We stayed in Parksville, Campbell River, Port McNeill and finally Courtney for a few days on the way home. We stopped in Ladysmith, Sayward, Telegraph Cove, Coombs, Alert Bay, Nanaimo, Gold River and Cumberland.
We hiked in the rain to see waterfalls, saw some great beaches, had lots of ice cream, soaked up too much sun, drank lots of wine, coffee and cocktails and chilled the hell out at the cottage.
Here's the cottage in Courtney.
I have to say it's one of my favourite places we've stayed at yet. It's on a working farm/apiary. There is a huge private yard that we had all to ourselves and the cottage is gorgeous. Our host also made us fresh bread and jam and even stocked the fridge with butter for the bread. I'm now on the hunt for her recipe, I might to go straight to the source if I can't duplicate it.
Another highlight was Alert Bay. When we first arrived I wasn't sure what to make of it.
We walked around the boardwalk then went to the U'mista Cultural Society - which was amazing. We saw all the totem poles on the island and ended up hanging out with some locals back on the boardwalk. It's the friendliest place I've ever visited.
The Quatuwas Festival had been through the night before so the town was way busier than usual. It's too bad we missed it by one day because their celebrations were open to everyone.
We also stopped in Telegraph Cove which was worth the detour. They have a whale museum there that's really interesting. The scenery is gorgeous and the stop isn't too tourist-y. Yet.
We watched an otter haul her baby out of the water and flounder around on the dock for a few minutes, it was way too much for me to handle.
When we decided to take this trip, Brad mapped out all the bookstores we could stop at along the way. He had them written down before we had places to stay figured out.
To summarize our trip, remember this post from early March? Yeah, I've added these books to the heap.*
We visited eight bookstores in total. Seven of them were used books. I had two books I wanted more than any others and now I can say they aren't in any of the bookstores on the island.**
*Please ignore Skeleton Crew, it was bought for sentimental reasons.
**Although we did miss the store in Qualicum Beach...
1 comment:
Alert Bay!! That's where Marty and I got our marriage license back in the day. We have only been there once, for a few hours, and just to get a marriage license, but I would KILL to go back there!
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