About the big trip....

 We tent camped for 12 nights, stayed in a beeeautiful rented house in Tofino for 3 nights and hoteled it for the last two nights in Banff mostly because our camping stuff was by this stage so disorganized we couldn't face the thought of trying to sort through the mess crammed into every available nook of the truck to find what we needed to camp for just two nights. We camped through southern BC and Vancouver Island including Clearwater, Goldstream Provincial Park, Bamberton Provincial Park, Nitnat Lake Forest, Sproat Lake Provincial Park, Mussel Beach and Kekuli Bay. We also spent time visiting the city of Victoria, the lovely Cowichan Valley, Port Alberni, Ucluelet, Revelstoke, Merrit and Tofino of course. In Tofino we met up with Neil's Mum, Dad, Aunt and Uncle and other than one more night back at Nitnat, convoyed with them for the rest of the trip. Most of the campsites we stayed at were BC provincial parks and were really lovely. Plenty of space and tons of trees for privacy along with nicely looked after facilities. Goldstream Park had hot showers and proper toilets and I would highly recommend it for camping with young children, a beautiful park full of tall trees and only 20 minutes from the centre of Victoria. A highlight of our stay there was seeing Neil emerging from the tent all dressed up in his business suit ready for his interview, I've never seen someone look so out of place in a forest before :)  Bamberton was beautiful too, our camp was right by a pretty beach and surrounded by Arbutus trees, common on the Island and coastal southern BC, they have reddish curvy trunks and really pealy bark which makes them look a little tropical. Nitnat lake was pretty special, it's remote, like really remote. To get there you have to drive to the middle of nowhere, then drive for a good couple of hours more down some hairy logging roads. The dust cloud we created was pretty horrendous and little did we know was seeping through the gaps of our trailer and into every bag of stuff we carried. Our clothes, food and even toothbrushes were literally caked in brown dust upon arrival at the lake. Nice. The campsite at Nitnat is run buy the local First Nations on behalf of the BC Forest service and facilities are limited. There are a couple of seriously stinky pit toilets and that's about it. There was no water so we had to haul in whatever we needed. The lake at Nitnat and the surrounding forest is stunning. Neil spent the day Kitesurfing (Nitnat is a kitesurfing mecca with some of the most consistent winds in North America) and the kiddies and I hung out on the beach climbing giant tree trunks and picking wild salmonberries. We were warned to be watchful for bears and other big critters such as wolves and cougars, all common in the area so we kept the kiddies close at all times. Thankfully the only bear I saw was from the safety of the  truck although Neil did spot one on the shore while he was kitesurfing, apparently it was standing on it's hind legs watching him with great interest. There were so many amazing parts of our trip it's hard to choose my best bits, obviously seeing Grandma and spending time with family was lovely especailly as we got to share with them the wonders of Tofino. For Neil the highlight was without a doubt Kitesurfing at Nitnat. For me I loved the Cowichan Valley. The rolling hills of forest and farmland, pretty lakes and seaside towns. It's a foodie paradise with small organic farms tucked in amoungst vinyards and orchards. My favorite outing was a sunday evening spent at Merridale Cider House sitting on their orchard terrace with a band playing, sipping cider and eating pizza fresh out of the wood oven. Hehe, it really was as good as it sounds! More amazing times were had at the Ucluelet Aquarium ( I LOVE that place), magical Mussel Beach and strolling around beautiful Banff with the family. 

I would love to post every single photo for you to see  everything full size and beautiful but it'd take forever and your finger might get sore from scrolling down so here's a slideshow for you instead......