I’ve been to Tofino and Ucluelet, although I have no pictures of them. It was another life, I guess.
I remember getting there on a road that went up and down while it also went side to side – a little whoopsy making, even though I was doing the driving. Wiki mentions the three-hour drive from Nanaimo and implies that it’s the same from Victoria (it ain’t – add an hour and a half). But the egregious omission is the road’s simultaneous up-and-down and side-to-side movement.
I remember going out on a whale-watching boat – more than a little whoopsy making, even though there were no whales to be watched that day.
I remember a wonderful, unspoiled sandy beach that stretched away forever.
I remember an artsy town with boat and bicycle rental places, cafes, and bakeries. I think that was Tofino. I remember a less new-age logging-and-fishing town – Ucluelet?
I remember getting out of there on the road that went up and down while it also went side to side – enough whoopsy making again that I had to stop at the first pull-out to get out and walk around.
But hey. Totally worth it.
Go by air.
It’s still like that, Isabel…the road, anyway, and the beach. The town has expanded a little, having become a celebrity escape and gastronome’s paradise. JoAnn’s daughter and husband live there, so we visit often.
Sure, you can fly, but you will miss the goats on the roof at Coombs, and the butterfly farm, and Cathedral Grove.
Just so you know.
Ian – Hard to enjoy the scenery while upchucking out the car window, but I take your point.
You travelled it when it was hardly a real road – designed for logging trucks. Once our family had to cut short a trip because my Dad had to put on the spare tire and couldn’t risk blowing another. My understanding is that it has been smoothed out since then. Probably still goes up and down and side to side. You really capture the feeling!
Judith – I drove it by myself in about 1994 or 1995, so I expect the surface was fine, but the topology was a little distressing. I can’t imagine driving it under more primitive conditions!