Yukon Ho!

Jun 7, 2006: Not out of the van yet

Woke up at 9am and packed the tent gear into the van.
We drove down the highway a few minutes, parked in a lot near a boardwalk hike through the rainforest, passed on the ridiculous $7 per person parking fee and got our fill of nature for FREE! Take that Tofino Parks Commission!
We drove the 20km into Ucluelet to find coffee and breakfast at a place called Blueberries Cafe. It was nice and tiny and friendly but they used those dainty little teacups for their coffee. Sorry but unless you’re going to leave the coffee decanter on the table with the breakfaster, you’re going to need to provide full-on mugs.
Anywhoooo, fuelled, we began the drive to Seyward to park the van in its summer resting place -the driveway of Graham’s friend’s sister, Lorraine. On the way we stopped at the Coombs Country Market in Coombs -a mini frontier town where the roofs (rooves?) are all covered in grass and the main market has goats up top to maintain the grass roof. Honestly. There’s a little house up there for them to hide out in when it rains and the rest of the time they graze on the massive slopey roof. The market had a ton of fresh awesome food so we bought gelato and samosas, then kicked ourselves for being Tofino suckers because Coombs had cowboy hats for $10 instead of the $30 we paid. They also had a giant selection of cloth-covered notebooks for $3 each instead of the $16 I paid in Tofino. Curse you Tofino!
We spent a bit of time in Campbell River -scamming free internet at the visitor’s centre, soldering computer bits together to create a super-computer, and buying dinner with my Mom’s going-away McDonald’s coupons (thanks Mom!)- before heading to a nearby campground for the night, with plans to get up early and drive the last hour to Seyward in the morning.
During those few hours of intense compu-work we found out that the whole Dawson City Music Festival lineup will be released on Friday, and we booked a night at the Pioneer Hostel in Prince Rupert so we have a plce to stay when we roll off the 16-hour ferry at midnight. Bonus -Pioneer Hostel has a shuttle that picks its guests up at the ferry terminal as soon as they arrive.