Sunshine circuit

After my mom and I stumbled out of the Wells Gray wilderness and drove down to meet my Dad in Vancouver, the three of us set off north for the aptly named Sunshine Coast. On more ferries. Are you sick of ferries, yet? I'm not!

Our destination was Powell River, but we did get slightly sidetracked a bit south of that, at Lang Bay, where we spent a couple of hours at the Sunshine Folk Festival--home-for-a-weekend to way more hippies than my parents could shake a stick at, though they were great sports. (It didn't hurt that the food was darn tasty.)

Sidetracked again at Lund, as far north as the road goes along the coast from Vancouver without cutting majorly inland.

From Powell River, we ferried over to Vancouver Island. Several people had told us to be sure to stop in Coombs to see the goats on the roof. We were a little confused but followed that advice obediently, and found, very literally, goats on a roof.

That is a real, live goat. How do they keep them from jumping down?
We also discovered that Coombs has amazing pizza and ice cream. I'm not sure which made a bigger impression--that, or the goats.

Another great stop on the road to the town of Tofino was Cathedral Grove on Highway 4. AMAZING Douglas firs, some of them 800 years old.

And farther down the road to Tofino, look what crossed the road in front of us!:

Tofino itself was a place to behold. The weather was spectacular while we were there, and I fell totally in love with the town, which is probably not good since in actuality it rains 200 days/year there. That was hard to imagine with the sunny backdrop we had to explore...

...go on a kayaking trip to Meares Island...

...and take a trail through the rainforest to reach and walk on Longs Beach.

From Tofino, it was a long drive (broken up by a second stop for pizza and ice cream--but who's counting?) to the lovely city of Victoria. We took advantage of a break in the rain we found there to visit the fairy-tale setting of Butchart Gardens.

Then we had a whole day to spend in Victoria itself. I'd heard a lot of good things about this place as I made my way west all summer, and it did not disappoint. Views in three directions of water and mountains, friendly people, and quaint residential feel anywhere outside of the vibrant downtown area. We used one of those hop-on-hop-off city bus tours as our transportation for most of the day, and the narrative they play during that talked about how people in Victoria are really proud of their home gardens, and that it's a really popular place for retirees and honeymooners. So it's a city of "flowerbeds, newlyweds, and nearly-deads." My dad chuckled heartily at that one, even more so the second time we heard it on our repeat loop through town on the bus. But I can sure see why people like it here.

Victoria is also significant to me personally because it is the end of my drive to the west coast through our neighbor to the north. Too soon, too soon, my Canadian summer has come to an end. From here, it's one last ferry through the San Juan Islands, where my adventure will continue Stateside. See you on the West Coast!