We did see the End of the Road sign, marking the end of Canadian Highway 4 in Tofino. It starts in Halifax, or some such, and extends across Canada. We drove around the main street(s), peed in the public toilet, and spent a few minutes walking around inside the Pharmacy across the street from a park. This actually turned into somewhat of a highlight of the visit. The pharmacist, George, welcomed us warmly and then wanted to talk about his recent halloween costume, where he dressed up as Elsa. He had a large photograph to show us, and he showed off his fancy fingernails. He was cute in his pink shirt.
Friday night was steak night, cooked on the CI grill at the CI Lounge. The grill was in fine shape, and did a good job. We borrowed some aluminum foil from the lounge, and watched TV wile cooking the steaks.
Saturday was nice enough. We returned to the lighthouse for a walk around, and then drove up to the access to what is called the Ancient Grove area. There are large diameter trees there of several species, and walking among them was nice. The highlight of that trip was the discovery of a section of the Pacific Trail that had developed overlooks with benches and 180 degree views of the ocean crashing on rocks. There were several of these, which we stopped and enjoyed. The nice thing is that they are about a 5 minute walk from where you park the car, but not obvious at all. The locals know where they are, of course.
For meals we did some more adventuring. On Saturday night we made reservations at the Black Rock’s café, Fetch. We arrived early to have a drink at the bar only to discover that the bar was mostly filled with people that had just attended a wedding held there. There were kids and people dressed in rather non-fancy clothes. We sat at a high table in the corner which had a good view of the ocean and rocks, but the seas had subsided and the smashing on the rocks was much reduced. The light was fading and it was soon dark. We moved to our table in the restaurant at 5:30, which was the time it opened, and were seated at the best table in the place, tucked into a corner with windows on 2 sides. Our waitress was new, but seemed competent. The menu was upscale, and we were told what the Chef had in mind when he created several of the dishes. Mark had duck, I had mussels (excellent) and the surf and turf (never again!), and generally the meals were good. Mine had a HUGE mound of french fries, which I considered to be inappropriate for a fancy dinner location like this.
Sunday started a bit drippy. We went out for breakfast at the Blue Moon Café, which is fine. Omelets and egg scrambles all around. Mark’s scramble with Brie and smoked salmon seemed to be the hit. Afterwards we decided to go golfing at the Long Beach Golf Club, but Anne decided to stay and do Yoga. Judy tagged along. It drizzle-rained on the way to the course, but stopped as we arrived so we pushed ahead. While playing the skies cleared a bit, and we actually did not get rained on while playing. This is a 9 hole course that is quite flat, but the fairways are narrow in places and the greens were in good condition but slow. The grass was soaked, and soon Judy’s and my shoes were also soaked. Mark’s new Goretex shoes did fine by him, and he ended the round with dry socks and shoes. We re-played 1-2 and 8-9, so technically we did 13 holes. It was fun.
We watched football on the TV back in the room when we returned, and for the rest of the evening. Judy and Anne read their books. While we were out Anne was able to find the location of the barking sea lions, and she was able to take some photos of them using her new camera and its incredible telephoto capabilities. Sunday night we cooked pork chops on the grill, along with some zucchini. A fine time was had by all.
A note about Canasta: Anne brought a Canasta deck, and we all read the rules and played several games in the evening. We generally enjoyed the experience, with the exception of the increasingly high meld values as the score creeps up. Mark discovered the multiple meld values can be added to make the initial meld, which we did not know was possible in the beginning. Judy and I were holding fistfuls of cards, trying to get 3 natural and 2 High Value wild cards to make the 120 point minimum! Other than that, we had a fun time playing.
Monday dawned clear and calm. Th day was much like Thursday when we were able to take mirror calm photos of the sailboat. After another breakfast at the Blue Moon we visited the Aquarium in Ukee, a very nicely done exhibit. We spent about 1.5 hours watching the neudebranchs, touching the clams and anemones and watching the rock fish swim in a large tank. The highlight was seeing the octopus catch and eat a crab. Very fast action and the crab never had a chance.
In the afternoon sun we walked the lighthouse circuit again, taking photos into the setting sun. Very bright light, and the waves were small. Still, a good walk.
For dinner we visited the Tattooed Beaver, a local take-out place featuring beef ribs and BBQ in general. Three of us has their rib special, MOO Bones, and Judy had the gumbo. All of it was excellent. I liked the fried pickles. Juruf had the onion rings. Pricing was good, and Simon the proprietor was a very jovial sort of fellow. Note: Don’t pick up too many sauces because the food comes well sauced already.
We ate the food while watching MNF. Afterwards were a couple of TV shows, and then off to bed.
