February in Tofino

Tofino - Day 1

This morning I set out for Tofino with Josh, Tyler, and Chris to do nothing but play board games, poker, and chill in a fancy cottage for four days. BC weather in February is dreadful, and the near-zero water temperatures meant that we could avoid the surfing crowd and rent out a place for a good price.

Tofino was a lot farther than any of us expected. Actually, no one really anything about the path there besides the fact that we needed to board a ship and drive on the Sunshine Coast for a bit. Only after the ferry circled around Vancouver Island to dock at Nanaimo did we realize getting to Tofino would take a bit longer than anticipated. The total drive from Nanaimo to Tofino took about three hours, and involved a lot of rain, mist, and manuevering around sharp mountain bends every 50 metres.

When we arrived at the villa, it felt like a storm was approaching. Conveniently, I left my winter jacket behind at the Superstore at Metrotown that same morning and I couldn’t stop shivering every time I exited the car. The cottage we rented was completely stacked in terms of space and accommodations including:

-           Heaters in every room

-                 3 floors

-                 3 bathrooms (two showers)

-                 4 beds including one super well-cushioned and king-sized master bed

-                 Kitchen fully stocked with every possible electric appliance

-                 Washer and dryer

-                  Huge wooden table for our board/poker games

-                  TV & Speaker System

-                 Armchairs and couches

-                 View of the water and mountains

We couldn’t have asked for any more for a four-person cottage. Well, maybe the Wifi could be a bit more reliable.

We did a quick grocery run to pick up dinner and breakfast items. Luckily, Tyler is actually a competent cook and was able to put together a huge pot of chicken fettucini in alfredo sauce. Afterwards, we settled who would have to wash dishes over a poker game (I did), and who would get which beds over a game of Catan (Tyler got the master, I won the fold-out couch, Chris and Josh were relegated to the twin beds downstairs).

All in all, the trip looks amazingly promising. Not much alcohol was consumed tonight but that is expected to change.




Tofino - Day 2

I started the day off right by finally learning to make breakfast items that don't involve simple pan-frying. Tyler showed me how to mix ingredients to make pancake/crepe batter and then fry it. I can see it being handy knowledge in the future, though I won't be able to do much at home without a whisk and mixing bowl. The thing is with breakfast is that I almost always feel like spending 15 minutes cooking (plus another 5 for dishes) is too much time compared to the 5 minutes I spend wolfing it down. Maybe if I make it a daily habit, I'll change my mind and gain a better appreciation of food, but that's a big if. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to try.

We mostly lounged around the rest of the day. Surprisingly, the sun came out so we went for a brief walk around the town. None of the regular shops opened before 12:00pm besides a few restaurants, the grocery store, and two souvenir places. Tofino's library was the most shocking - it was open only Wednesday to Saturday, and only for four hours on each of those days. What is the point of building a library and filling it with books if you plan to only operate 16 hours a week?

The town demographic makeup was almost completely Caucasian. We did spot a cute Asian girl in the coffee shop, and she became the topic of conversation for hours after. We postulated she worked at the local Chinese restaurant, Gary's Kitchen, which served half Western food, and seemed quite deserted. We lunched across the Kitchen at Sobo, a 'trendy' lunch cafe that was well regarded on Yelp. I ordered bison tacos, which tasted much better than I would've imagined and split a shrimp pizza with the others.

The rest of the day consisted of catching the Canucks-Blackhawks game (devastating loss in shootout) in the cottage, shopping for wine and dinner ingredients (caesar salad and rotisserie chicken - rotisserie chicken is a lifesaver for bachelors and lazy folk), and much more Catan and poker. I also tried this game called Thurn and Taxes, a strategic city-building game set in 19th-century Germany, but besides learning the names of a few German cities, I couldn't really get into it.