Island Getaway

Travel + Leisure Magazine and Condé Nast Traveler have voted Vancouver Island the best island to visit anywhere in Canada or the Continental United States. It is North America's largest Pacific island, and has also been voted one of the world's leading island destinations. And it's right at our back door. I was born and raised on Vancouver Island, close to the West Coast, and I spent much of my childhood playing on the beaches on both the West Coast and the East Coast.

The beaches on the West Coast of Vancouver are wild and open to the Pacific Ocean and people come from all over the world to watch the storms and the magnificent waves breaking on the shore. Most of the area is still undeveloped, except for a few small towns along the Pacific Rim National Park. The town where I grew up is at the head of a fjord, and several years ago there was a huge tidal wave that went from Anchorage Alaska all the way down to Mexico and across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. My home town was particularly devastated, and as a result of this a Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was established.

I am thinking of taking a little trip over to the Island this weekend. It's a two hour ferry ride from Vancouver, and it's wonderful to clear the cobwebs away. And in a few weeks I have to do battle in my personal life, and I am a little bit frightened, but sometimes we just have to stare the enemy in the face, don't we?

I haven't decided yet if I will go south to Victoria, or northwest to Long Beach. Hmmmm... what a decision. I'll do a post tomorrow about southern Vancouver Island, and maybe you can make the decision for me.

Until then ... have a great afternoon, everyone.