The next thing on our Vancouver Island bucket list was to head as far west as possible – known as Mile 0 – and dip our feet in the ocean. Dan and I thought we had done this the last time we were on the island many years ago, but found out we went to the wrong spot and didn’t make it… We were not making that mistake again!
Sunday
Dan, Hayden and I hit the road west where we travelled the many twists and turns through the beautiful scenery, and along sheer cliffs, until we reached the end of the road in Tofino. We had finally officially driven across Canada from Coast to Coast. Not in a single trip obviously, but over the years our travels have taken us from Cape Spear, Newfoundland to Tofino, British Columbia and many places in between (and North!)
End of the road! 
Lunch!
If you have ever watched the Food Network then you will be familiar with the TV show You Gotta Eat Here. While in Tofino, it was my mission to find the Tacofino food truck and eat there for lunch. So after meeting up with my cousins family in Tofino, we all headed to the market where the truck was located for lunch.
With so many choices I had to look long and hard to pick what I would try for lunch, and with the long line up I didn’t have to rush my decision. In the end I got the steak burrito knowing it would fill me up for the remainder of our adventures.
So many choices! 
Nom Nom Nom
Afternoon Ocean Fun
Once our bellies were full, we all headed to Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park (our fifth National Park on this trip), to hang out and play in the ocean. I was actually surprised at how warm the water was and joined everyone in the water to play in the waves. We were not alone, since it was such a nice day the water was full of swimmers and surfers.
Hayden and Daniella had loads of fun playing in the water and gathering the enormous bunches of kelp – which apparently the surfers actually really appreciate – and they also found a huge starfish!
All ready for beach day 
Playing with kelp 
Huge starfish! 
Hello Ocean!
It was a great day and we spent the evening with the family before heading to bed. It was our last night with family but we did have most of the next day, so we had a few more things to do before we left to catch a ferry back to the mainland.
Monday
The morning was beautiful so we headed out for a hike on one of the local trails. We followed an old logging road to a lookout with an amazing panoramic view over Port Alberni. But the best part of hike might have been that the trailhead was at the local candy store with the ice cream I loved so much! So when we got back to the bottom of the hike, we stopped for another coconut milk based ice cream!!!
We initially planned to head back to the beach, but were running out of time fast, so we settled for a dip in the backyard pool before heading for the ferry. We said our goodbyes and we are already making plans to head back out west again soon – between the mountain biking and skiing, Dan just can’t decide the best time! – there is just so much more we need to explore.
Port Alberni look out 
Fam Jam Hike!
On our way out of town we had one more item to check off the bucket list – Cathedral Forest. It wasn’t too busy, considering it was the Monday of the long weekend, but we managed to find a parking spot close to the trail head and headed down the main path for a quick look. We were in a bit of a rush since we were hoping to catch an earlier ferry.
Hayden was super impressed by how big these trees really were. All along the drive he kept saying how the tree in his playground at school was soooo big. But after seeing these up close, he now realizes just how small it really is in comparison. We continued down the trail and took the typical picture in front of the largest Douglas Fir tree in the grove. It is a whopping 76 m tall!
Big Douglas Fir!!!!
Game of Chance
One lesson we learned the hard way is that when travelling to the island, you better make a reservation if you are on a schedule – especially on a long weekend. Because we neglected to take care of this way in advance, we ended up with a booking for super late at night out of Victoria. But with a little advice from my cousin and by keeping an eye on the ferry terminal website, we decided that there was a decent chance of snagging a non-reservable spot on an earlier ferry from one of the other terminals. So at the last minute – literally as we were passing the exit – we took our chances and managed to get on a ferry that left hours earlier from a different terminal. The ferry ride was a little longer, but we saved hours of driving and got to our hotel a little earlier than we expected. It would have a been a lot less stressful if we had made a proper reservation though!
But it all worked out which was great, because we needed the extra hours of sleep as we had some super fun plans for the next day. Come back next week to read about our next adventure!