Day 18 – Victoria -> Tofino, British Columbia

-us, in the van playing cards before bed

We arose to a continental breakfast of fresh strawberry muffins, fruit, yogurt, and cheery chatter. Our housemates included a nice mix of ages and cultures: two Scottish blokes in their mid seventies visiting an old grade school chum in BC and a young couple on holiday. After breakfast was over we had to extricate ourselves from conversation with the overly helpful hostess who would not stop suggesting sites to see in Victoria. She meant well but didn’t understand that we could only do so many things in one day, as the drive to Tofino is 5 hours. This overly helpful way seems to come easily to Canadians – if we so much as stop on a street corner and look at a sign within seconds someone is asking us if we need help. Being from the northeast we find it a bit stifling. We stopped for a 3.5 hour oil change (technical difficulties with a bad oil filter!! – who knew that was possible) and then made it to our campsite by the sea in time to stop in town for some fried fish at the local seafood shack. It’s foggy here tonight but as far as we can tell the town and area have a feel we’ll really like. Can’t wait to explore the water (surfing? kayaking? hot springs?) tomorrow.