Tales from the beach

The stars:  I woke up in the middle of the night and went out on the balcony to look at the stars.  In the city I can see Orion, but here the constellation was only marginally brighter than the other milions of stars in the night sky.  There were so many, and they seemed so close.  It was awesome.

The dog:  We watched a dog sitting alone on the beach, staring out to sea.  Every now and again he would move, walking a few feet, then sitting down again and continuing his vigil.  After a while, we saw a surfer come into shore.  The dog leapt up and went into the water, said a warm hello, and walked off home with his dad.

The sunset:  The lodge faces west, and we get the most fabulous views of the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean.  The beach gets crowded about this time - surfers packing up their gear, landlubbers strolling the beach to enjoy the fading day.  This picture was taken from the balcony of the Great Room where we go for dinner.

Somewhere over the rainbow

Arrived in Tofino on Monday after a five hour bus ride, an experience in itself:  Over the Malahat to Duncan, then stops at the Nanaimo airport and ferry terminal; through Parksville and Coombs to Port Alberni, where we stopped to eat our picnic lunch in the bus station parking lot; then on to the Pacific Rim Hwy, over The Hump, and through a winding stretch of road with a sheer drop to Kennedy Lake on the right and a rock face on the left; a quick stop in Ucluelet (Ukee to the locals), then on to the Long Beach Lodge Resort in Tofino.

Weather is fabulous, food is great, staff are engaging, and the view is unbeatable.