jacuzzi a whirl and almost overflowed the bubbles from my relaxing bubble bath.

5th Street MarketThe next morning we figured we should explore Eugene before moving on.

But first the complimentary breakfast in the Inn’s lovely dining room, which included eggs, sausage, veggies, and freshly baked scones. The setting and the food were wonderful.

After breakfast we headed over to nearby Alton Baker Park to walk along the Prefontaine Trail. Anyone with a son that ran track in high school or college knows of Steve Prefontaine, the legendary track star at the University of Oregon in the 1970s. Sadly, he tragically died in a car accident in 1975 when he was only 24 years old and at the height of his running career.

Lolo at the 5th Street MarketThe night before every track meet in high school, our sons and a few of their teammates would gather to eat pasta and watch the Prefontaine movie. They must have seen it a hundred times.

After his untimely death, the city of Eugene built the Prefontaine Trail in nearby Alton Baker Park. In 2019 it was designated a city history landmark. Of course, we had to walk along it. We would have more appropriately run if it hadn’t been for that gigantic breakfast at the Campbell House Inn.

Our next stop was the 5th Street PublicMarket, the area’s premier open-air shopping destination with up-scale stores, restaurants, bars, tasting rooms, and cafes. It was quite a lively place.

Ok, time to continue on to Bishop, probably finding another place to stop along the way.

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Travelogue

Hurricane Hill TrailWe woke up in our Port Angeles motel to bright sunshine, which meant we would finally be able to do the Hurricane Hill hike in nearby Olympic National Park. We had been thwarted twice already - once two years ago when the weather was awful, and our way up the coast a week ago when the Hurricane Ridge Road was closed for tree removal.

The Hurricane Hill trail starts at the end of Hurricane Ridge Road. Even though we got there early, the parking lot was full, so we drove a short distance back to the overflow parking.

From there we walked on a past through the woods to the actual trailhead. The trail is paved and quite easy, but it did lead us through a beautiful subalpine meadow with spectacular views of the glacier-covered Olympic Mountains and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Hurricane Hill TrailThe trail is 3.2 miles out-and-back (with 800 foot elevation gain), but we managed to do over 4 because we were running around so much at the top enjoying all the views.

Okay, now that we checked off this hike, I think we have pretty much seen and done all of Olympic National Park.

Actually, there was something we hadn’t done - the section of the Olympic Loop Scenic Drive from Port Townsend to Olympia. It was a beautiful drive, tracing the shores of the Hood Canal for a good part of it. Unfortunately, Herb slept through most of it, as he likes to do when I take over the wheel.

Hurricane Hill TrailNow it was time to head south towards Bishop, California where our son and daughter-in-law live. It wasn’t exactly on the way home, but we missed them, and Bishop is such a beautiful place that we pointeds the car in that direction. Google Maps told us it would take 16 hours to get there, so we started thinking about places to stop along the way.

Originally we were hoping to spend some time in the Bend, Oregon area, but the smoke was so bad that Oregon was going to pretty much be a drive-through state this time.

So our plan was to just keep driving until we felt like stopping, hopefully some place that would be fun in some way. We didn't want to go much more than 4 hours.

Then I found the Campbell House Inn in Eugene, Oregon, a highly-rated B&B with a lovely garden with gazebos and adirondack chairs to sit in. Oh, and a jacuzzi in the bathroom. Sounded perfect!

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Travelogue

Sunken GardenAs I mentioned in the previous stop, we had a whole afternoon to devote to visiting the highly-acclaimed Butchart Gardens, because our ferry back to the U.S. didn’t leave until 7:30 in the evening.

The Butchart Gardens are not in the city of Victoria, as I originally thought, but a half hour north in the town of Brentwood.

Butchart Gardens has a fascinating history. It all began in 1902 , when Robert and Jennie Butchard moved to Vancouver Island to build a cement plant on a rich limestone deposit at Tod Inlet.

Sunken GardemWhen the limestone quarry was exhausted, Jennie envisioned creating a grand garden in the depleted quarry. That old quarry is now the Sunken Garden, the most beautiful and popular garden on the property.

Afternoon TeaOver the following decades they continued transforming their property into a botanical garden, traveling extensively throughout the world, collecting rare shrubs, trees, and plants which they transplanted in their gardens. Footpaths, bridges, waterfalls, ponds, and fountains were later added. The gardens now contain over 5,000 varieties of flowers.

Between 1906 and 1929, the Butcharts expanded The Gardens, designing the Japanese Garden on the seaside, the Italian Garden on their former tennis court and the Rose Garden in their old kitchen vegetable garden.

In 1939, the Butcharts gave the Gardens to their grandson Ian Ross on his 21st birthday. Over the next 58 years, he transformed the gardens into a world-renowned attraction, adding outdoor concerts and night lighting in the summers, and the Magic of Christmas in the winters.

It was a real family affair. In 1977 great-grandson Christopher began producing a choreographed firework show every year. In 2009, his sister, and current owner of The Gardens, Robin, added the Children’s Pavilion and Menagerie Carousel.

Italian GardensIn 2004, on the 100th anniversary of the Gardens, two Totem Poles, carved in Classic Coast Salish style by Master Carvers Charles Elliot of the Tsartlip Nation and Doug La Fortune of Tsawout Band, were placed in the Gardens in recognition of the rich cultural heritage provided by Indigenous People.

Today, The Butchart Gardens is a National Historic Site of Canada. It receives over a million visitors a year.

Ownership of the Gardens remains within the Butchart family. Great-granddaughter Robin-Lee Clarke is the current owner and managing director.

Sturgeon StatueA visit to The Gardens wouldn’t be complete without partaking in Afternoon Tea. We almost blew this though because we didn’t know you should make reservations. But it did work out, and we were able to enjoy an indulgent variety of English trifles, savory sandwiches, fresh scones, and lots of house-made sweets in their lovely dining room. Oh, and of course, tea.

Afternoon Tea Menu

Our plan all along was have our ample Amethyst Inn breakfast and our Afternoon Tea get us through the day, so we wouldn’t need dinner before the ferry. As we expected, there was so much food at the tea that we got a doggy bag to bring on the ferry.

The cost for the Afternoon Tea was $40.95 per person (about $30 U.S.), plus the $39.50 per person Admission to the Gardens (about $29), but it was worth every penny of it.

Then it was back to the Victoria ferry for our return to Port Angeles.

Ross FountainI think everyone on the ferry around us was jealous of our fancy snacks. I think we were the only passengers munching on Raspberry pistachio truffle, Carrot cake, Baked lemon custard, Strawberry mousse, and a Chocolate ganache torte.

Since we were too happy with our stay at the Angeles Motel on the way over, we figured we would try the Super 8 by Wyndham. It was a bit better but still a rip-off at $231, and that’s U.S. dollars.

Oh well, at least it positioned us well for going back into Olympic National Park in the morning to hike Hurricane Ridge.

Travelogue

Lolo arrives at the Amethyst InnI have to admit that Victoria was a lot bigger and more urbanized than I expected, so I’m kind of glad we stayed in a cute little Victorian B&B called the Amethyst Inn, away from the hustle and bustle of downtown. When in Rome…be a Victorian.

Oh, and I am so glad we did. The Inn is a fully-restored historic mansion dating back to 1885, and it was absolutely amazing. Our room had 13-foot-ceilings, period furniture and antiques, a cozy fireplace, and a bathroom larger than most people’s living rooms, complete with a giant jacuzzi.

Lolo adjusting to the life of a VictorianWe only had one night here, so we probably should have been out exploring the city, but not before first testing out the jacuzzi. At first we thought it was broken, until we realized we had to flip the outlet switch in the bathroom.

Finally we filled it with water, added bubbles, and turned on the jets. I felt so decadent. It was great.

Craigdarroch CastleEventually we dragged ourselves out of the jacuzzi and set out to explore the town. Rather than drive, we decided to walk down Fort Street to the Inner Harbor (or Harbour as they call it).

Not far from the Amethyst Inn, we made a quick side trip to the Craigdarroch Castle, which unfortunately had already closed for the day. Too bad, because I would have loved to have seen the interior of what was known as a “bonanza castle” - a massive mansion built for entrepreneurs who became wealthy during the industrial age. In this case, the entrepreneur was Robert Dunsmuir, a Scottish immigrant who made his fortune from Vancouver Island coal.

Dinner at Frankie'sWe did, however, enjoy wandering around the exterior.

We continued down Fort Street with the intention of eating at Red Fish Blue Fish, a very popular dockside restaurant right on the harbor, but the line was a mile long.

So, we went back to Government Street, the main drag in terms of restaurants and strolled south towards the Empress Hotel looking for a place to eat. Everything looked pretty crowded.

The iconic Empress HotelWe finally settled on Frankie’s Modern Diner, which turned out to be a good choice - lots of variety, big portions, high quality, quick service, and good value.

After dinner, we continued strolling south to Victoria’s Inner Harbour, the scenic area of the waterfront with Victoria’s main tourist attractions - the Empress Hotel and the British Columbia Parliament Buildings, both extremely impressive structures, especially the Parliament Buildings whose facades were outlined in white lights.

The Crystal GardenThe Empress is the crown jewel on Victoria’s waterfront. Like the U.S. National Park lodges, the idea for the elegant, chateau-styled Empress was conceived by a railroad, in this case the Canadian Pacific Railway, as a way of attracting affluent steam and rail customers.

It was designed by celebrated architect Francis Rattenbury, who also designed the nearby iconic Parliament Building. The Empress Hotel opened in 1908, and it became, and still is, the social and business center of the city.

Glass and mirrors everywhereIt was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981.

If we weren’t already planning to have afternoon tea at Butchart Gardens, the following day, I would have loved to experience afternoon tea here. It is the number one thing that most people associate with the Empress.

Behind the Empress Hotel, is a greenhouse garden called the Crystal Garden. It too was designed by Francis Rattenbury, as well as Percy L. James. It was inspired by London’s more famous Crystal Palace.

Parliament BuildingsIt began as an indoor saltwater swimming pool and dance hall in 1925, commissioned (like the Empress Hotel) by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a way to attract visitors to the city. It continued as that until it was converted to a conservatory in 1980, and is now a Conference Center with a tropical garden of lush plants, exotic birds and mammals.

Its use of glass and steel was unique in Canada at the time of its construction, and reminiscent of railway architecture and the use of glass-enclosed spaces.

We entered the Crystal Garden by walking through the lobby of The Empress. Surprisingly, we had the whole place to ourselves.

Back home to the Amethyst InnFrancis Rattenbury must have been a very busy man, because he also designed the iconic Parliament Buildings, which are a dominant feature of the Inner Harbour. The buildings are the official residence for the B.C. Parliament to pass laws and the Provincial Legislative Assembly to pass laws gather and discuss the direction of the province. It was too bad that we weren’t in Victoria long enough to take one of the guided tours through the buildings.

It was such a nice night that we decided to walk the 2 miles back to the Amethyst Inn.

Victorian breakfast at the Amethyst InnThe next morning, I was very much looking forward to enjoying the Inn’s highly acclaimed breakfast. We sauntered down the staircase like a Victorians and entered the elegant dining room where the tables were set with old china, silverware, and cut glass on white linen tablecloths - just like at home.

The breakfast was amazing - three courses including a fresh fruit parfait, delicious omelet, and home baked croissants and scones.

Sadly, we only had one night in Victoria and had to check out this morning. However, since our ferry to Port Angeles wasn’t until 7:30 tonight, we had the whole day to explore.

Fisherman' WharfWe planned to spend the entire afternoon at the famous Butchart Gardens, but first we wanted to see Fisherman’s Wharf before leaving Victoria. Although it is close to the Inner Harbour, we didn’t have time to explore here last night.

Plus, it was much better in the daylight to enjoy the colorful floating homes, or houseboats, as I would call them. The Victoria Harbour Authority has set aside 33 berths in the marina for floating residences. All of them are occupied and cannot be rented. Too bad, because they would be great Airbnbs.

What a fun place to live though - right in the middle of the action.

Colorful floating homes at Fisherman's wharfMy favorite thing, however, was a cute little yellow water taxi docked at the wharf. The skipper was nice enough to let me and Herb board it. He even used my phone to take pictures of it.

I so wish that we had more time in Victoria, because I would have loved to take a harbor tour in one of these, or at least gotten to see them perform their synchronized water ballet.

Yes, that’s right, these adorable little taxies perform a water ballet every Sunday morning at 10:45 to demonstrate their amazing maneuverability. They have been doing this for 21 years.

Cute little water taxisWhat they are probably best known for is the little 10 minute “Water Ballet" they have been doing every Sunday morning from May to September for 21 years. The boats line up at 10:45 a.m. and demonstrate their amazing maneuverability for the tourists.

The Harbour Ferry captains who volunteered to become “ballerinas” take it very seriously and even practice their routines on land. Apparently, it’s not uncommon to find five men in Harbour Ferry uniforms practicing their ballet moves on foot around the parking lot. I would have loved to have seen that!

As I mentioned, we had the whole day to enjoy before catching our 7:30 pm ferry, so we drove to the famous Butchart Gardens, a half hour north of Victoria in the town of Brentwood.

Travelogue

Herb and the goat chowing downOn our drive back to Victoria, where we would conclude our stay on Vancouver Island, we found two interesting stops along the way.

The first was the Old Country Market in the little town of Coombs, famous for the fact that several goats graze on its roof. It has become a very popular attraction and draws crowds, as was evidenced by the difficulty of finding parking anywhere near it.

As promised there was a goat on the roof, but just one. Where were his buddies? When my son was here, he said there were a bunch of them. So, of course, we joined everyone else taking photos of this poor goat just minding his own business.

Murals of ChemainusThe Old Country Market was worth a visit, even if there was no goat. It had a bakery, a deli, an ice cream stand, island produce, and lots of nosh.

We decided to eat there and had some burgers. I especially enjoyed my photo of the goat and Herb grazing.

Next stop along the way was the town of Chemainus, a sleepy little mill town that reinvented itself in the 1980s when its antiquated sawmill was replaced with a more modern mill, resulting in many layoffs.

Murals of ChemainusNot wanting to slip into oblivion, the town hired local artists to cover the walls of the town’s commercial building with huge murals depicting the town’s history and culture.
The project was so successful, that in 1983 it won a prestigious downtown revitalization competition against towns and cities from around the world.

It was definitely worth the stop, and we spent an enjoyable hour or so wandering around the town. Even the local Subway shop served as a canvas for a depiction of the town’s sawmill history.

Now, onto Victoria. Fortunately, we wouldn’t have to deal with the Highway 4 road closure we had experienced on the way to Tofino, because they don’t close the road on weekends. As much as II would like to say that it was excellent planning on my part, it was sheer luck, as I didn’t even know about the road closures when planning the trip.

Travelogue

Combers BeachOur next destination was two nights in Ucluelet, about a half hour south of Tofino, also on the western coast of Vancouver Island.

It was too early to check into our hotel, so on the drive south we stopped at Combers Beach, located within the boundaries of the Pacific Rim National Park. From the parking lot, we strolled along a boardwalk through a rather enchanting Sitka Spruce Forest before arriving at a driftwood-strewn beach.

View from from our balconyOnce at the beach, we turned left and followed Sandhill Creek, which flowed into the sea. It’s one of the less visited beaches along the coast, so if you want peace and quiet, it’s a great place to stop. The whole time we were there, we didn’t see another soul.

We continued on to the Canadian Princess hotel in Ucluelet, located right on the Ucluelet Harbor. So, this time rather than an ocean view, we had a wonderful view of the harbor right from our balcony. It was nice to change up the view.

Ucluelet HarborWe went for an early dinner at the Floathouse Bar and Grill, a restaurant literally floating in the harbor, just a short walk from our hotel. Herb had the Blackened Rockfish and I had the Pad Thai Noodle Salad. Mine was good, but not sure why I didn’t order fish in a primarily seafood restaurant. Herb’s looked awfully good.

A real gem in Ucluelet is the Wild Pacific Trail, a system of trails that carves through old-growth thickets of twisted trunks and ferns and mosses of the temperate coastal rainforest, as it hugs the wild coastline of the Ucluth Peninsula.

Along the Lighthouse LoopThe trail system is being developed from private, business and government donations to the Wild Pacific Trail Society. The trail is divided into three sections: Lighthouse Loop, Big Beach Section, and Brown's Beach to Ancient Cedars Section.

This evening we close to walk the Lighthouse Loop section during sunset. The trail starts at the Whale parking lot midway along Coast Guard Road. From there we took the Wild Pacific Coast Trail l in a clockwise direction.

Amphitrite LighthouseI loved photographing the rocks jutting out into the sea, with the slow motion feature of my Google Pixel to soften the movement of the water.

One of the first interesting things we encountered was the amazing array of twisted, weather beaten trees along the trail. I wish I knew what kind of trees they were.

Sunset along the Lighthouse LoopEventually we caught a glimpse through the trees of the iconic Amphitrite Lighthouse keeping watch over Barkley Sound and the Broken Group Islands. This lighthouse was originally built in 1906 in response to the shipwreck of the Pass of Melfort, but it was replaced in 1915 with the current building to better withstand hurricane force storms.

I was anxious to get to a sport along the trail called Inspiration Point in time for sunset. We did and were able to capture a lovely sunset via stairs cut artistically into the headlands.

Artists Loop along the Wild Pacific TrailIt took us just under an hour to do the 2.3 mile loop, but that was because we stopped so often to take photos of the beautiful scenery.

The next morning we set out to explore the Big Beach Section of the Wild Pacific Trail. We parked at the Brown’s Beach section in a parking lot north of the Black Rock Oceanfront Resort on Marine Drive. After a short section of trail following the road, we reached the wilderness coastal trail.

Scouting out the wave for sunsetA little less than a mile from Brown’s Beach we came to the extremely picturesque Artists Loop, which begins in the forest canopy but quickly opens up onto wind-swept cliffs where the wild coastline becomes more and more dramatic with each step. It was by far the most photogenic section of the Wild Pacific Trail.

All along the way there were side trails leading to storm-watching decks and platforms called “Painter’s Perches” with unique views and vistas of the wild coastline.

Ucluelet Catch-and-Release AquariumWe knew this would be a great place to come back for sunset photography, so Herb began marking various places along the way on Gaia. One place in particular attracted us, and we named it “the Wave,” because it looked like a large wave made of stone frozen in time.

We turned around at 2.7 miles at a place called Rocky Bluffs and walked back from whence we came, with the intent of repeating this hike at sunset.

Residents of the Ucluelet AquariumIn the meantime, we had the whole afternoon to explore the tiny village of Ucluelet. So, as I often do, I looked on Trip Advisor for things to do in the nearby area. The #1 thing to do in Ucluelet was unsurprisingly the Wild Pacific Trail. Okay, good. Done that and would repeat tonight. Coming in second was the Ucluelet Aquarium.

At first I balked at the admission price - $14 Canadian dollars for seniors (around $10.30 U.S.), but based on the positive reviews, we figured we’d give it a try.

The aquarium is rather unique in that it is a collect-and-release aquarium, meaning its residents are not permanent, but literally just passing through.

Residents of the Ucluelet AquariumAll of the specimens in the exhibits are collected from nearby Barkley Sound and Clayoquot Sound, and are seasonally released back into the ocean. Most specimens are collected either by scuba divers, by hand at low tide, or by hand seining beaches, whereby specific target animals are removed from the net and the rest are returned to the water.

Despite its smallness, there were a lot of interesting animals on display: rockfish, crabs, bivalves, feather duster worms, bay pipefish, sea anemones, sea pen, and many more. There were even a few touch tanks including one where I got to pet a large sea cucumber.

Then at the end of the season, the staff says goodbye and the animals are returned to their natural habitats.

Lolo scrambling over the sharp rocks to get the shotThe aquarium was definitely worth a visit.

Afterwards we had some very good pizza at nearby Shipwreck Pizza before heading back out to the Wild Pacific Trail for sunset. They had three TV sets going, two with sports and oddly enough, one with Bob Ross doing one of his rapid paintings. The man is amazing. He painted an entire landscape in the time it took for us to eat a pizza.

This time we pretty much focused (no pun intended) on the Artists Loop section of the trail as that was by far the most dramatic.

"The Wave" at sunsetWe revisited the spots Herb had marked on Gaia, but by far my favorite was still the rock formation down on the beach that we had named the “Wave” because of its obvious resemblance to a large wave fixed in position just as it was about to crest.

I tried to get up a bit too close and personal, but the rocks I had to clamber over almost tore my pants and I did scratch my phone.

Not sure if we got any good photos, but it certainly was a beautiful walk. Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t just put the camera away and look.

Tomorrow we would head to Victoria for a night.

Travelogue

Our cozy cabin at the Mackenzie Beach ResortWe boarded the 8:30 ferry from Port Angeles, which would take us on a 90-minute scenic journey through the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria on Vancouver Island.

As we drove onto the ferry, I got very nostalgic thinking back to our 30 years of annual trips to Martha’s Vineyard. Time to make new memories on an island of a very different sort that we had never been to before.

Sunset stroll along Mackenzie BeachOur plan was to stay 2 nights in Tofino, 2 in Ucluelet, and 1 in Victoria. Unbeknownst to us when we made our reservations, there was a pretty serious periodic road closure situation on Highway 4 to Tofino, which would impact us. Crews were working on rock scaling, a labor-intensive process to remove dangerous rock material from cliff faces along the Cameron Bluff.

Our hotel informed us that the highway would be open from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm and then again after 5 pm. What they neglected to tell us was that the “flush” (movement of cars) switched at 12:30 pm from going towards Tofino to going towards Victoria.

Herb and his hot tubIt took us a while to get through the ferry unloading process and customs, so we didn’t arrive at the closure point until 12:50 pm, meaning we had just missed our “flush.” Now we had to wait until 5:00 pm to go through.

We sat in the hot car for a while, but then I noticed that some people were walking a short distance through a wooded section alongside the road to get to the shores of nearby Cameron Lake, which we could just see through the trees from our car.

Along our morning runWe decided to make the best of a pretty bad situation and take our beach chairs out to the small beach and read for a while. It certainly beat sitting in a hot car getting aggravated.

Finally, at 5:00 pm they let us through and we drove the 2+ hours to our hotel on MacKenzie Beach in Tofino. Fortunately, our MacKenzie Beach Resort cabin (#7) was worth all the effort getting there - beautiful ocean views and a hot tub and fire pit on our private deck.

Lunch out in TofinoTofino is a very popular destination, so we were very lucky to get such a great place to stay on such short notice. It wasn’t exactly cheap though. It cost $750 USD for 2 nights. Herb and I spend most of our vacations in a motorhome or camping in the back of our 4Runner, so we rationalized that if we amortized our cost per night vacationing, it was pretty cheap. It’s good to splurge once in a while.

And the best part was that the heat wave had hit Tofino, meaning that it was a balmy 80 degrees, very unusual for what is normally a cool, wet climate. Herb hates cold and damp and would happily spend every vacation in a desert if I gave him the chance, so he was quite happy with the Tofino heat wave.

Surfers in Cox BayIt was already past 7:00 pm when we finally got here, so we immediately poured ourselves a glass of wine and walked out to the beach to enjoy the sunset. There were still dozens of paddle boarders and surfers out on the water enjoying the last minutes of daylight.

Once the sun was down, we scurried back to our cabin and spent an hour soaking in our private hot tub. It was a really cute hot tub - oval, made of wood, and 4 steps to get into it. It was definitely only a hot tub for 2. I kept trying to think where we could put one of these in our small yard.

Crazy "non"-trail up to Cox Bay LookoutAt one point I left the hot tub to go into our room to get my phone. Not realizing that the sliding glass door was closed, I smashed my nose really hard into the glass. Herb and I felt the next few minutes feeling it to see if it was broken, but everything seemed in its proper place. It didn’t swell too much, but I did feel it for over a week. I am such a clutz.

The next morning we set out on a run from our beach (MacKenzie Beach) and tried to make our way north to the town of Tofino. It required some navigating through woods, scrambling on rocks, climbing down stairs down to beaches, but we did manage to get to Middle Beach, Third Beach, and Tonquin Beach before turning around. It was a very fun and well-needed 5-mile run.

View from Cox Bay LookoutAfter a shower and another dip in the hot tub, we headed into town to explore and have lunch.

The town was pretty busy, and we didn’t really feel like waiting around for a table in a sit-down restaurant, so we chose the very highly-rated Al’oha Poke and Tostada take-out restaurant at the end of Campbell Street.

It’s not really a food truck, but rather set in one of a group of six container businesses with shared outdoor seating. Except for the bees vying for our lunch, it was great.

Made it down the Cox Bay trailI had the Aloha Bowl, which had Salmon, Shrimp, Calamari, rice edamame, shallots, avocado, pickled radishes, spicy aioli, teriyaki sauce, and I can’t even remember what else. Herb had the Tuna Bowl with Mahi Mahi, sweet onion, avocado, sesame seeds, garlic mayo, and more stuff that he can’t remember either. It was absolutely delicious.

Later that afternoon, we drove down to Cox Bay Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches on the Island and the best place to learn to surf in all of Canada, because of the consistent, medium-sized waves. Our son and daughter-in-law took surfing lessons here last year and absolutely loved it. Well, we weren’t doing that, but we were going to try to do what is considered the best hike in Tofino - the scramble up to the Cox Bay Lookout for a fabulous view of Cox Bay and the surrounding beaches, islands, and mountains.

Evening on our deckBut first, we spent a few hours just relaxing on this beautiful beach watching several groups taking surfing lessons.

As sunset approached, we decided it was time to head up to the lookout. Not wanting to carry our beach chairs and cooler up a difficult trail, Herb hid them in a small cave behind the sandy beach. Hopefully, we would be able to find them later.

The trail was not signed or marked in any way, so we relied on the Gaia app, which showed the trail as well as our progress along it. Gaia has been an extremely valuable tool for us to find some great trails, as well as to not get lost.

Morning farewell stroll on Mackenzie BeachThe trail (if you could call it that) started at the southern end of the beach. We looked for the biggest opening in the forest that looked like a path and started up. The first third of the trail wasn’t very steep, but had exposed roots and rocks to navigate around.

The next section is where the canopy thickens and the terrain becomes steeper, with fallen trees to climb over or under. The last third of the hike gets very steep with some exposed rock.

Every once in a while we noticed on Gaia that we were getting off trail, but we figured if we just kept going up towards the top of the ridge we were generally going in the right direction.

Herb fighting the jungleEventually, we came out to a beautiful viewpoint overlooking Cox Bay, the mountains, and an endless pine forest in between. I’m not sure if we had reached the official lookout, as Gaia seemed to show that we should be more to the right, but there was a giant ravine between us and where it wanted us to go.

It was an incredible spot though, so we declared it was good enough, as did about a dozen other people who joined us. We stayed for the golden hour of sunset, but left in time to not have to go down this crazy trail in the dark. Surprisingly, going down wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

As we strolled back along the beach toward the parking lot, we remembered to pick up our hidden chairs and cooler along the way.

Mackenzie Beach RhinoOf course when we got back to our cabin, we soaked in the hot tub for a while. Herb stayed in much longer than me, squeezing out the last minutes of hot tub warmth. I think I was already asleep by the time he got into bed. He must have been as wrinkled as a prune.

It was going to be hard to leave this place tomorrow morning. It was pretty ideal.

Before leaving Tofino, we took one more stroll on MacKenzie Beach, this time heading south. We thought we could possibly find a path through the jungle-like border of our beach to get to Chesterman Beach, but it was just too thick.

We did, however, meet a sand rhinoceros, complete with driftwood horn.

Travelogue

Lake CrescentSince it would take us only 4 hours to get to Port Angeles, where we needed to spend the night to catch an early morning ferry to Vancouver Island, we had plenty of time to have some fun along the way.

Fortunately, Port Angeles is right near the northern end of Olympic National Park, so we decided to drive into the park and spend some time at Crescent Lake. It was still ridiculously hot, so spending time relaxing at a lake sounded perfect.

Hike to Marymere FallsThis was not our first visit to Crescent Lake. 33 years ago we traveled here on a vacation with our then one-year-old son Andrew. We lived in New Jersey then, so it was a very long day of travel - flight from Newark Airport to Seattle, rental car pickup, ferry to Bremerton, and then a drive to Crescent Lake. Despite our long travel day, it was still light out when we arrived, as we had gained 3 hours traveling West.

Herb often accuses me of trying to pack 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag when we travel. Well, I was about to pack 15. Somehow I convinced Herb that hiking to nearby Marymere falls (less than a mile from our cabin) would be a good idea. After all, we needed to stretch our legs a bit after so much sitting.

Somewhat reluctantly Herb loaded Andrew into the baby backpack and off we went to show him his first waterfall. Unfortunately, by the time we got there he was totally slumped over in the backpack fast asleep. Smart kid. We should have been too.

Bridge to Marymere FallsWell, today would be more relaxing than that.

Lake Crescent is absolutely stunning. It was formed when glaciers carved out deep valleys during the last Ice Age. The lake is 900-feet deep, one of the deepest in Washington state. Its waters are a brilliant blue and exceptionally clear, due to the low levels of nitrogen in the water, which inhibit the growth of algae.

It looked extremely inviting, but first lunch in the historic Lake Crescent Lodge with its stone fireplace and sunroom overlooking the azure waters of the lake. I’ve never met a national park lodge that I didn’t like. They are always so cozy and warm.

Marymere FallsAfter lunch, we got our chairs and headed to the small beach along the lake’s shoreline. Since the heat wave was still with us, I enjoyed dipping in and out of the lake to keep cool. It was so pleasant and relaxing after 3 long driving days.

Later that afternoon, we hiked from the beach to Marymere Falls, where we had brought our cute little Andrew so long ago. It’s a lovely short hike, about 0.9 miles each way, through an old-growth, moss-laden forest, across two scenic bridges over flowing creeks, and then 200-feet up a set of stairs to two picturesque viewpoints of 90-foot high Marymere Falls.

Lots of nice scenery for such an easy short hike.

Then it was on to the Angeles Motel, which we chose for its proximity to the Black Ball Ferry to Vancouver Island. Hotels in Port Angeles are pretty pricey because they have a captive audience of early ferry goers. It killed me to have to pay $200 for a crappy little room, when we later spent the same amount for a lovely room on the harbor in Ucluelet. Oh well.