More April Showers & Some SNOW!!!!

Waking up to Rain is not exactly what you want to hear while you are on a holiday. But take the days as they come. Right!

So up and at em' return the car, and decide what we can do on this rainiy day. Well first off a trip to see if we can find some crab for dinner. Haven't had any yet and Dad and I have both been craving it a little. Okay more than a little.
We ventured down to French Creek Marina so find this talked about Seafood store.

FOUND IT! YEAH!!
Picked-up some fresh Crab and Bacon Wrapped Scallops for dinner. Yummy.
(sorry forgot to take my camera in for some photos)

So now what to do. While on the docks at French Creek, we pulled up and watched the water crash in. Soooooo Cool.




And here developed our stormy plan. Drive to Tofino & Ucluelet and watch the storm come in. Dropped off the Seafood and away we go. It's about a 2 hour drive from Parksville to the other side of the island.

So we get through Port Albeni, and start heading up. We are getting closer to the 1/2 point, and the rain is still falling, and we are starting to see snow on the ground, in the ditches. That's right you heard me. SNOW!!!!



And the farther we drive, the deeper it gets. Apparently I wanted to experience all 4 seasons on my 9 day visit to Parskville.
We pulled over to a roadside turnout to get a couple shots of this snow, and frozen
ponds of water. Yup! Frozen, with Ice on them.






It wasn't over cold, just shocking I guess to see all the snow come down over night, on April 2nd, however the rain is still falling. Kinda a contradiction.
Back on the road.


We headed over towards Tofino first. First stop was at Wickaninnish Inn. As this wasn't a planned out trip we didn't know where tide would be upon arrival. It was High Tide, and the waves were coming in pretty close.




You may see a few water spots on the images due to wind, rain and the waves crashing in. I did capture 531 images yesterday. You are only gonna see a handful, but it was so cool.

We drove down a little farther down Long Beach to see if we could get out onto the beach. Or what wasn't covered in washed up logs.
This was the first spot we stopped.
We walked out a little way towards the water and good thing we were paying attention cause had to run back up towards the shore. That water comes up awfully quickly.






And now that I was traveling with dad, I had someone to finally take my picture so here is a couple of me slightly chilly, and wet. It's still raining by the way.



In all that haze / rain, dad spotted a place just down a little farther that cars were parked up really close to the water. So back in the truck and up the beach again. The rain let up a little for us to enjoy it a little more. We noticed that the waves coming in though were being pushed back a little by a easterly wind, so they could have been so much bigger.





After watching the water come in a couple times dad said I should go stand out on a log for a couple more shots. Waiting till the water came in. Slighly scary at first, but I did stay out there.







The power of water is just so amazing.
So after watching the waves at Long Beach, we headed in to look around Tofino. Now I can say I've been there. It was a quick tour though, as the rain that had let up was now back again. So out we go, and suggested we go into Ucluelet.
We came all this way, why not.

We drove through town and came upon this Wild Pacific Trail. We step out of the truck, after warming up and drying off, to yet again more rain. Oh well. That's what's to be expected when storm watchin on the ocean hey. And so far it's been worth it.
The Fog horn is going a there is a lightout and two trails you can head out to.


So we head right first and watching the waves crash onto the rocks just amazes me.
And after heading right out onto the rocks (like we are not supposed to) and getting to feel the wind blow the spray from the water up onto you, we headed left to see even more. It was just so cool.
Here's a handful of the photos I took.
















Although the weather was kinda crappy, it turned out to be a great day. And had the weather been nice, I would have never been able to see water like that. And listening to the news later in the evening, it was the worst weather storms they have seen on the island in approx 2 years. No where near what they experience in 2006, but so cool.

So after a very exciting, wet day, we headed back home.
Not leaving till 7pm though, we weren't going to be getting home till 9pm, which would make a very long wait till dinner, so the fresh crab is going to have to wait till saturday night.