Day 15 - Tofino

Carol wakes at 4.12 a.m., a pattern of early rising that she cannot seem to shake off on this holiday. All attempts to drop off again are thwarted by an overactive brain so she stays up, drinks tea, adds more notes to the blog and generally waits for Jim to wake up, who seems to be having no trouble sleeping in because he was up late due to indigestion from our rather gorgeously over-indulgent dinner the night before.

The rain it still falleth though, but undeterred by this and thanks to the Wickaninnish Inn's supply of free bright yellow waterproof jackets, waterproof trousers and wellington boots we stride out along the sand as the rain gently pitter patters down on us. A really invigorating walk, taking shots of the waves, surfers and boats and saying hello to fellow weatherproofed walkers with their dogs and sticks and all the usual accompaniments to walking along a beach. We then see a sign saying "carving come in" - so we do and meet George who carves the most fantastic feathers out of wood, boxes and other native art. He's a great Canucks fan so we talk about Friday's game and their hopes for future rounds in the playoffs, then depart with a promise to possibly come back and buy one of his stunning feathers.
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Dumping our walking wet weather gear, we don our "shopping" wet weather gear and head into Tofino. First we book at table at the Schooner Inn Bistro for tonight, we've eaten here before and enjoyed it so decided to revisit. Then it's off to the Eagle Aerie Gallery for Carol to drool over the Roy Henry Vickers paintings and prints and where she finally gets to buy a framed repro of her favourite work of his, "Capilano". Jim seems fired with enthusiam for the works of art too and we end up buying two more, hopefully to go up the stairway of the hall when we redecorate. They will contrast nicely to the 3 Bill Reid prints in the newly painted spare bedroom.

We walk around Tofino in the wet for a while, have a mocha (the coffee choice of the holiday for us both) and eat a pulled pork sandwich (yummy olive bread for Carol, but not so yummy for "olive-hater" Jim!) and then pick up our "wrapped for travel" pictures from nice Aussie in gallery and head back to the hotel for Carol to meet her deadline time for a 2.45 massage. Herein follows a couple of hours of bliss for her. Steam bath first, foot soak and finally a 90 minute deep tissue body, head and face massage from a fantastic guy called Miloz (?). A trained reflexologist he was wonderful!. Carol came away relaxed and glowing. Jim has his tomorrow.

And now for the exciting stuff. I charged the camera batteries, updated the blog, and took some pics on the beach.
At 6.30 it's time for dinner in Tofino, which doesn't disappoint. Jim has very spicy hot prawns to start and Carol grilled oysters with spinach, bacon and lemon hollandaise - still not sold on the oyster thing you know! Then for main course Carol had Halibut Bawden Bay (halibut grilled with brie, mushrooms, prawns and a fabulous sauce) served with veg and rice and Jim had a New York (Sirloin) steak, peppercorn sauce, the creamiest mash ever and veg. Wine and water to drink, but no coffee and dessert tonight. Then back out in slightly less rain than before we head home to drink a coffee in the room.

Carol crashes at just gone 9 p.m. - it's been a looong day for her - and Jim follows pretty soon after her.

Tofino, even in the pouring rain, does not disappoint. It's been well worth coming back here.