Day 19 (Nanaimo to Tofino)

A good night's sleep in the books, sun shining, made me itch to get on the bike!  I knew it was going to be a good day.  I heard the road from Nanaimo to Tofino was supposed to be a great ride...it was!  Once out of Nanaimo the scenery immediately opened up to dense forest landscape...

Scenery in the early morning sun...stunning

Cathederal Grove...reminds me of northern Cali...

Pic doesn't do it justice, but this was one eerie looking area, with the moss on the trees...

Would be cool at night...

Ride the World!

Early morning the clouds are still hanging around...

From Port Alberni to Tofino, the views were nonstop, the clouds are awesome!

I could have stopped every few hundred meters for photo ops, but I need to make it to Tofino...

There are creeks with running water everywhere...

Cool rock formations along this creek...

Too many stops for pics, but there could have been more!

Loved this flashing sign...Caution Narrow Winding Road...REALLY!  

Hey, that sign wasn't kidding!  :-)))  Life Is Good on a motorcycle with no chicken stripes!

Made it to Tofino, eclectic surfing village on the western shores of Vancouver Island...

My diggs for the next two nights.  Supposed to have a steady European clientle...

Walking thru town I stopped to eat at Big Daddy's Fish Fry...

Deep fried Salmon...OMG!  This is hands down, the best deep fried fish I've ever had and may ever have...

Cool business buildings in Tofino...

Views of the water from in town, I'll be kayaking out there tomorrow...more on that later ;-)

Catching up on 'the blog'...

...then a bit of relaxation...

Walked down the street to get some groceries for dinner...took this pic on the way back...

At the 'guest house', like a hostel, people make their own meals or share their food and drink.  I was in the mood for a steak, so cooked myself a ribeye, added a salad, stuffed olives, and a Malbec to wash it down...

The international dinner table...Germany well represented, along with a strong French Canadian influence, a couple people from The Netherlands, and one American...me.  It was awesome!

After everyone had finished their dinner, most retreated to the living area, sat around a stoked, free standing fireplace, to talk about anything and everything.  What is so cool is the ability of these young people to discuss in a number of languages.  All can speak English, and to be polite, they speak in English, because everyone can understand it.  I got a chance to try my hand at German, I can understand better than I can speak, but all had a good laugh.  I will be working on improving my language proficiency!  

Everyone was curious about what people had done that day, what was in the plans for the next day.  It is such a free-flowing environment.  I had offers to join people for hikes or surfing, almost all of these people are here to surf, but I had to decline to make my kayaking appointment.  Then Tina, showed me the pics she had taken the previous day...

This is a bull Orca, they think is looking for his lost mate...

He is in the exact area where I watched kayakers going through today, out to Mearles Island, which is where I am headed, on a kayak tomorrow...Yikes!  I'm hoping his girlfriend didn't break up with him and he is pissed...