Our (short lived) trip to Salt Spring Island

After one night in Sooke we headed over to Crofton, BC to take the ferry over to Salt Spring Island. ??The goal was to visit the cheese farm where some of the best local cheeses come from in BC. ??We rented a cottage in the middle of a farm and discovered that we are DEFINITELY not country people. ??The cottage was cozy and had all the amenities including a fresh basket of eggs, bacon, glass bottles of juice and milk in the fridge waiting for us. ??Unfortunately those of you who know Ryan know that he MUST have internet access otherwise he will wither and die. ??Rogers promised coverage in the area we were staying in and of course, Rogers lied. ??How dare Rogers! Shame on the telecommunications giant to lie to us. ??

Needless to say, Ryan spent most of the evening shuttling back and forth from the cottage to the nearest coffee shop for WiFi. ??To make matters worse, good old Murphy’s Law came barrelling down on Ryan which got him up at 5am to the nearest coffee shop about 10 minutes away. ??He got there only to find that the coffee shop didn’t open until 7:30am. ??For those of you planning on visiting Salt Spring, or any small town for that matter, expect everything to open late and shut down early. ??We wanted out….fast.

Our 3 night stay turned in to a 1 night stay and we got the hell out of there fast the following morning. ??The owner of the cottage was nice enough to settle for 1/2 of the payment the intended 3 nights stay. ????

Now here’s where the story gets better. While sitting in our car on the ferry I realized I had left my jacket WITH MY WALLET (and all the cash of course) at the coffee shop! ??All the cash Ryan had was $20. ??So with $20 and only my cell phone, I ran off the ferry 2 minutes before it was to depart. ??So here I am, stuck in Salt Spring, with nothing but $20 and a cell phone. ??I called the 1 cab service in town and waited an agonizing 30 minutes for them to come get me (they only have 5 drivers and operate out of their cell phones with Telus of course cause Rogers sucks on the island). ??The goal was to hop on the next ferry an hour later and re-unite with Ryan and my dear old dog on the other side. ??Fortunately my jacket, wallet and cash were still there. ??If there is one redeeming factor for Salt Spring it’s the friendliness in the community. ??The cab driver, upon hearing my story exclaimed “Heck! Had you called us or called the coffee shop, one of us or the locals headed over to the ferry would have been more than happy to drop it off for you!”

So here we are now extending our stay from 3 nights to 5 nights in Tofino at Long Beach Lodge. ??We both agreed that after our tour of the other three locations (Victoria, Sooke, Salt Spring), we could call this our favourite place on the island. ??I hope that I can continue coming back to Tofino annually for the rest of my life. ??It’s a piece of heaven to be settled in their great room and taking in the all-consuming expanse secluded beach, crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean and beautiful rugged coast. ??Photos for Tofino will be posted soon. ??Here are some shots of our very brief trip to Salt Spring. ??We stayed on Bullock Farms. ??We walked down to the lake, petted some goats and walked the dog through the meadows.

The dog wasn’t sure what to make of the lily pads or the goats. ??He managed to get through the fence and unsuccessfully ‘herd’ the goats. ??I told him he was an embarrassment. ??

Ryan apologizing to the goats for Vern’s behaviour