We woke up & finally got a lovely view of the beachfront outside our room at the Kingfisher Resort. We could see the rest of Courtenay and Comox hugging the bay to our left.
(I love all the repurposed driftwood.)
After being lazy (and lounging in our hotel-provided robes—because, if you stay in a place nice enough to have robes, you HAVE to wear them), we finally got up & ventured down to the beach front to pick up my favorite kind of souvenirs—rocks & shells.
Sadly, we had to get moving in order to catch the 12:30 ferry in Nanaimo, otherwise we would have wallowed in the spa’s Hydropath for a while.
Once we got into Nanaimo we decided to grab some lunch. Nanaimo has a few breweries, but we decided to hit up Longwood Brew Pub since it was close to our route & had good reviews.
SUCH a good decision. Our waitress was wonderful, gave us great brew recommendations (we tried the Dunkel and the Czech Pilsner)
… and we shared a double order of fish & chips. Uh. MAZ. Ing. Light & crispy, super fresh & flaky, crunchy fries (with malt vinegar on the table, thank you!) and cole slaw that even my husband would eat.
I could eat this every day & die happy.
Now, of course, we knew we could leave town without having its namesake, the Nanaimo Bar. I had been hoping Longwood would offer it on their dessert menu, but no dice. However, the house manager recommended the bars at a little coffee shop around the corner. So I swung by and picked up two.
We saved one for Whistler, and then shared the other on the ferry ride back to Vancouver. OMG. Chocolately, sugary vanilla center, and all kinds of deliciousness in that crust—grahams, coconut, chopped almonds… it’s heavenly. But super rich. Not recommended for diabetics.
After we got off the ferry, we headed up Highway 99, aka the Sea to Sky Highway, that takes you up to Whistler & Squamish. This is by far the most gorgeous stretch of road I’ve ever been on. EVER. Sea on one side, mountains on the other, and islands off in the distance? A photographer’s dream. Thank goodness I wasn’t driving.
The road follows the sea for most of the trip, until you finally turn off up into the mountains. Which was, coincidentally, when we actually started seeing some snow.
Um…hope that wasn’t an IMPORTANT notice…
We got checked into our hotel around 5pm and then ventured out for some food. Most places were pretty crowded but we found Tapley’s Neighbourhood Pub tucked in a less-busy corner & got a table. A little pricey, but it’s a ski village—that’s pretty typical. We tried a couple of the Whistler Brewing beers (Whiskey Jack Ale and Bear Paw Honey Lager) along with a quesadilla and a cheddar burger. Pretty fair for a “stumble upon” type of meal.
And tomorrow… WE SKI!!!
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