bought a fishing licence, got a job.

if you follow us on instagram you may be wondering how the heck we found ourselves in port renfrew [ winter popluation two hundred & forty ], how the heck we found ourselves working & what the heck we are thinking. well...

we left victoria & made our way up the west coast of the island. our intention was to vist mystic & sombrio beaches as suggested by my brother, but with all the unscheduled stops to trek down unmarked trails, by the time we got mystic beach it was getting late so we opted to make our way to the end of the road & into port renfrew where we would spend the night - & head back to mystic the next morning.

we passed the 'welcome to port renfrew' sign & saw a few houses. then the general store. then a marina. then a dump. then the coastal cafe. then a few more houses. then trailhead fishing resort. then the port renfrew hotel [ & pub ]. then a second marina. & that was it. that was the town.

by that time it was early evenng. time to find a spot to spend the night. time to have a beer. the first marina offered overnight parking for ten dollars, so that was an option, but after a conversation with the bartender at the pub, it was decided we would stay right there, in the parking lot, for free.

just before ten o'clock [ closing time. even on a friday night ] we made our way to the van to get cozy & get some sleep. our plan for morning was to go to trailhead for a fishing licence [ luke would finally get some fishing done ], go to botanical beach to explore the tidal pools, do the china beach to mystic beach hike, visit sombrio beach & head to lake cowichan.

well, our plans changed. drastically.

we woke at 8 o'clock [ the truck delivering beer to the pub was parked directly behind us & wasn't exactly quiet ], went to coastal kitchen for two [ five fucking dollar ]  cappuccinos & went to trailhead for the licence. within two minutes of arriving we were offered jobs.

for some reason, as we were waiting for the licence to print, luke mentioned that he had worked part time as a fishmonger. when connie [ didn't know her name then ] heard this she immediately offered luke a job in the fish room - cutting, rinsing, packaging & labelling fish. huh?

our initional reaction was, what? work? here? but we're on vacation!? [ all in our heads, of course. what luke said out loud was 'is there work for my wife?' & the answer was 'yes, housekeeping'. whaaaat?! ]

for the next couple of minutes connie explained how things worked. it was an hourly rate + tips [ all members of staff split the tips ], three home cooked meals were provided daily & we could cozy up in a cabin on site. she also said that we could give it a go for a week & see how we like it & go from there. well, THAT was definitely worth considering. so we did.

we headed to botanial beach, chatting excitedly the whole way. it only took about ten minutes for us to decide that yes, we were interested. in fact, we were VERY interested. if we worked for a few weeks we could stay on the road longer. if we worked for a few weeks we could get to know this teeny tiny town on a personal level. if we worked for a few weeks we could learn new skills [ turns out you CAN teach an old dog new tricks ].

we spent a few hours roaming botanical beach at low tide, investigating the tide pools, climbing onto rocks, taking in the sights. & then we returned to trailhead to accept the job offers.

luke started that evening at 4 o'clock & i started the next morning at 9 o'clock. & we've been working ever since.

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family time. just the highlights.

we spent our first week in canada visiting luke's brother in delta & my brother in victoria. needless to say, it was wonderful to be in the company of family.

between the two visits we bbq'd, relaxed, caught up on each other's lives, visited the crystal clear sooke pot holes, beach hopped & submitted my passport renewal documentation.

when it was time to leave, it was difficult, but everyone had to get back to work & we had to get back to play.

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rocky mountain low.

we crossed the border into canada the saturday before last & were uber excited to be back on home turf. the moment we entered the country luke insisted we pull over so he could show some love to the british columbia sign. we were home & we were excited. & within four minutes i was calling my dad [ we don't have an american phone plan so have not made a phone call or sent a text since we left canada 8 may ].

we spent our first night in fernie. we had a coffee [ used the wifi ], visited the brewery [ as we do ] & slept in the fernie mountain resort FOR FREE. yep. FOR FREE. we don't always visit the tourist office when we arrive in a new town, but for some reason we did. & it was there that we received the good news that the resort was allowing campers to pitch up or pull up for no cost. don't hear that often. [ thank you lovely tourist office girl ]. the only downsides to sleeping in a mountain resort parking lot are my having to pee outside in bear country [ eek! ] & the price of the bag of ice we bought [ 1.40 in america, 3.60 in canada. that REALLY irked me ]. otherwise it was glorious. dark, quiet, no forced early morning wake up. glo-ri-ous.

but we did wake early [ obviously ]. like, before 6 o'clock early. & i had to pee. & it was too bright to just pee beside the van. & too early to use the resort bathroom. so we packed up & headed to starbucks [ i honestly think we should approach them for sponsorship at this point ] where we used the restroom, the wifi & the comfy chairs with the epic view of the mountains. this is also where we decided we loved british columbia & agreed to take at least a week to drive out to vancouver, where we would stay with luke's brother.

we hit the road around 7 o'clock anticipating views galore. we were pumped. we'd heard so much about this drive. but, alas, after an hour driving we started seeing the impact the forest fires were having. instead of mountains we saw smoke. instead of blue skies we saw white. our sight was literally limited to the trees along the highway. any further away & they became hazy. it shocked us. &, unfortunately it meant we may as well make our way to delta directly instead of dilly dallying like we'd intended. we attempted to stop & stay a number of times but the smoke was intolerable. our rocky mountain drive was a bust.

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forest fires & the busiest tourist season on record.

our plans to visit glacier national park were foiled twice over. firstly, there are hundreds of forest fires burning in both the usa & canada [ the smoke impedes the views of the park's famed mountains ] & second, this is glacier national park's busiest year on record. thirty percent busier than the busiest year they'd had prior to this [ which was last year ] which meant that the camp grounds were one hundred percent full. why was this a problem? well, it takes eight hours just to get through the park. & that doesn't include stops at viewpoints or time spent hiking. this is straight driving. without the ability to stop to spend the night part way it didn't make any sense for us to make the drive up to canada through the park [ which was our intention ]. so, instead, we made the decision to plug in the shortest route to fernie, bc & make our way back to canada [ to renew my passport ].

jellystone national park.

we woke the next morning [ last wednesday ] & drove straight up through to yellowstone national park [ grand teton & yellowstone are connected ]. we were looking forward to seeing old faithful erupt [ it happens every 126 minutes ], we were hoping to witness a bison traffic jam [ we've seen so many photos on insta ] & we were hoping to spot a grizzly [ we know, not likely, but hey, we can dream ].

well, we did manage to see old faithful erupt. in fact, we arrived at the site three minutes before the eruption [ what timing! ], after twenty minutes driving around the parking lot [ trying not to get sucked into a frustration fuelled argument ] to find a spot. & when we finally walked up to the site there were, i don't know, five hundred people, some sitting on bleachers, waiting for the big moment. & then the big moment came. & we looked at each other. was this it?! was this the eruption we'd been dreaming of?! & it was. & we couldn't believe it. i'm not sure what we'd expected exactly, but it wasn't that. it wasn't standing in a crowd of hundreds to see steam & water sputter out of a hole in the ground. don't get me wrong, the science behind this geyser is pretty incredible. & the hot springs, cool af, but, man did we feel deflated afterward.

ok, so, next on the list, witness a bison traffic jam.

we did a little research & found there was a specific area in the park that the bison congregate. so we headed there. & we found ourselves in a line of cars that stretched out of sight. at first we thought it was just traffic [ ? ]. then we thought it might be an accident [ ? ] & then, as we reached a bend in the road we saw it. yes. it was a bison traffic jam & it had been holding us hostage in our vehicle for an hour. by the time we got there [ sweaty, legs cramping, hungry. no, not really, but it sounds more dramatic ], we were still holding on to our excitement & enthusiasm [ surprisingly! ]. we marvelled over the sheer size & number of bison trying to cross the road. & we marvelled over one in particular that was just four feet from the side of the road. we could see it in detail & it was... interesting. & we felt lucky to be able to see such detail [ the photo doesn't do this amazing animal any justice ].

we turned around [ we were not interested in getting through the crowd of bison, turning around & waiting in traffic for another hour ] & made our way to where we were most likely to see a grizzly. of course we didn't see one [ we didn't really expect to ] but the scenery itself was worth the drive.

on the way out of the park we made one last stop of mammoth hot springs. again, it was crowded [ though not as crowded as the other sites as it was about 4 o'clock by this point ] so we walked up, admired it & made our way back to the van.

while yellowstone is a beautiful park & the features it preserves are fasinating, there were just so many people that we didn't find the experience enjoyable. so, instead of finding a campsite [ which i'm sure we wouldn't have been able to do anyway ], we made our way out of the park. it felt more like a theme park than a national park. everyone was driving up to a feature, parking [ the parking was full at virtually every feature so cars lined the roads surrounding them for miles, causing traffic ], walking the boardwalk, taking photos, hopping back into their cars. there was no hiking out to the sites, you simply arrived there, with everyone else. at the same time. & that just didn't appeal to us.

so, we pressed on. we made our way a little closer to canada. we made our way to glacier national park.

teton country.

we arrived in jackson, wyoming three days ago, after what felt like a million hour long drive. in reality, it took six & a half hours. sure, that's not THAT long a drive but the first four hours of it nearly bored me to tears. it was field after field with a town or two peppered in. then there were factories & farms & closed down gas stations. until finally we started to see mountains in the distance. that piqued our interest. then the mountains were on top of us. we were driving through them, around them, a roaring river snaking alongside us for company. & next thing we knew we were pulling into jackson.

upon arrival we made our way to a local brewery. we deserved a cold one after that drive. & we hadn't had or heard of any wyoming beer, so, we had to check it out, you know? & we're glad we did because the bartender pointed us to a campground just twenty minutes from the brewery.

we weren't sure we'd be able to find a spot in the campground because it was getting close to 8 o'clock but we decided to give it a shot, agreeing that we'd find a stealth parking spot in town if we weren't successful [ peeing on the side of the road isn't ideal BUT if i have to, i have to ].

as we pulled onto the main road to the campground our breath was taken from us. the snow capped mountains, the big sky. & there was a bison grazing in the field. our first bison.

we stopped at the site check in &, as we did, realized that we were too late. check in was closed & the only way to pay for a site was with cash. & we didn't have cash. but then a ranger approached. i explained our situation & he said that we could take a site & pay by credit card on the way out! [ thank you mr. ranger, sir ], so that's what we did.

we'd camped a couple of nights over the trip so are old hands at pitching the tent - we had it up, had gathered dead wood for a campfire & had the coleman out within minutes. i chopped the veggies & set up the bed while luke cooked. we had black bean tacos [ not sure if i told you but we're eating mainly vegan after watching 'what the health' on netflix ], drank a crowler of beer we were gifted a few days ago & sat in front of the fire until we were so tired our eyes started to get heavy. we then crawled into the tent & watched a movie we'd downloaded from netflix. ah, 2017.

luke slept fairly well but i froze my butt off. jogging pants & a sweatshirt don't cut it up here at 6,237 feet.

that next morning we were off to explore grand teton national park. we hiked to a mountain lake which we waded out into [ we walked juuuust in front of a couple so we weren't alone with the bears. & when they were out of sight i sang 'the hills are aliiiiiive with the sound of muuuusiiiic'... & luke banged his stick on something ], did the highlight drive [ popping out of the car every five minutes or so because EVERYTHING was worth a look ], ate lunch alfresco [ a sandwich standing next to the van ], & we found ourselves a campsite [ the last campsite in the park. it was late afternoon by the time we found it & it was one of only three sites left in the campground. we were so relieved - our other option was to drive back down through the park to Jackson & hope there was room in the campground we'd stayed in the night before ].

this campsite had a fire ring, fresh water, SHOWERS [ we hadn't showered in three days by this point ], a bear box [ which meant we could store our food there & sleep in the van ], a couple of torontonians [ i know, it's a pro & a con, really ] & we were given a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie when we arrived.

we cooked burgers for dinner, sat by the fire, sipped cocktails [ bourbon, gingerbeer & lime ], made friends with the torontonians [ he showed up again later that evening - with stolen wood - once she had gone to bed ], watched part of a documentary [ chasing coral ] & were asleep by midnight.

follow our journey at www.instagram.com/openheartsopenroad