We have returned from our trip to Vancouver Island and are on our way to Vernon to pick up our belongings. On Monday we will begin our journey homeward.

This blog is a short synopsis of our recent trip. A busy schedule and very slow internet service on the west coast of Vancouver Island are why I did not post during the trip.

We spent the first night in Vancouver and picked up Kate and Annie the next morning. We caught the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo that afternoon and from there drove to Victoria. We dropped Kate and Annie at Jessica Natale's home (Jessica is a friend of Kate's from Sudbury). We spent three nights at the home of our friend York Stewart. We spent the three days sight seeing in Victoria. Sunday we were invited for Easter dinner with Jessica and her husband Stephen.

This a view of central Victoria from across the harbour.

On Monday we drove to Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Here we walked the beaches of Pacific Rim National Park.

This is the only decent sunset light I saw on the coast, on our first evening on MacKenzie Beach, where our hotel was located.

We decided to stay an extra day in Tofino so that we could take a water taxi to Meares Island, where we hiked a boardwalk among the large old-growth cedars. Unfortunately this island and its old-growth forest are still under threat of being logged.

Here is Veda at the base of the largest cedar on Meares Island.

This a view of Tofino harbour, with Meares Island in the background.

The following day we returned via Nanaimo and BC ferries to the mainland. Our first night we spent at Chilliwack, in the Fraser Valley. Here I saw my best sunset, but since we were in an urban environment, this was the best image I could make.

The next day we drove via Hope and Manning Park along the Crowsnest Route toward Osoyoos.

This photo I made at Keremeos in the Similkameen Valley, where there are many orchards and an emerging wine industry.

In the Okanagan Valley balsamroots were blooming on the arid hillsides.

Okanagan is the location of a huge model railroad attraction. This is one visit anyone going to Osoyoos must see. This is a photo depicting only one small part of the model railroad.