Vancouver Island Part 6 

We took an over night road trip to Tofino with Rick and Janet, which everyone said was a must see on Vancouver Island.
It DID NOT disappoint.  Rick drove the truck as the road is very narrow and windy and apparently causes car sickness to the back seat passengers. Also, we both packed up a lot of stuff and it didn't fit in the car.  We stopped in Coombs for breakfast and were hoping to see the goats on the roof but they were still not up there, however, the breakfast was wonderful.
Rick was awesome at stopping whenever there was a sight for us to see so we made a number of stops along the way. We stopped and looked at the Cedar Grove forest for a bit.

It was a bright sunny day so it was nice to see the rain forest with some sun shining in.  This douglas fir is over 800 years old.

This petroglyph, K’ak’awin, is on the eastern end of Sproat Lake Provincial Park. Little is known about the age of the petroglyph, who carved it, or why, but you can easily imagine this rock carving depicting mystical marine creatures, perhaps ancient monsters of Sproat Lake.

The  Martin Mars water bombers use Sproat Lake for their runway as they thunder off to extinguish forest fires. The largest water bombers in the world, these aircraft can scoop up to 27 tons of water off the lake surface.   The lake was beautiful and the water was very clear.  The deciduous trees were really starting to bud out.

                     These pretty Maple?? trees had leaves that all hung down like little umbrellas.

We stopped at Long Beach as well as other beaches in the Pacific Rim National Park and walked along in the sand enjoying the sunshine.  We took off our shoes and enjoyed the sand on our toes but holy that water was cooooold!

 We stayed at the Tin Wis hotel and every room had a balcony that faced the ocean.  It was a short walk down and we all enjoyed it so much.

There was a nice restaurant that also over looked the ocean.  I cannot believe I did not take a picture of my wonderful halibut dinner.  I am going to miss all the fresh wonderful fish I have been enjoying here.  Later that night we enjoyed the hot tub which also over looked the ocean.

   To the left on the beach it was rocky and rugged, the other side was flatter and sandy.  Janet and I took a long walk on the beach.  It was heavenly!

 I collected sea shells for my sister and was so excited to see this star fish.  I quickly grabbed it to put it in my bucket and just as quickly let it go as it was still alive and not nearly what I would have expected.  Not to get all girly . . .  but ewwwwww.

This was a huge cedar tree right in front of the hotel.  Strangely, growing out the side of it were some pine branches???   What???

 We also stopped in at the Tofino mudflats as it is a very important migratory bird area.  Unfortunately the tide was in so there were no birds to be seen. 

These are random beach pictures that I especially enjoy.  Some are from the beach in front of the hotel and some are from beaches along the way to Ucleuelet the next morning.

                             We  saw a few trees just loaded with eagles. We also saw a sea lion.

We shopped around in Ucluelet and bought some wonderful salmon jerky.  We also walked on the pier and checked out the fishing boats.

On the way back home we were lucky enough to stop at Kennedy lake and see the most beautiful reflections.  On that note, I have one more reflection to share - I DO BELIEVE THE STORK DROPPED ME OFF IN THE WRONG PROVINCE.