For years I wanted to go to the wilds of British Columbia, specifically Tofino. After several years of researching and hemming and hawing we made our way there to celebrate my 33rd birthday. It was everything I had hoped it would be, and I'm so happy to have finally made the trip. We can't wait to go back to Victoria and Tofino!
We flew direct from SFO to Vancouver, staying in the Sheraton Wall Centre which I would not recommend. Yes, we got a great deal from Hotwire & Priceline but the rooms were alternately just okay and horrendous (we stayed there at the beginning and end of our trip) and the service was definitely lacking. From Vancouver we made our way by taxi, bus & ferry to Victoria where we spent two nights at the Fairmont Empress Hotel, having a fabulous time. From Victoria we rented a car and drove the 5 (or so) hours out to the western coast of Vancouver Island for our two night stay in Tofino at Middle Beach Lodge. While the drive is long, it's definitely beautiful and you'll be astounded by how pristine Tofino is once you're there - the trip is definitely worth it.
For a play-by-play of our entire trip, check out the posts I wrote when we returned.
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2011 TRIP
Having fallen in love with Tofino in 2010, for my birthday we decided to return for a week at the Middle Beach Lodge. As fate would have it, we were able to book the same room we stayed at on our previous trip. The second we landed in Vancouver and made our way to Horseshoe Bay for the ferry ride over to Nanaimo, I knew this would be a special place in our lives for years to come. Following this trip, we have it in our heads to move here someday provided we can make it work with our careers. The idea started out small, just a tickle in my brain ... but by the end of our trip, it had sprouted into something more. As the weeks and months after our trip have passed, we've talked more and more about it and we know this is somewhere that is definitely in our future. We've already booked another trip back for Christmas 2012, this time in a house on Chesterman Beach. The year's barely started, but I'm already counting down the days.
The pictures below cover just a fraction of what we did on this trip. For a more detailed day-by-day rundown, click on the links below.
