5 days. ~3000 km (1865 miles). 849 pictures.
Edmonton –> Chilliwack –> Tofino –> Victoria –> Kelowna –> Edmonton.
Yowza.
I really wish that I could write about my travels while I’m actually travelling, because I have no idea how to recap my trip to British Columbia in one or two posts, and I don’t want to bore anyone to tears by dragging it out any more than that. Honestly, though, I’ve been sitting here going through pictures for hours and I don’t even know where to start when it comes to trying to squeeze everything in…
I have a feeling it’s going to be impossible, and the perfectionist “omigosh make sure to recap ALL the things” side of me is having a fit, so I think I’m going to forego trying to write a traditional recap and just share some of my favourite pictures and general thoughts instead. And since Thursdays are usually reserved for Thinking Out Loud around these parts, we’re going to do it all numbered list style. Aaaaaand go…
1. For the first time in all my 28 years of life, I finally got to see the mountains in fall, and they.are.gorgeous. I live about a 3 hour drive away and usually only make it up there in the summer or winter, so being able to see the mountains in all their fall splendour was definitely a treat.
Mount Robson.
Random scenes along the way…
2. Speaking of winter, seeing all the snow covered mountain tops definitely made me crave the coming snowboarding season. Is it bad that fall has only just begun and I’m already craving winter? Try not to hate me for that one. In fact, forget I said anything, and don’t remind me when I’m complaining about the cold in 2 months…
Random scenes from the road… Somewhere in Alberta.
3. There’s a notable difference between the mountains in BC and the ones in Alberta. Albertan mountains tend to be a lot rockier and wild, whereas the mountains in BC tend to be more forested and friendly…
Random scenes from along the road… Somewhere in BC.
4. Back seats and twisty roads do not mix. Someone pass the Gravol please 😳
“Highway” from Nanaimo, BC to Tofino (aka: wtf 😯 )
5. I’m more of a mountains and forests kind of girl, but I’ll admit that the ocean is pretty beautiful too…
Horseshoe Bay, waiting to board the ferry to Nanaimo.
Tofino, BC.
6. Aaaaaaand I think I’m going to stop it there for today, mostly because my eyeballs are threatening to give out and I don’t want to assault you guys with too many pictures at once. Hope you guys are having an awesome Thursday, and be sure to check back tomorrow for a new fall recipe and a pretty sweet giveaway!
. – . – . – .
Mountains or oceans, which do you prefer?
On a road trip, would you rather be the driver or passenger?
And… have I convinced you to come visit my neck of the woods? 😉
So amazing and gorgeous, I am just in awe. I thought wine country was beautiful, your area is just WOW. A trip hopefully for me and the family one day for sure 🙂
These are some gorgeous pictures. I’m not much of a road trip person, unless it’s this time of year and the leaves are changing which makes for some of the most beautiful scenery.
I particularly like the curvy road, carved right into the side of the mountain pictures. It reminded me of when I drove in Croatia. It was the same kind of curves, although a different view, and without any safety precautions. Guard rails and being able to see where you are going….pft; forget about it. It’s safe to say I had the whitest of knuckles after that three hour jaunt.
the pictures are just gorgeous!
We were there from the 27th-30th! We spent the majority of the day on Sunday in Tofino. We went to lunch at Sobo and walked around (in the rain of course) before we got our boat at Jamie’s to go bear watching! What a small world!
My husband and I were just in Ucluelet and Tofino less than a week ago! I can’t believe you were there too! It is so absolutely beautiful. The air filled my lungs with healthy oxygen–it felt so great. We went bear watching, went on hikes, and just sat around and took in the gorgeous views. Breathtaking.
I had no idea that’s where you were going!! I was in Tofino on the 26th, and in that general area until the 28th.
OH WOW these are stunning pictures Amanda! Pretty much every.single.one could be a postcard that I would be proud to send to someone! I usually would say oceans/beaches are my top on the list to visit, but you might be convincing me to think differently with these photos…. so yes, you are convincing me to visit your neck of the woods 🙂
Well I’d say this recap definitely ended up being successful. 🙂 Your photos are gorgeous!
Gorgeous pictures, lady! I especially love the first one! I’m such a sucker for optical illusions!
I’m much more of a beach person (read: warmth!), but I love looking at snow-capped mountains. We don’t have any of that around here…our mountains are more like little broccolis! Haha! I remember first catching sight of the mountains when I went to Colorado for Blend last year…took my breath away!
I’m with you on the backseat and twisty roads…can’t do it!
You would think that I’d be more of a beach person too considering my dislike of all things cold, but I’m also not too big on the sand and being too hot 😆
I am definatly a mountain girl vs ocean. To mean oceans are just flat and boring, while mountains offer so much more! I love sitting in the front passenger seat on road trips watching the topography change.
Gorgeous pictures! I’ve lived in BC for 4 years now and still haven’t visited Tofino yet! It looks and sounds so beautiful 🙂
STOP. These pictures are seriously gorgeous. I don’t think you would’ve bored anyone to tears with those bad boys embedded throughout.
Thank you for sharing the fantastic photos — They are truly magnificent. I’ve made it out to BC only once, and you really captured the beauty…
I could not handle the roads to Tofino either!!! The backseat was so brutal 🙁 Happy that all is well with you now!!
Did you just say you’re craving winter? Shut your mouth! I’m dreading it haha.
Your pictures are so stunning. You’ve made me want to visit Alberta/BC even more than I already did. Jo and I think we should organize a blogger retreat in the Rockies – you in? 😉
AM I IN!?! Are you KIDDING?! That would be the most epic idea EVER.
Love the pictures, Amanda! They are absolutely amazing-as I’m considering a Canada/US trip next year, you bet I’ll be venturing out to those parts of Canada- also for a Mcd’s coffee 😉
I never knew you snowboarded!! That is so awesome! Every Winter a group of us go to the poorly snow capped mountains (around 5 hours away- they make fake snow to beef it up) and half go skiing and half go snowboarding..I’ve been too chicken to go snowboarding and opted for skiing each time.I’m tempted to give it a go now!
I think during road trips I like a mix of both- abit of driving abit of being the passenger! Too much of one makes me go crazy!
See I’m the opposite — skiing freaks me out because the idea of both my legs going in opposite directions is a bit… unpleasant. At least with boarding, both your legs are attached to the same thing.
Oh my gosh so much BEAUTY! So happy that you get to explore like this! Keep the pictures coming! 🙂
I need to visit Canada. Badly. I feel like it is a beautiful fall destination, and your posts plus Julie’s and Anne’s about their press trip are making me so nostalgic for fall drives and positive that Canada is perfection.
Um, these look like professional screen-savers. Just sayin’.
Absolutely gorgeous. (:
I have never been to Canada, but it looks freaking gorgeous!! I’d love to visit sometime 😉
Bring warm clothes 😉
Absolutely gorgeous photography! I LOVE the second one and the site of all those leaves makes me feel giddy about Fall weather setting in! So jealous of your trip!
I want to visit Canada so badly! I’ve been all over the world and Toronto is 4-5 hours away from me and I’ve never been.
Wow, absolutely beautiful! Its a toss up for me whether or not I would choose ocean or mountains…ideally I could have both 😉
Hmm I wouldn’t say I’m an Ocean girl, but I’m totally a lake girl!! Does that count? Growing up in Southern Ontario, there’s so many Beautiful lakes and nothing truly makes me happier. They feel like home 🙂
I do like mountains and sadly have not seen the Canadian ones! Only Colorado and Italy (tragedy, I know). I must get to the West coast. I’m also dying to see the Maritimes!
I am definitely better with driving in general as I get super sick as the passenger (back seat, forget about it, front seat is OK), but on road trips I don’t always end up driving as much.. my boyfriend is a sports-car-driving speed demon and traffic weaver and, well, he gets us places faster 😉
So beautiful!!! I love all the photos!
Come to New England!! We have lots of trees 😉
I would actually love to. It looks beautiful from all of the pictures I’ve seen, and I don’t head out east nearly often enough.
New England’s fall is really the only reason I stay here…the winters are rough (although not nearly as bad as where you are!) and the summer’s are HOT and MUGGY. But fall…it’s perfect. Gorgeous trees, gorgeous scenery, perfect weather….ahhhh
If you ever DO head this way for some reason let me know. I will GLADLY show you around! =)
That scenery looks incredible. I do love mountains, as so far as we have them here! We have an area called the Lake District that is really beautiful and full of, you guessed it, lakes, but also mountains. This has reminded me I should take a trip there again soon 🙂
I am so accustomed to visiting Toronto when I visit Canada since that’s where all my relatives live. So Chinatown and the touristy border are what I primarily think of when I think of Canada. I forget that western Canada offers so much beauty and nature!! I would love to visit Alberta soon. We actually have friends that live there, but we haven’t been to there place in a while. Just more reasons to go!
this looks like new zealand. I miss those mountains! these are pretty spectacular too! How amazing and breath taking. I would be sitting there, just staring. Peace in my heart.
When did you say I could come over to visit you? Not like I hadn’t meant to travel to Canada before but if I needed any more incentive your pictures today did it. Absolutely gorgeous. Both Alberta and BC, that is. Living in the plains I’ll forever be in awe of mountainous region. If you don’t consider me creepy I’ll pin some of your beautiful pictures 🙂 …
Depending on the length of the roadtrip I’d either prefer being the driver [shorter ones] or passenger. Actually, though, in my family we usually do either interchangeably which I think works quite well.
Can I take my mountains with a side of ocean, please? I found it in Greece and it was lovely 😉 They weren’t the largest mountains but I’ll take it! I would love to visit Canada in the fall. Believe it or not, I’ve never actually been across the border (except for a brief layover in Toronto a few years back…), I think I need to change this!
Yes! Canada is pretty darn gorgeous… it almost makes up for our lack of WF, TJs, and Chipotle 😉