Day 1. We started with Strathcona Provincial Park. Visited the Buttle Lake area. The drive was very pleasant, although, long. It passes several lakes, some quite large. The upper Campbell Lake is very pleasant. Should have stayed here in the lodge (decent menu). Buttle Lake is utterly peaceful. Huge, and almost no one around.
We did a couple of short hikes along Buttle Lake to see some waterfalls. Lower Myra Falls is a must. The kids (me too) enjoyed it immensely. Very interesting rock formation, and one can climb back and forth along the cascades.
Day 2. We stayed in the Mt Washington Ski Resort. The kids loved their bunk beds, but they were not made, and there's no where I can find extra sheets (and the woman who is in charge of these rental vacation homes didn't want to make the trip to deliver the sheets). That was quite annoying. However, the view from the mountain top was nice, if it's not cloudy. Ski lift is in operation.
We spent half a day walking the Paradise Meadows and visited the two little alpine lakes near by: Ann-Mckinzie Lake and Battleship Lake. However, the lakes are quite boring. The meadow is very pleasant, well preserved, wide board walkways, still has some flowers left. I can imagine coming here maybe two weeks earlier and the flowers should have been splendid.
As the only restaurant that opens in the evening is quite lousy, we drove down to Courteney for dinner (the Old House @ 1760 Riverside Lane. Easy to miss.) A very old house indeed, beautiful garden along a creek. Food is quite good, the waitress was helpful. She didn't make a face after my nephew made a mess over the table (he threw up, as sometime he does after gorging in cold food). On the way there, we stopped by Saratoga Beach and Miracle Beach. Very close to each other (I prefer Miracle Beach, also a park). We saw a heron at Saratoga Beach. On the little residential street that connects these two beaches, we saw two deers!
Day 3. Visited the beaches in the Pacific Rim National Park and Tofino.
First stop is Wickaninnish Beach. There's an interpretive center and a restaurant here. Sea stacks on and off the beach, yet, the sand is ultra fine and smooth. Quite some people here.
2nd stop, Long Beach. Same, but no facilities. Nice. Quite a few surfers here. The kids followed me to get wet, playing with the waves.
3rd stop, Radar hill. Good view to Tofino and countless little green islands in the sound.
4th stop, Tofino (at the north tip of this peninsular). Small yet bustling. Quite a few groups going in and out of the harbor. Very commercialized.
Last stop, on the way back, Chesterman Beach. Beautiful. Other than its fine sandy beach, views go both north (islands) and south (Long Beach), AND thousands of sandpipers.
