#i chose schooner bc i <3 them

[disasteralex]

A couple weeks ago, my family and I went back to visit British Columbia for the first time in over two years. I can say without any exaggeration that I’ve been missing the province since the day I left it, and coming back felt like a reunion. I’ve made no secret of my love of BC to anyone who knows me, and I hope this post reflects some of that.

DAYS 1-2: AIRPORTS + RELAXING

Our flight was around 3 pm EST, so we left for Pearson airport (late, as always) around 11:45 am just to be careful. I was pretty tired, having worked most of the day before as the final day of my summer job and then hurriedly packing up everything, but I was still excited as hell.

The plane ride itself went pretty well. It’s the first time I’ve flown on an airplane in over two years, but beyond the initial tiny panic at liftoff, the five-ish hours went pretty well, and the plane even got in a little early.

We got into YVR around 5:30, and after picking up the rental car and grabbing some groceries, we drove to the home of the friends we were staying with and caught up with them for most of the night.

We also spent most of the next day relaxing, because all of us were pretty tired and thrown off from the time zone difference, but what can ya do? I also managed to read most of THE SUN AND HER FLOWERS, which I’ll be reviewing at the end of the month. I also Skyped my friends to show them our friends’ dog, because I am that kind of person. It was a pretty cute dog.

    Look!

At this dog!

DAYS 3-4: EXPLORING DELTA

My parents had a wedding to go to the next night, which was our “excuse” for going to BC in the first place, so I spent the next day and a half relaxing a little bit and exploring Delta, the area where we were staying, a little bit. The mom of the family we were staying with, who I jokingly refer to as my second mother probably too much, took me down to Tsawwassen Mills, the huge new(ish) mall there. I live in a pretty averaged-sized city, so I’m used to pretty average-sized malls, but this one was huge—apparently it’s about a million square feet. Also, it was so pretty. I’ve never seen a mall that has so much artwork in it. Also something cool: I heard that because the mall is on Native land, all of the artwork inside it is by First Nations artists. Neat, right? Unfortunately, I’m a bad blogger, so I didn’t manage to take any photos of the mall itself.

I did some more work the next afternoon and helped out the family a bit for the rest of that day. Some of the family we were with had returned from a trip that day, so the house was suddenly a lot louder.

My parents came back the next day, and my dad and I went out to the Boundary Bay Bird Sanctuary, which was really beautiful even though the weather (rainy, cloudy and a little smoky) dampens my photos a little bit. We also saw more herons in the hour or so we spent in the sanctuary than I’ve seen collectively up to that point, so that’s something. (Unfortunately, I only had my regular lens with me, so I don’t have any bird photos to show you. Like I said, bad blogger.)

Boundary Bay Bird Sanctuary, sans birds

DAY 5: DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER (Kits)

The next day we headed to downtown Vancouver to look around. My mom had a meeting with a friend, so my dad and I walked around Kits for a while and then met up with my mom near Kits Beach.

Fun fact: my parents have a very weathered photo that looks almost exactly like this on our fridge from like 20 years ago.

Look at that skyline!

My parents actually lived in Kits for a while, so they know the area pretty well and have a special place in their heart for it. I do, too. It’s a really cute little hipster-ish place, and turning the corner and getting a great view of the ocean and mountains is pretty neat, too. Even if it is a little weird.

saw an electronic sign outside a house near Kits Beach the other day that read “they are too tired to regret it” and I still have so many questions

— A. C. Wyatt (@alexisabooknerd) August 30, 2018

Next we walked down to Teetotaler Beach, which is pretty small but also a pretty great place to stick your feet in the ocean if you so desire, and then we drove down to Spanish Banks. Spanish Banks probably had the best views of the mountains and the Vancouver skyline, but Teetotaler Beach is still pretty neat, too.

Teetotaler Beach

Spanish Banks

We got home a little early, had dinner and hung out a little more, and then tried our best to pack and get to bed early for our trip the next day. I wasn’t very successful at that.

DAYS 6-7: NANAIMO, UCLUELET + TOFINO

I woke up at 6:45 the next day, which I wasn’t very fond of, but luckily I was able to get a little sleep on the ferry itself. I had wanted to get some photos on the ferry, but sleep called. Oh well. I have some photos from the last trip if you wanna look at them.

We got into Nanaimo around 11 am, and then slowly made our way up to Ucluelet. On our way there, we stopped off at Cameron Lake and hiked down to take a look at the view. And it was a pretty great view, if I do say so myself.

Cameron Lake, which kind of doesn’t look real

We continued on to the Cathedral Trail. It reminded me a lot of Lighthouse Park, to be honest, and mostly because of the trees themselves. You don’t see huge trees like that anywhere in Ontario, and seeing them here was more than welcome. I don’t tend to get out a lot when I’m in Ontario, partly because I’m busy with school and work and partly because there aren’t a lot of places to hike where I’m from (and also partly because I’m lazy). I probably exercised more on this trip than I did in the previous two months. Whoops. But I didn’t mind; I loved being around the scenery here.

Walking into the Cathedral Trail

Look, I just thought it was pretty.

I don’t ever think I’ve ever seen trees this tall.

We finally got into Ucluelet around 3 pm, and spent about an hour or so recharging before my dad and I set off to hike the trail around the Amphitrite Lighthouse. To be honest, I chose it purely because I’m a Classics major and I love all things mythology-related, but the trail itself certainly didn’t disappoint. It reminded me a lot of a hike we did in Victoria on the Dallas Road Waterfront Trail the last time we were here, but honestly, I think the views were better on this one.

Look! At this view!

The Amphitrite lighthouse itself

Even though it was pretty sunny out, the fog followed.

Once we finished the trail, which probably took us about an hour with all our collective photo stops, we went back to our hotel and then went out for dinner.

The three of us headed up closer to Tofino the next morning. It was supposed to be a little rainier and colder that day, so we didn’t want to plan too much, but we all decided to go down to Wickaninnish Beach. Like I said, it was a little rainy and cloudy that day, which normally doesn’t make for great photos, but it added a mysterious effect to this beach that was cool. Also, we found a jellyfish (or what looked like one) on the beach, which was pretty neat. I got some interesting photos of me posing like an idiot for my Instagram, too, so that was a bonus.

So much fog.

We spent about an hour-ish just walking around the beach before we got back in the car and headed up to Schooner Cove. It was mostly the same as Wickaninnish Beach, but a little more populated and with much better views. It also took a lot longer to get to, even though the scenery made up for it. We spent a while walking along Long Beach, which, as you guessed it, is very long, but also very pretty to look at.

Honestly, this might be my favourite photo that I took on this trip.

The view on the trail

Actually, scratch that. It might be this one.

After we got back from the beach, we puttered around the gift shop for a little bit, bought some things, and headed into Tofino to look around.

We were told by our family friends that Tofino was touristy and a little kitschy, but honestly, I loved it. It’s a cute little town with a lot of small, unique shops and cafes, and it was something I honestly haven’t seen before. Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to take many photos, so you’ll have to visit there yourself to really find out what it’s like.

After another hour or so, it was time to head back to Nanaimo to catch our ferry. We made a couple stops along the way, including a quick one down at Sproat Lake to get a picture of the water, but we got back to Nanaimo around 7:30-ish. By 10:30, we were back in Delta to get everything unpacked and ready for the next day.

Sproat Lake, another very nice lake

View from the ferry, which is pretty fuzzy but also look at those COLOURS

DAYS 8-9: GRANVILLE ISLAND AND DOWNTOWN (Fairview, Mount Pleasant)

The next day we decided to head to Granville Island, which might just be my favourite places in Vancouver. I honestly have never seen a quirkier and more unique place than Granville Island. It’s just so vibrant and colourful and almost magical in a way I’ve never encountered before. I could easily spend the rest of my life on Granville Island if it wasn’t so expensive. But there are a lot of seagulls there, so maybe not.

Seriously, so. Many. Seagulls.

There’s so much art around Granville Island and I think it’s so neat.

This is a little shop called BC Blacksmith, where all of the artwork was super unique and beautiful. I’m not very familiar with metalwork, but I thought this was really neat.

When we got back home, the family we were staying with were having a little party, so that was a more than welcome way to end the night.

The next day was pretty chill for us—everyone was a little tired from the night before, and my parents and I had decided to take it easy for our last full day in BC. We lounged around for a bit in the morning, and headed downtown again to look at a few places. My mom had to scout out a café for a thing she’s working on (shh, it’s a secret), and I was told about a really cool bookstore I apparently just HAD to see. (Spoiler alert: it was cool.)

DAY 10: TRAVEL HOME

Look, man, I hate leaving BC just as much as I love going there, so the last day of our trip was a pretty somber affair for all of us. Our flight back to Ontario boarded at about 2:20 pm PST, so after a morning of packing and reluctant goodbyes, we left our friends’ house and left for the airport.

It’s hard for me to articulate how I feel about BC, and the Vancouver area especially. I feel a kind of peace there that I’ve never felt anywhere else. Coming back here was hard—enough so that it took me extra long to finish this, to the point of this post being a day (and a half) late. But even though I’m back home now, I know it won’t be long until I visit BC again.

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British Columbia Travel Diaries: Vancouver, Ucluelet and Tofino | A. C. Wyatt A couple weeks ago, my family and I went back to visit British Columbia for the first time…