Roadtrip - so Mama, Papa and the beautiful twin daughters went to the Vancouver Island

Okay, this post has been waiting to be published for 10 months soon so here it is - enjoy! The first part is in Finnish, sorry! I had been started the text a long time ago but I finished it in English, so the rest of you will understand, too.

Tapaninpäivänä, eli sunnuntaina 26.12. lähdettiin au pair-porukalla sulattelemaan kalkkunoita Vancouver Islandille. Meitä oli menossa mukana miun lisäksi Itävalta O, Itävalta M ja Wales A, eli ihan sekalainen sakki. Aamuhämärissä startattiin Chilliwackista, huristeltiin lautalle ja käperryttiin penkkeihin ihastelemaan upeaa auringonnousua, kyllä kelpasi!

Siinä sitten parin tunnin merenkäynnin jälkeen saavuttiin yhteen lempipaikoistani, Victoriaan. Brittiläinen ystävämme ei ollut käynyt siellä aikaisemmin, mutta oltiin me muutkin vähintaan yhtä innoissamme. Keskustassa kiertelyn ja pakollisten turisti-otosten jalkeen ajettiin piparkakku-näyttelyyn, joka pidettiin paikallisella vanhainkodilla (niin ainakin oletin?). Paikka oli mahtavan upea hotelli ja ensin tietysti kuvailtiin sen lasiovia ja kiiltävää lattiaa, seka valtavista ikkunoista avautuvaa maisemaa. Taidettiinpa nähdä vesitasonkin laskeutuminen (meidän jatkokyyti siis).

Itse "piparkakkutalot" olivat kyllä kaukana perinteisistä. Kyseessä taisi olla jonkinlainen kilpailu ja sarjoja kolme: amatöörit, yritykset ja ammattilaiset. Inspiraatiota teoksiinsa tekijät olivat hakeneet ainakin Madagaskar-elokuvista sekä Harrods-tavaratalosta. Suu auki saatiin ihastella pipariluomuksia, vaikka huijausta se kyllä oli, sokerikeksejä ja muita cookieseja oli käytetty perinteisen taikinan sijaan.



Art, eh?


Madagascar!


The capital of the province is always so lovely!


Some normally clothed people in Victoria


Scottish people in Canada?


Shopping at the mall in Victoria

Then we drove to Nanaimo that is a small town on the east coast of the Island. There we first went to our HI-hostel called Painted Turtle which was in the center and pretty convenient! We wanted to save some money and made the dinner ourselves, cheap and tasty. Then we spent some time in the living room playing cards before going to our room to watch a movie; all 4 in the same narrow bed, it didn't end without crazy laughters!


Gambling at the hostel

Next day, on 27th, we first went out to check the beautiful harbour and do some shopping. We even tried to get in to one high building to take pictures from its top roof but it was, surprise, locked. Couldn't get very far this time.
Then we drove to a skating rink that had inexpensive skating and rentals, it cost maybe $2 so not too much. The rink's decoration has been inspired by the Rockefeller Center in New York and it was actually pretty nice! The flags from different countries were hanging everywhere, I even found the finnish one somewhere!
The skating itself - let's talk about something else, shall we? :-) Naah, it was okay! Especially considering that, even I'm from Finland, I haven't been skating for years. (And I'm not any figure skating master like miss Ella..) But we had sooo much fun and O tried his new skates with success!


The harbour of Nanaimo


The port of Nanaimo


You couldn't survive without this invention?


Some very high-quality music


Canadian "Rockefeller Center"


Check it out!


The swedish flag...


The woman who took the pic: "Do you want a normal photo, too?"

After our exercising we left for Tofino so we started our ride over mountains. It was dark and it was snowing, we were driving around 30 km/h but it was still pretty scary. Then we saw a car pulled over from the road, then the next one and one more and.. I don't remember anymore how many cars there were along our way but more than 5 I swear! Finally we made it safely to Tofino and to our HI-hostel.
We put our stuff to the room and made ourselves home. I went to a bathroom but suddenly something caught my attention. I had to look twice before I believed what I saw. "Sauna - the last one turns the stove off" I went completely nuts and ran to tell my friend abot what I had just found. In the end we were all there enjoying the relaxing heat and water being sprayed everywhere. It was awesome, especially for me because I had thought I wouldn't get to the real sauna during the year.


S-A-U-N-A!

Next day we woke up early, watched the beautiful view from our dining room (the hostel was on the edge of the lake) and left to look for beaches. After a little while we found one which was very pretty and there we spent a few hours (I think) running and jumping like kids, drawing pictures..


Miss you guys <3!


A tree hugger


!!


I sent you kisses!


Almost like in Finland?


A beautiful beach in Tofino

Finally we had to start our journey back home but we had time to go to one other beach and even to the rainforest! It was a real jungle with old cedars, huge trees by the way! It was wet and chilly but we enjoyed it. And none of us even slipped from the way!


In the jungle with my girls


The Rainforest


Watch out O!


Some cowboys on the beach


The Beach

We drove the same way we came but almost all the snow had melted, there was still a little bit left though! And this time we saw some landscapes too, it was soooo beautiful. One time O needed to brake really fast when all the girls were just screaming "Stop! STOP! We need to capture this view" So yes, it was really pretty.


Pretty and peaceful, on the way back


Breathtakingly beautiful!

We went back to Nanaimo from where we took a ferry to Vancouver and drove safely back to Chilliwack. On the ferry we were so tired that we had to at least try sleeping, I didn't really care where. So I was for example under the chairs, under the feet and so on. We made it back home though, safe and sound.
The trip was great and I really enjoyed the fellowship with my mates - Mom&Dad (me and O) and their twin daugters (well look M&A!) had such a wonderful time. It was a great way to spend a few days of Christmas holiday and get ready for the New Year's Eve..


I was on the bottom there somewhere!