Jerome and I were in Victoria British Columbia for work, and we had a couple days off so we booked a car and drove like 4 hours to a surf town called Tofino. The drive was so beautiful and was everything we love about road trips; beautiful views and stop off points, the smell of forests and trees, snacks in the car, and blasting music.
Everyone kept talking about how awesome Tofino is and how they wish they could go and what-not. It was fun, but also..... not so fun. People there definitely didn't like tourists, even though literally 80% of people that worked there were either Australian or German.
*insert shrug emoji*
Anyway! We stayed in a hotel right near the water (I can't remember what it's called) and it was very much worth it. We dropped our stuff off and went right to the beach; I love the ocean. I instantly walked up to the shore and put my feet in the water. Much to my surprise, the water was absolutely freezing - 10°C!!
Because Tofino was a surf town, we decided to take surfing lessons.
It was SO much fun. It exceeded my expectations and I did so much better than I thought I would. The surf lessons we did were through Surf Sister Surf School, and our instructor was an awesome German girl. I wishwishwish I had photos of us surfing, but we had no one to take photos of us unfortunately. Next time I surf I will definitely take photos! I only have a photo of me back on land all ocean haired and all. Learning to surf is on my bucket list (at least it would be if I had one) and now it's checked off - woo!
The beach near our hotel got so cool and misty in the evening that we had to run back to our room and grab our cameras. It was only 15ºC in the early evening and it made me wish for fall!
I think other than surfing, the main highlight for us was the food. There were actually a lot of really delicious vegan eats! Sea Monster Noodle Bar, Kuma, and Bravocados were all stand out places.
At Sea Monster Noodle Bar, you just have to ask which options can be made vegan. It's a v casual place and you just have to order at the counter, pick a table and they bring your food to you. Ugh, it was so good.
At Kuma, you also have to ask which options can be made vegan. Some servers were a little confused about veganism, but the chefs know exactly what ingredients need to be avoided. The edamame was crazy good. Just the toppings and sauce they put on it eaten with white rice - brb, drooling.
Bravocados had some seriously good vegan tacos. It's a vegan and vegetarian restaurant, so it was a lot less complicated ordering here. I got a pulled "pork" (it was jackfruit) taco and it tasted exactly like pulled pork - probably because of the sauce haha. Unrelated, but there was also a bald eagle in a tree right across the street and it was
so cool and giant.
Also, check out Chocolate Tofino! It's a yummy chocolate and gelato place with actual vegan options haha. I got mango passionfruit sorbet, and Jerome got coconut chocolate (mine was sososo good). We also went to Tofitan Cafe & Bakery which was supposed to be a good cafe, but... we both couldn't even finish our drinks so I don't recommend it.
Hmm.. this very quickly became a food blog haha. It was just really nice to find such good vegan food this trip. If you ever plan to head up to Tofino if you're in Victoria, do ittt. It's a cool place, but just be wary of the dislike towards tourists and some lame people lying to you about whale watching trips (don't get me started). There are a lot of kayaking trips that you can do as well as whale watching trips, I just suggest you DON'T go to Ocean Outfitters. Like, don't. Whatever you do, please don't.
I'm itching to go surfing again just looking at these photos!
What's something on your bucket list that you checked off this summer?
x Melissa
*as always, italicized text are links to businesses