After Banff National Park, we took an entire day to drive to Vancouver and took a ferry to Vancouver Island. Upon arrival, we drove another hour to our rented house in Comox.
One afternoon in Comox, as Sunil was wrapping up his work, he suggested we should check out the Pacific Rim National Park in Tofino. The park was about three hours from where we were staying in Vancouver Island. Six hours round trip after work didn’t bother us anymore after all the driving we had done, so we went for it. The road to the pacific rim was very curvy. Sunil was cruising along the road as mama Hong and I were getting dizzy. As we turned a curve, I spotted something black that was moving in the bush alongside the road. “Wait, wait, turn back,” I shouted. “I think I saw a bear!” Sunil immediately and skillfully turned the car around in the narrow road, and there it was! It was indeed a black bear, munching away leaves in the bush. It was the second time that we spotted a bear on our road trip, but this was the first time we saw a bear that close! Pretty cool!
We had time to do two trails, the South Beach and Rainforest trail. The South Beach trail was a neat trail along the beach. On one side you had a cove and beach and on the other side you had a lush forest. It was soothing to hear the waves as you strolled along the trail. The Rainforest trail was composed of 731 steps in midst of a lush forest. We didn’t expect the dense old growth forest but it was enchanting. We felt we were inside the Wizard of Oz!
In the second half of our stay in Vancouver Island, we moved closer to the downtown area. Downtown was very cute with flower baskets decorating the city. It was a somewhat a touristy city and I lost interest as the road trip progressed. Nonetheless, it was a fun city to stroll around in, hopping to a restaurant for a beer or two. We thought it would be a good destination weekend for those living in Seattle.
We also visited Butchart garden, a national historic site of Canada. The Butchart family, who owned a cement business, moved to the west coast of Canada because of rich limestone deposits that were necessary for cement production. After the limestone was exhausted, Jennie Butchart (the wife) turned the mining pit into a sunken garden in 1909. Since then, the Butcharts expanded their lands to include a rose, Italian, and Japanese garden, amongst others. It is now one of the most beautiful gardens in North American.
One of the things that we truly enjoyed in Vancouver Island was the fresh food and produce. Local farmers’ markets were easily found. The fruits and vegetables were just so fresh! We actually saw how real green onions should look, very different from the skinny and neatly trimmed green onions displayed in grocery stores in the US. We had an oyster party with freshly harvested. One of the huge perks of being on a self-producing island!
We finally said goodbyes to those oysters and fresh fruits & vegetables and boarded a ferry to USA.
SooJin & Sunil 