Vancouver Island Part 2

I forgot to mention in my last post about how great things went before we got on the ferry to Vancouver Island.  We got to the ferry site early.  Not being familiar with the process, we went through the ticket area, and a very sweet lady told us that, since the earlier ferry was still lining up, we couldn't get in line just yet.  She told us about some places we could visit in Tsawwassen, giving us directions and all.

Once on the island (we stayed in the Parksville area), we had to figure out what we were going to do.  I had done some research, and I had found several parks that we wanted to go to, but we were still somewhat unfocused.

Luckily, there was a presentation at the resort about things to do on the Island!

We went and had a nice time, as the presenter, Gary, talked about all of the main attractions around Vancouver Island.  Before the talk, we chatted with some other visitors.  They like to travel too.  I thought it was interesting that some of the other travelers mentioned Sedona.  Gary would bring it up briefly in his talk too. 

AND, as we would explore the Island, I started to see a connection to a place like Sedona here.  Not in it's appearance or climate, but in the vibe.  Like Sedona, Vancouver Island is one of those places that you really have to go to to understand it.  I am amazed by pictures of both places, but photos do neither justice.

Gary gave us a lot of ideas about where to visit.  Also, at the end of his presentation, he mentioned that he provides a couple of tours to people wanting to explore.  One of the tours involved an all day trip to the other side of the island (more on that later!).

We took the rest of our day to explore nearby Cathedral Grove, where some trees are 800 years old.  On our tour across Vancouver Island that we would take later, we were told about logging controversies in the area, and also about a parking lot that was almost built for the park.  Luckily, protesters stalled the building of the lot, and eventually flooding in the area helped to influence the parking lot project from going forward.

It was a cold, snowy, and wet day while we were there, but it was amazing.

After that we stopped by Little Qualicum Cheeseworks on Gary's suggestion.

This place was fun too.  They have various cheeses, and you can sample all of them!  I sampled several before I realized that sampling all of them would not be a good idea.  They were all good though, and we bought several, including one that mixed coffee with cheese!  They make wine here too, so we picked up a bottle for friends back home.

This was a great little farm, and I would love to spend more time here the next time we visit!  Check out their site at:

http://www.cheeseworks.ca/


We did some other stuff too.  I was excited to visit a couple of post offices in British Columbia.  The postal workers were very friendly!  I was thanked by one for coming in!  AND, these guys have great stamps!  They release stamps of Canadian musicians!  I bought several Rush and Guess Who stamps!

Near where we stayed, at Pacific Shores Resort, we collected shells on the beach.