Wordless Wednesday – Tofino Weekend with My Sister

On September 15, 2021September 14, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Good Times, Roadtripping, See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors37 Comments

My sister from Ontario is here on Vancouver Island, visiting for 2 weeks. Last weekend we spent a delightful 2 nights in Tofino. Here are some pictures from our stay. Hope you enjoy! (We sure did!)

My sister enjoying the washed up wood on Chesterman Beach

Of course we had to visit Tacofino for a trio of delicious tacos: fried fish (lingcod, I believe), seared tuna, beef

Rainy Long Beach walk on Saturday, followed by lunch (Zoe’s Bakery: highly recommend!) and a visit to the Aquarium in Ucluelet.

There is a tuna derby going on all week long at our resort (Tofino Resort and Marina). $40K grand prize. Exciting!

This was cause for celebration on our part.

It was so much fun to sit at the pub and slurp back oysters, and watch the fishermen bringing their catch of albacore tuna in at the end of the day.

Caught in mid-bro fist. Sporting his lucky fishing wig? Or did he lose a bet? 😉

Official weighing: each team brought forward their 4 biggest fish of the day to be weighed.

Sunday morning found us on the Rainforest Trail.

Of course we had to visit the tree my daughter and son-in-law chose for their nuptials.

After checking out of the resort, we were off on a whale watching journey, guided expertly by Elder Moses Martin of Clayoquot Wild.

There were stunning vistas all along the journey. We spent a good amount of time watching a gray whale (named Orange Crush by the locals because of an orange spot on its fluke). I was too awestruck to get out my camera…sorry (not sorry).

We did see a good number of sea otters, and those I did capture a few shots of.

They are much bigger than river otters. These guys were hunting salmon.

Happy, tired faces. Ready for the drive back home over the mountains, and to get rested up for our next adventure.

Rock on,

The WB

Tofino Camping Adventure

On June 4, 2021June 3, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Retirement, Camping Adventures, Goals & Dreams, See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors103 Comments

Last weekend I headed out to Tofino, to stay at Green Point Campground at Pacific Rim National Park. My friend and blogging buddy, Donna, had booked a site and let me know there was at least one other site available, and would I be interested in joining them? WOULD I???? In a hot minute, I had my site booked too. Then, in the most incredible coincidence imaginable, another friend and blogging buddy Erica/Erika let us know that she and her husband were staying there too. And their site turned out to be the one RIGHT BESIDE MINE. If we had tried to scheme and plan and pull this off, it would be next to impossible as this campsite is harder to get into than it was to score tickets to The Tragically Hip’s final show.

Hammock set up, with Erica and Chuck’s campsite in the background. Note kindly left on the picnic table by Erica, letting me know they were down on the beach.

Tent interior. Due to the campsite’s BARE policy, all food had to be locked up in your vehicle or a food locker (provided every few campsites). I decided not to hook my car up to the tent, and instead use it as my food locker. So my memory foam bed ended up in the tent instead of the back of my car, due to space considerations.

After meeting Donna and Richard at Tacofino for lunch, and setting up and settling in at camp, it was time to hit the beach!

The sky, sand, and water combo was stunning.

The next day was a bit drizzly and Donna and I went into Ucluelet to check out the downtown and the Ucluelet Aquarium. Amazing place!

Mr. Giant Pacific Octopus put on quite the show for us.

We also stopped at a delicious local bakery (Zoe’s, to fuel up for our next adventure), that had this sign posted outside. Cute Schitt’s Creek reference!

And here’s why. Within seconds of us vacating this area, they descended upon it. Looking for crumbs.

Speaking of birds stealing your food: Donna, Richard and I had to defend ourselves from some very aggressive sparrows outside of Rhino Coffee, in Tofino. I had my doughnut in my hand ($4 for a doughnut??? But man, it was good!), turned my head for one second and felt something pulling at my treat. It was a~~n asshole~~ sparrow, grabbing a chunk of doughnut in midflight, and then retreating a few feet away to ~~gobble it down~~ enjoy it.

You can bet I kept my eye on these cheeky ~~assholes~~ Steller’s Jays, once back at the campsite.

The evening ended over at Chuck and Erica’s for one of our delicious, communal camp meals.

The next day was spent beach walking and exploring.

Donna, the intrepid beach walking buddy.

There are always surfers to be found on Tofino beaches. Year round.

Donna and I played around with taking simultaneous selfies. Like a simultaneous orgasm, but waaay less work. 😉

We eventually met up with everybody else and went off to explore the rocks exposed by low tide.

Ever since I was a little girl reading picture books, I have been captivated by the idea of walking the shore and exploring tidal pools in search of marine life. But in my land-locked former home, there was no opportunity…until this trip! At almost 62 years of age, I finally got to live my childhood dream.

Red sea stars and goose barnacles and clams and mussels (and probably a whole buncha other things too).

After returning to camp for another delicious communal meal (Chuck’s homecooked BBQ ribs were amazing!), it was back down to the beach for another sunset.

Filled with peace, gratitude and wonder in heart and soul…

Sadly the next day it was time to go home. It was another gorgeous day, and the drive home was filled with spectacular views, like this one.

Kennedy Lake reflection. What a beautiful island I live on!

Colour me windblown, wind burnt, and completely happy with this adventure!

Rock on,

The WB

We Interrupt Our Regular Programming…

On February 7, 2021February 7, 2021 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, COVID-19, Good Times, See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors89 Comments

In lieu of the annual blog posts on Barbados that occur at this time every year, (there’s a global pandemic on, don’t you know) Widow Badass Industries brings you instead some views of the west coast of our local island paradise. Specifically: Ucluelet and Tofino. My daughter and I spent a couple of days there recently. And here’s what we saw and did.

Morning view of Tofino Inlet from Tofino Resort and Marina (highly recommend staying here).

We headed to Ucluelet first. My first visit. Won’t be my last! We decided to experience the Lighthouse Trail.

BC trees are like none I have ever seen in Canada. On the Lighthouse Trail.

Rock formations and islands in the misty distance.

On the way to Ucluelet, we passed a sign in Pacific Rim National Park that said “Rainforest Trail”. That was our next destination.

The Rainforest Trail did not disappoint.

When not staring at the trees, the chevron pattern on this platform caught my eye.

Tried to capture the sun rays in the woods.

After the Rainforest Trail, we had worked up an appetite so it was off to our favourite Tofino eating establishment, to refuel before our next adventure.