Here and There

The last few times we've visited Vancouver Island we have stayed at Inn of the Seas vacation condos. The condos are ocean front so my brother and I always venture down the shoreline to explore.

The rocks were ultra slimey and wet so the going was slow, but it was so beautiful.

It was the first nice break in the rain where we could go out without getting wet.

The clouds cleared a bit and we could see the snow covered mountains across the water.

It was such a peaceful and serene moment in the middle of our trip.

We have also spent a few days wandering around Nanaimo. Mostly running errands, but we had some time to have lunch on the harbour.

At the Lighthouse Bistro, I shared fish tacos and fish and chips with my brother. We also had an amazing appetizer of calamari. We are trying to get as much seafood in as we can while we are here!

The Nanaimo harbour is always lovely and we spent many days walking along the harbour as kids.

We have spent a few days puttering around Ladysmith. It's a cute little town with a small town vibe.

We always stop for cinnamon buns at this little bakery. They are such an indulgence as they are huge and sweet.

There are lots of restored old buildings. Pretty much every building on main street looks great.

The downtown also overlooks the ocean as it's on a hill.

I've spent many days in Ladysmith in my life and it's charmed me every time.

My mom, brothers and I are out on Vancouver Island to visit family. We fly into Comox which is an amazingly beautiful place. Unfortunately, we couldn't really see much with the rain and fog.

Our first stop was Seal Bay Regional Nature Park.

We hiked through the mossy forest.

We wanted to get down to the ocean so we took the beach trail.

It was raining, of course, but lots of rain means lots of green.

The trail curved back and forth as we decended to the beach.

The beach was cold but beautiful.

My brother and I decided to wade out in to the water to stand on a rock for a photo op.

We fell in the water because it was slippery. So that was also very cold.

Then we hiked back up the hill. At the top we took another trail and found a swap box!

We didn't take anything, but we left a huge leaf.

After the hike, we drove south. We stopped for food and groceries in Nanaimo then headed to our condo. We are staying at Inn of the Seas at Yellow Point. We've stayed here before and the unit we're staying in is ocean front.

There is even a hot tub right on the ocean! While we were in it we were being watched by a bald eagle.

I love Vancouver Island, the beauty, the greenery, and being able to walk to the hot tub in bare feet, but I don't know if I could stand living here with the constant rain.

Nathan and I have a new tradition for New Year's. Rather than spending a lot of money going out on New Year's Eve, we book the cheapest hotel we can find in the mountains. Last year we stayed in Canmore, and this year we ventured to Jasper.

It's really great to take long walks during the day, sit in the hot tub, take in the scenery, watch hours of TLC, and eat snacks.

We try not to eat out a lot, so we cook in the room. We usually bring lots of snacks like cheese, crackers, olives, meats, etc. Then, we brought an electric frying pan. We had amazing kofta chicken.

As a warning though, hotels rooms aren't made to have lots of these types of electronics plugged in. When we had the kettle, the frying pan, and our rice cooker going we popped the breaker. From then on, we were more careful. It's definitely against hotel rules to have these appliances.

We celebrated at midnight in our hotel room with champagne.

It was the perfect break after moving because we were forced to just relax.