The long way home

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments about the wedding. Can you believe that, even though I am always taking pictures, I have very few from that day! I have no pictures of myself and only three shots of the bride and groom. No pictures of any guests and none with other family members. What was I thinking? 

But they had a photographer who took a ton of photos, so I guess we'll have to wait until those come and try to get a few shots. 

We were busy that day, and yet we were not. I'm happy that we took M's advice and lived in the moment, and not for the sake of photos. And it's hard to believe that my little girl is married!! And she picked a great man to marry, and I'm so very happy for them. 

Well, it was a sad morning yesterday as we said our final good-byes to M and Dillon and started our long journey home. 

BUT WAIT!!! There was still time in the morning to get in one last bike ride.

But first things first. Bear and I had our last walk on the beach. He is such a character, and I took some great videos of him and sent them to his mom. Yes -- I got way more photos of Bear than I did of people on this trip. He has such an attitude and is quite the little man. He seemed fascinated by walking in these shallow areas of water. 

Little Bear is walking in the water.

I left him in the room with DH, got a bike, and off I went. It's only a 15-minute ride into town, but what a glorious ride. It wasn't nearly long enough to warrant this donut, but what the heck. I'll have to eat light for the next couple of weeks to compensate. This one was a strawberry cheesecake, and I asked them to put it on a plate rather than in a bag. 

The breakfast for champions! 

I then sat on the deck and watched people go by. It was a wonderful, enjoyable morning and a great way to relax and get the day's events organized in my head. Not that I had much to organize, but I had stuff that had to be done before we left. 

I would love to have a "real" bike with more gears and ride the entire road between Ucluelet and Tofino. I'm sure one can rent a bike somewhere in either town. The path along the road looks amazing and, in some parts, is "hidden" in the forest, while in others it winds right along the road. I MUST get my bikes serviced when I'm home. While the path won't be so spectacular, it will still be fun. 

On the way there, I saw a box sitting at the roadside, and it looked like a donation box waiting to be picked up. WAIT -- maybe it was for someone to pick up. Anyway, I spotted a puzzle in the box and on my way back, I decided to stop and check it out. Of course, I had to! 

The donation box by the road

I was going to leave it, and I actually rode away, and then I thought—NO—I'm going to go back and get the puzzle and carry it home on the bike. I know --- how silly of me. So I did. It's an interesting puzzle -- it's one of the Post puzzles dated from 1943. I'll get more details on it when I'm home -- it's packed away, and I'm not about to unpack it to get you that information. 

What I noticed as I was packing it is that there are things "wrong" with the picture, and once you assemble the puzzle, the idea is to identify them. There is a lengthy list of those items on the back. How fun is that!!!!

After I got back, Mister Bear and I sat by the window for a bit. The poor little guy is still pretty exhausted, although he was much more himself on the beach earlier. He'll spring back when he's with his peeps. I bet he was confused as to why he got to see M, and then she was gone! 

Grandma -- I'm still exhausted.

The staff at the Wick Inn are amazing, and they must have codes to remember guests' names. I had been looking for some of the missing items of the rental stuff we picked up/ Thankfully, I had asked the front desk to search for them ever since the wedding. When I went to the car in the morning, I noticed the missing items still had not been loaded. So I got the staff hunting for the items again. They had found some, but not all. 

Eventually, all the items were found and put in the car. But good planning on my part to ask a couple of hours before we left, so it wasn't a mad scramble when we were leaving. 

OH - and there are two buildings on the property. They are relatively close to each other. Anyway, as I walked up to the desk in the second building, the guy called me by name, and I had never seen him before, and he mentioned that they were still looking for the items. The staff was extremely attentive, and I was very impressed. 

I also chatted with another staff member about the Lynn Whitaker wind sculptures, and I was given a brochure listing all the sculptures. OH MY --- I would so love to have one of these on my front lawn, but I'm afraid it would go missing. They are stunning. I believe Steffich Fine Art on Salt Spring Island is the only place in Canada where you can buy the sculptures. 

A brochure with ALL the wind sculptures

There are so many different ones at the Wickininnish Inn - it was fun to see them all. 

And I love these downspouts, which are called rain chains. How fun, and apparently, they make beautiful noises when it rains. I want them!!!!! But where the heck would I install them at my house? I need a new house! Wow -- when you Google rain chains, a HUGE variety pops up. I'll try to find these ones because it would be fun to install one in the backyard. 

Rain chains

We spent the last hour visiting with M and Dillon, and then we were off. It's only a temporary goodbye, so while bittersweet, it's not the end of the world. But we had to leave Little Bear behind. I missed him all day. 

But there we were with all the party rental items back in the car. The flowers were still attached to the arch, and they smelled beautiful. 

Party rental items have finally been found.

I drove to Tofino, so DH drove back. We had such incredible weather - I really can't believe the luck. It was cool when we started, then the wedding day was perfect, and after that it got hot. And yes -- I got sunburned from sitting in the sun the day before. Not bad, but I should have had sunscreen. The young people had sunscreen! 

I snapped a few pictures of the road. The first part is very twisty and turny, and the trees are beautiful. 

The road back to the populated side of Vancouver Island

And then we were finally back in civilization. We dropped off the party supplies, and then we had one more stop, which I'll share with you tomorrow or at least this coming week. 

I think if we were ever to go back to Tofino, we would fly. You can take a wheeled plane or a float plane. We had to drive this time to get Bear and the party items. It's a long drive. 

We filled the rental with gas and were lucky enough to be able to drop it off at the seaplane dock. We didn't have long to wait before we were ready to get on the plane. I got lucky and got to sit up front with the pilot on the smaller plane, which had room for only five passengers. 

Up front with the pilot

And YES -- I had to get a picture of me with the headphones on. I have no clue how they can understand a single thing - I hear babble the entire time. and OH MY -- look at that sunburnt face!

On the seaplane

I spotted the Canadian flag on Grouse Mountain that was set out for the FIFA tournaments, but it was very far away. And the next thing we knew, we had landed. The airport shuttle arrived within five minutes, and we were whisked away. Now, if we were adventurous, we could have taken the red-eye flight home, but I don't think that occurred to us. Our friends did it the night before. We had booked a hotel near the airport and will fly out this morning. Besides, you lose a day due to a lack of sleep. 

We had to wait a bit for the hotel shuttle to come and pick us up. But as soon as we got checked in, we looked around for a restaurant, found the neatest little place, and decided to walk there. 

On the way, we spotted this building. It's an Escape Room place - E-EXIT!!!!! I was tempted to go and have a better look, but I don't think it was open. How fun, but I don't think I could handle the stress of getting out with the clock ticking!!!!

Escape room

So the restaurant was called The Story Cafe, and it's relatively new. There are a lot of antiques in the place, as everything has a story. I LOVE the concept. 

The story! 

I think it would be more fun if there were an actual story attached to each item, but let's face it, many antiques are floating out there with zero provenance. But the concept is very cool. This was an antique cash register!!!! Remember—back in the days when people used cash to buy things! 

Antique cash register

And while the food at the Wick Inn was amazing, I really wanted some good old-fashioned burger and fries. And this was my dinner! We had not really had lunch along the way - I had gotten a huge fruit parfait before leaving, but it was only fruit and yogurt. I really wasn't too hungry after eating that giant pastry for breakfast. 

Dinner last night

And this car sits outside the restaurant! The staff was very friendly, and we had a great meal. 

The car outside The Story Cafe

As we walked back, I spotted this sign. Can you tell me what it means? Is it that there is no parking at this point in time, but there will be in the future? It just doesn't make sense, or am I missing the point of it? 

What does this sign mean?

Our hotel is right across the street from the Costco in Richmond. As we walked down the street, it was amazing how many grocery carts were abandoned along the way. I guess the parking lot isn't big enough, or do people avoid it and park along that side street? Anyway, someone is responsible for rounding up the carts each night for the next day. 

Carts on the street near Costco

At the end of the street and around the corner, there were a few that had been put together. But what a job. If I need a cart for something like dog food, I always take it back to the store. It's not a big deal! And it wasn't huge, but it was amazing how some people left items in the cart they didn't need, like extra packaging. I guess it could have been worse than it was, but still—take that home with you!!!!!

While we didn't do much all day, and I have been sleeping well, I was exhausted when we got back to the hotel. I lay on the bed and was out in seconds. I did get up to plug in my phone, but then I was back in bed. I had to get up this morning because my back isn't happy if I stay in bed too long. 

And that ends another crazy day. 

We have the shuttle booked for the morning, then to the airport, and then home!!! I bet the girls will be very excited to see us!! Flying west is great because the time is in your favor, but going home, we lose three hours and don't arrive until very late in the afternoon!!! But that's OK. I have a book, and I need to watch the next Harry Potter movie! 

And we did NOT get upgraded. We are number 5 and 6. There are two seats available, so two people will get upgraded. Four people still haven't checked in, so it would only be by a miracle that four people don't show up that we would get upgraded. I suspect we will not be upgraded. I'm OK with that! It's only a five-hour flight. It goes by fast. 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!