Summer vacation 2010

We had just moved into our new house and the unpacking was coming to a dead end. All the nooks and crannies were filling up and there was no more room for all our stuff. So I determined we'd have to leave the rest for later. School went until the end of June and we were all ready for a family vacation.

This time we were heading WEST unlike so many other times when the destination was

South (Utah). Colin had vacation time and we were headed for British Columbia.

Our first stop was at the picturesque lake of Shuswap. We stayed at a cabin on the lake owned by some of Colin's friends parents. They were there and we had a great time. Then after two days we drove to the Vancouver area and caught the car ferry from Tsawwasen to Nanaimo. We had a great time the next day in Parksville looking for sea creatures at low tide and flying kites on the beach. Reina was the best at collecting sand dollars.

Then next day we drove across the island to the West side to a town called Tofino which is on the border of a temperate rain forest.

It was absolutely stunning. We

were all amazed at the beauty of the ocean and forests.

The Pacific Rim National Forest feels like it's a thousand years old. We were able to explore winding boardwalk trails, take a boat to watch whales and soak in steaming hot springs.

It was so much fun and a very relaxing place to be in so much nature.

Here is a very bad picture of the grey whales we saw- I'll never make it as a national geographic photographer. But you can see the whale "blow" and see a bit of the tale of another whale.

After four days we left to see another beautiful spot on the island. The Buchart Gardens. It was well worth the day detour and the kids loved the orderliness of the beautiful flower beds.

After seeing so much greenery it was time to get back to my desert roots. We took the ferry back and crossed the US border near Seattle (a very busy crossing!! 1 hour and 40 minute wait). Then we took two days to drive to Utah where we stayed with my Dad for a week. We had a great time seeing our Utah families but were ready to head for home at the end of the week.