Beginning of my road trip - July 6th through 8th

July 5th:

"Guess what?" I asked my son, Noah.

"What?" he appropriately replied.

"I'm going on a one-month driving trip tomorrow morning."

"You just can't stay put, can you?" was his reply. Again, appropriate.

July 6th:

About a third of the way up the west coast of Vancouver Island is the small town of Tofino. That is where I am headed. It's abou

t 2 hours from Seattle to the Canadian border, another 45 minutes to the ferry, a two hour ferry ride, then 4 hours to go up and across the island to Tofino. Luckily, I was on the road by 3:30AM.

Tofino is on the tip of this beautiful peninsula.

July 6th through 8th:

Suzanna sitting by her fire on the beach

For those of you who followed my blog during my sabbatical year, you might recognize Suzanna. She is my twin sister from Canada who I met in the Himalayas in October, 2009. It was my first day on the Annapurna trek, and her last day. We got to talking and it turned out we were born about 4 hours apart, so she is my older twin, and thus, she calls me "Little Brother."

Suzanna is the caretaker for this really nice piece of property right on the beach, and this is her little cottage.

Her outside shower (check out the incredible wood work and drift wood)

Her outside bath tub

The harbor at Tofino

Chesterman Beach, where Suzanna lives

Chesterman Beach

Chesterman Beach

Suzanna with Snapper, "The faster fish cutter in the world." I met Snapper on the street. He told me he is in the Guinness Book of World Records, having cut 17,000 fish in 7 hours (which is about a fish every 1.5 seconds). By the way, I looked him up and couldn't find anything.

Half Moon Bay (not the one near San Francisco)

It has been exactly as a vacation should be - nice and slow: a little walking on the beach, a little exploring, a lot of salmon, and good company and conversation.