rashbre central: pacific rim

Wednesday 23 July 2008

pacific rim

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The sweeping roads from Whistler towards the West are a sharp contrast to the roads of a couple of days earlier. Even with the extensive reconstruction ready for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, the roads are easy to travel. Our objective initially, has been Horseshoe Bay, to catch a ferry across to Vancouver Island, which in the distant mist hints at further mountain ranges and oceanic shoreline.

We landed on the island in Departure Bay and then started to traverse the 200 kilometers to our destination on the western side. The initial landscape was the closest to a United States style scenery that we'd seen in Canada. Miles of multi-lane highway with retail parks on both sides of the road, Dodge dealerships, Wal-Marts and Taco Bells. We eventually reached the city limits and all of the development stopped suddently, like something from Sim City and we again found ourselves on well surfaced sweeping roads across the middle of the large island, through rocky river valleys and eventually on decreasing width roads to the far coastal resort of Ucluelet, close to Tofino.
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Another pleasant surprise as we arrived in early evening to find we were staying in a wooden sided West Coast style house with a view to the water, boarded balcony with jacuzzi and even a log fire to take the edge off of the evening's 10 degree temperature. I sense a relaxing day tomorrow.

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