Far from the desert in this post. Tofino is truly "end of the road", in spirit, as well as physically as far west as you can drive across Canada before falling off into the Pacific and presumably ending up in Japan. At least that's the punch line of a joke by the local surfers. Home to great surf, commercial Salmon fishers, black bear, cougar and a variety of deadbeats and aging hippies who call this place home. I feel right at home with my peers here. This is our third job here in about as many years and the attraction hasn't worn off. Reminds me of Monterey in Steinbeck's day, or at least as I imagine it. We had to cram a lot in during our time here because we arrived two days late after I fell sick thanks to some contaminated chicken at a fast food place in Victoria, the closest international airport, a 6 hour drive away. I spent two days in a local hotel thinking I was going to die, but that was okay, because I really wanted to!Anyway, e coli notwithstanding, everything went well, the weather was as as great as the people and the only Black Bear I saw was as I zoomed by doing about 70.
Because of its hippie-haven past and surfer mecca present, Tofino is very Eco friendly and with the plushest resorts to be found on all of Vancouver Island, you can graduate to Eco chic for a mere several hundred dollars a night. Although this little town almost shuts down over the winter, the resorts claim that there is no off season. Winter time with its brutal rain and wind becomes Storm Watching Season and as the heavy weather coming down from the Bering Sea pummels the coast. I'm sure it's spectacular to watch - from the comfort of your ocean view room complete with fireplace, lots of glass and piped-in Sarah McLachlan. The last comment is true, I quite enjoyed it.
