another visit with our Friendly Neighbors

Victoria, British Columbia. Have you seen this place? Oh, it's gorgeous. It's definitely got a British feel to it, what with all the afternoon teas going on and what not. Nana Morrison, Pete's paternal grandma, was the most gracious of hosts. We got in super late after the aforementioned ferry ride and she had dinner and wine waiting for us. Nana had rented us the suite (!!!) in her condo building so for the next couple nights Pete and I had our own mini-apartment with a kitchen, living room, bedroom, balcony and television set circa 1907. It was heavenly.

We had a blast with Pete's Nana, going to the wharf for fish and chips and to say what's up to the sea lions. We made friends with a bird. We saw a very beautiful IMAX film about Van Gogh after touring around the city some more. We had afternoon tea, we biked around (Nana opted out of that part), we watched the sunset from the apartment roof. I got to meet more of Pete's family: uncle, aunt and two cousins. Bless her heart, one of Pete's cousins, Jamille, had gotten into a brutal bike accident the day before we got there and was just out of the hospital with stitches and black eyes. She was remarkable, though, and was able to still be sweet and funny when we went to see her.



We bid Victoria adieu and made our way up the coast of BC toward the famous Tofino Bay where the beaches were said to be incredible. We chose Incinerator Rock as our stopping point and hiked along the beach our first day there, strolling and prancing along the empty, foggy beach. It was GORGEOUS.

We walked for hours and found huge rocks completely covered in sea creatures. We climbed to the top and found quite possibly the best Fort-on-Top-of-a-Sea-Creature-Covered-Rock ever! It was beautiful and eerie and unlike any other beach I'd seen.

The big surprise came the next morning, though, when we woke up in a water bed. No, not like a 1980s motel room water bed. I'm talking about inches of water undulating under our drenched sleeping bags. We scurried to get everything packed and into the back seat of the car (smelled fantastic). We realized we needed a refuge from the rain ASAP so we drove to Vancouver where we stayed with Devon, a friend of Pete's cousin, in his remarkably dry apartment.


Vancouver is quite the town. The University there has a zen garden and a beach where people can frolic about nude. There's a big ole tree on the edge of campus that hangs out over the water where you can watch the sunset. The restaurants have giant plates of fresh sushi for $6. It's huge and full of life but unfortunately, full of rain so our plans to bike around town were washed out (that pun was for Jesse Noyes). Devon was a phenomenal host, having let us drape our sopping belongings all over his house and guzzle his coffee for two days. But the US and A was beckoning us back home, so after two nights we departed for another stint in Washington state.


Starting at Olympic National Park (where we almost got fined for illegal camping), we've spent the last nine nights camping our way down the West Coast. This morning I woke up and walked to the window and looked out over a foggy San Francisco. It's been seven weeks and 10,400 miles since this adventure began. Hot damn.