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So I bet you’re all dying to know how the rest of me and Jenny’s trip to Tofino turned out. Sure, I showed you all the stellar snaps from our afternoon of surfing, but what about the eats, the camping and the people?

By the time I got dropped off on Wednesday afternoon in Horseshoe Bay, my hair was a windblown mess, I was an hour early and the sun was optimistically shining for the first time that day. I had a bit of time before Jenny was to arrive, so I grabbed a ferry ticket and waited in the sunshine.

When you take the ferry as often as I do, it’s important to find ways to keep yourself occupied on the voyage. Being that we were to surf the next day, we opted to watch “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” simply to catch the surfing scenes. Super lame of us, I know.

Mmm…Emmers.

It’s my ritual to stop at Woodgrove Centre’s food court for quick eats on weekends when I head home. Apparently the McDonald’s I had for lunch that afternoon wasn’t enough, so I opted for an A&W Teen Burger and onion rings. Then I’d had enough.

After a quick pack-up of my mom’s car (since there’s no way in hell my truck will make even one more trip to Tofino) and a too-short sleep, we pointed the wheels west along the Pacific Rim Highway. Once you leave Highway 1 near Qualicum Beach, it’s about 40 kilometres to Port Alberni and another 90 kilometres to Tofino.

We stopped in Port Alberni to grab some last minute supplies from their local Wal-Mart, and I have to pointedly say that, aside from the sweetheart of a store greeter, every single employee was oddly rude to us. Not impressed.

The rain started to fall as soon as we hit the Pacific Rim Highway, so we had a pretty good idea of the kind of day we were in for. Tofino is, after all, located in a rain forest.

At the end of a long and winding highway, we arrived at our campground only to find out that we had to wait until later in the afternoon to check in.

Maybe the campground’s local resident wasn’t finished with our site yet. Apparently he lives there all the time.

Jenny and I had time to kill before we were supposed to show up at Bruhwiler’s shop, so we headed into the heart of Tofino and walked around. This sign made me chuckle. Most signs like this in Vancouver would state a limit of about 1/16th the time.

We should’ve taken it from this guy and bought protective rain gear. Little did we know at the time…

Breakers Deli has wicked wraps, pizza, sandwiches, burritos and delicious baked goods. For lunch, I grabbed a chicken burrito with free range chicken, avocado, mango tamarin sauce, mozza cheese and organic greens while Jenny had the turkey and havarti cheese toasted sandwich.

Yours truly is becoming quite a little pro at that whole parallel parking thing. First try, every time.

Here’s where the fun begins…after our afternoon of surfing, Jenny and I were finally able to make our way back to the campsite and set up. The only problem was that the rain had started to come down even heavier, our clothes were soaking wet and cold and puddles were starting to form in our campsite. After a valiant effort, we managed to string up two tarps and pitch a tiny tent.

Not only was the set-up pathetic, after we’d finally showered and put on warm clothes, starting a fire was a lost cause. I did everything right and yet the wood still wouldn’t catch. Waving the white flag, we forgot about roasted wieners and drove back into town for fish and chips and hot tea. We ended up at Big Daddy’s Fish Fry and oh-my-god it was heaven sent.

By the time we arrived back at the campsite, it was almost 9pm and the rain had only kept on going so we decided to retire. Somewhere in the middle of the night, the precipitation decided to become a torrential downpour, and so by the time we woke up, the only thing left dry was our pajamas. It’s what we drove home in. Every other single item of clothing was soaked through and splashed with mud (except my Total Skull hoodie, which was smeared with blood since I somehow managed to rip my cuticle open while peeling off my wetsuit).

(I have to take a tangent here for a moment and say that I love how welcome dogs are in Tofino, and how much they’re a part of the community. Perhaps if some people in Vancouver were more diligent in cleaning up after their dogs, canines would be more welcome in the city too.)

After a quick stop in at Bruhwiler to thank Raph and grab some shop hoodies, Jenny and I hit Chesterman Beach one last time before our trek back to the east coast of Vancouver Island.

It seems like everyone had the same idea. The rain that fell in Tofino on the two days we were there was the first rainfall the community had seen in over a month. As we snaked our way back along the Pacific Rim Highway, we found ourselves part of a mass exodus of tourists who also had the same idea.

Not so long ago, I was discussing camping in general with one of my best friends and I stated how awesome it is. His idea of “camping” was finding a nice hotel in the woods, though I hugely disagreed at the time. However, after the two drenched and cold days I spent in the woods, I surrender and admit that he may be right. Perhaps I’m just over this whole “roughing it” thing.

Besides, just because you don’t have a campfire and just because you aren’t camping doesn’t mean you can’t indulge in some s’mores. Ahhh…toaster ovens. Bliss for my tongue.