Long Beach vacation day 3
Monday October 12, 2009.
Today was all about getting from Victoria to Long Beach, with a couple of tourism stops along the way.
Had breakfast with Jean-Luc at Floyd’s Diner (highly recommended, as is the nearby Pluto’s). It’s always good to catch up with friends.
Then I hit the road. First stop was the Kinsol Trestle, reputed to be the highest wooden railway trestle in the British Commonwealth. Made one wrong turn in trying to find it, but no big deal. Note to self though: Google Earth is not yet available everywhere while driving. This is of course a crime, but until it is rectified I should get into the habit of bringing sufficient directions with me printed on dead trees.
Next stop was going to be the Morden Colliery, but the turnoff wasn’t marked and I missed it. I was already running a bit behind by now so I decided to leave it for another time.
Proceeded to the West coast, with only snack and bathroom breaks.
Ever have one of those awkward moments where you misspeak or make a mistake in front of a stranger, then feel the need to do something to save face? Yeah. So when I arrived at the junction of the road between Tofino and Ucluelet, there was a park office there. I figured I might as well get my parking pass for the Pacific Rim national park on my way by, so I stopped. Just as I was getting out of the Slaymobile, a woman asked which way I was going. I said “Ucluelet”, and she walked away with her male in tow. The office turned out to be closed, so I got back in and drove out onto the highway again.
Upon reaching the junction proper, I realized I had the two towns confused (only the Nth time that has happened) and it was actually Tofino I was headed for. Sure enough, right around the corner were those two people, hitchhiking. Split second decision, fueled by the fact that they could recognize me and I didn’t want them to think I had been lying, and by my perception that hitching is a fine tradition in these parts, I stopped to pick them up. Dropped them off at the female’s workplace just outside Tofino, which turned out to be the turnoff right before the resort I’m staying at.
That was weird. Normally I’d never pick up hitchers, but I in a quick decision moment I made what I would consider a bad judgement call because I didn’t want them to have a bad opinion of me. Since when do I care so much about what people think of me? This is uncharacteristic and disturbing.
Arrived at my place of sleeping for this vacation: Ocean Village Beach Resort. It was recommended to me by some cow-orkers, and it does seem nice. I got an individual cabin all to myself, right on the beach. Here’s the view from the living room of my cabin:
Sweet. I can sit here and listen to the waves crash on the beach while I read or hack.
Went in to Tofino to hunt and kill some grub. Tried a place called Shelter, which was recommended to me by a couple of people. I didn’t like it much though; too fancy for my tastes, and too dark to see what I was actually eating.
Got groceries, returned to my cabin and called it a night.
And hey, the wireless works here. Now I can start catching up on my travelblogue experiment.
Today’s GPS track:
[gmap type=”satellite” width=”80%” zoom=”auto” center=”files” file=’__UPLOAD__/2009/10/20091012.kmz’]
