Last week I drove up to Campbell River on the northern half of Vancouver Island. I don’t think I have ever been that far north on the island. I kept a few daily notes…
Oct 11
Drove up from victoria today. The hardest part was fonding a coffee shop for breakfast. I ended up going to Tim Hortons for an ok coffee and a muffin.
On the drive up, I took the back roads. My gps seems to update if you force it to go where you want. A couple of times, it said there was no road, but when I drove on it, it updated itself. I think it gets confused when trying to set up a route, and a few times, I ended up in a more residential neighbourhood than maybe I needed…
I also stopped at a couple of parks and went for hikes. It was a beautiful day. Sunny, but cool. The light was bright and mid day contrasty. Even so, it was a very peaceful walk.
Painters Lodge is awesome. My room has a balcony and a panoramic view of the ocean. I am definetly getting used to this traveling off season. Great deals, fewer crowds, and I have found a couple of awesome places. Zed in Tofino, and now Painters Lodge
I am in the on site pub now, having a beer by a window overlooking the ocean. In a bit, I will be getting a full three course turkey dinner. I am thankful for this beautiful part of the world, and the ability to explore it.
Oct 12
Pouring rain today. And windy.
Tried going for a walk throughh Elk Falls Park, but it was so dark in the woods, it was hard to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of leaves, ferns, or any undergrowth. I tried driving to a couple of locations recommended by the front desk person (she was into cars, and tries to take photos of her Jetta). Long story short, I could not find her locations, but I did end up by the stormy ocean, and took a few images of my car.
I had some technical issues, I forgot my camera battery charger, and my wifi card reader/ hard drive failed. Also, my wireless trigger doesn’t seem to fire my flash anymore. I’ll need to check them when I get home
Tomorrow looks to be less stormy. Maybe I can find the locations described by the front desk this morning.
As for Painters lodge, I think my suite is the biggest hotel room I have ever had. The view is pretty good too
Tonight I tried the fish and chips in the pub. They were ok, but don’t compare to the turkey dinner last night. Price was about half though…
Oct 13
This morning was quite nice. Took a few pre sunrise photos from the dock at painters lodge. The sunrise itself was muted, as there was thick cloud on the horizon.
After a light breakfast, I went exploring Elk Falls Park again. It was pretty flat light, but not as dark as yesterday. I probably spent four hours walking and exploring.
Later, after a mediocre coffee and muffin, I drove around, tried a few parks, and ended up by the ocean. It is nice just to sit on the beach. It was not warm, and the logs were wet to sit on, but there is always something awsome about just watching waves, and birds, and boats…
I leave for home tomorrow. This is a good vacation length. I’m sure I could find more to do, but I am looking forward to getting home, if only to do laundry, and organize things before work on Monday.
View more images here…
