May 15th

What an incredible day, I don’t even know where to start! I guess the beginning makes the most sense. We left Victoria and got on the Trans-Canada heading north to Tofino. An accident had created a complete shutdown. We were well past the exit and the highway wasn’t moving at all, so what is a guy in a jeep to do? Of course I drove through the ditch and went the other way to an exit. My old man didn’t think I would make it – the ditch was quite deep – but I didn’t hesitate. Once off the highway we found out the road would be shut down for at least an hour – probably two. Again what’s a guy in a jeep to do? Take the back roads of course! We got some directions from a biker who had stopped to admire my jeep. We took a very long detour to the very west coast of Vancouver Island through Sooke, had fresh halibut in Port Renfrew at a hotel restaurant. A sign on the wall read “Rooms available with female attendant” – still trying to figure that one out... We then drove through Lake Cowichan and Duncan back to the Trans=Canada. The road was all but abandoned, we must have passed over 20 one way bridges and not once did we have to deal with a car coming the other way. It was a mix of paved, gravel and a little bit of a logging road. We twisted and turned up and down the mountains so much it felt like a roller coaster. It was by far the most fun driving we have had this entire trip. If your ever looking to drive Victoria I would highly recommend this route as well as the Halibut at the Light house grill in Port Renfrew, I’ll let you inquire about the sign...

The Drive from there to Tofino was nice enough. We made it to town by 7:00 and are staying in a hotel on the water. We were told that we had a room without a view – just to explain their idea of “no view” I am looking out my window at mountains and trees, just beautiful country. Went down to Weigh West Restaurant for dinner and had another great meal. The view was the best. You look out at a beached boat that someone has turned into their home. There were airplanes taking off and landing in the water. A huge sea lion swam by and a lot more boat action. Fog rolled in on the mountains covering them one by one. We had finished eating and were relaxing with some drinks.

Then it happened! A seagull was flying by when all of a sudden a bald eagle swooped in from the left. The gull cried and tried to evade. Dad and I saw it first and we both cried out “GET HIM!” For the first few seconds it was like watching a dog fight on the history channel. The Gull did a circle and then executed a loop-tee-loop. Now the entire restaurant was watching. The Eagle followed the Seagull in the loop and while upside down sunk its talons in! They fell for a second and the Eagle recovered flying along the water with the Seagull in its grasp. We weren’t sure if the Seagull was too heavy for it to lift or if it was trying to drown it but it dragged it along the water until it made it to a little island in the distance. And now there is one less Seagull in the world. What a sight!

Well I am going to see if I can’t get some surfing in while I’m here. It’s the morning of the 16th as I write this. The town doesn’t really open until 10am so I may have to wait a while. I’ll have some pictures to post tonight or tomorrow morning, until then have a good one!