We LOVE Tofino! (Vancouver Island) | Pacific Rim National Park, Plane CRASH hike, Cox Bay, & FOOD!

This is one of those pinch me places. Like, is this real? If you missed our last couple of videos, we have made it into Canada. And after taking the ferry from Vancouver over to Vancouver Island and road tripping across the Island with some fun stops along the way, we are officially in Tofino. Tofino is located on the Western side of Vancouver Island and is known for surfing, amazing beaches and scenic views. It is somewhere that we have wanted to check out for years. And over the next two days, we're going to try to experience as much as we can. And we're starting at the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve to hike and check out some beaches. A couple of logistical things about visiting the park. It costs $10 and 50 cents Canadian per adult to visit, but they also offer a beach pass, which costs $6.50. If you don't plan on being here all day, we have a couple of spots we want to check out around the park. And first, we're starting with the six and a half kilometer South Beach and Nuu-Chah-Nulth Trail, which is named after one of the many native tribes in the area. So we'll be hiking to three different beaches on this trail. And we just went to the first one and the next one is South Beach. And I spoke with a ranger in the parking lot a little bit ago. And he told me that there is a mama bear and two cubs that hang around South Beach. So just to be careful, you know, keep your dog on a leash. We also saw signs that said carry bear spray, which we have on us. So we're keeping our eyes and our ears open to make sure we do not startle a mama bear. We just finished up at South Beach, which was a gorgeous beach. The water was just pounding onto the rocks, but we're now on the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Trail, which as we mentioned earlier is named after one of the first nations here in the area. The one thing we love about it here in Canada is that they do a really good job of educating you about the native people in the area you're in. They'll tell you whose land you're on. And also on signage, you'll notice the name of something in English, but also in the native language. And we just think it's really important to learn about the people whose land we're on. And they definitely put them more front and center. This trail cuts through the woods. And so there hasn't been any views along the way. And we've been walking on this boardwalk that in some parts, it's pretty nice. Other parts, you're kind of nervous to take your next step because it's just decaying and falling apart. And now the boardwalk trail has just given way to just all this mud that we've been sloshing through, but we can hear the beach. We're almost there. So hopefully all this mud and rickety boardwalk, it's going to be worth it. Oh yeah, this was worth it. This is Florencia beach and it is huge. And now for the muddy, juicy and wobbly hike back to the van. We've headed to the Radar Hill area Pacific Rim national park reserve to check out a very unique spot, a plane crash. We'll tell you more about the plane crash when we get there. But first we have a 2.5 kilometer hike to get to the plane crash. And we hear that it can get extremely muddy, probably a lot worse than the last hike. So Kona sitting this one out because she is already super filthy. We just found this, uh, super creepy graffitied old building. And we have no idea what this is or why it's here or what's going to be behind this corner. Oh, I don't like this. Oh, what is this place? Creepy. Don't like it. Oh no. I am like ankle deep in this mud right now. My foot is stuck. Oh gross. So far it's not even that muddy. They're definitely muddy spots, but you can usually avoid them. But I just made a horrible decision at that one part. And Oh man, ankle deep. It's pretty eerie to see it from a distance, just nestled up into the trees here. The story behind this plane crash was in February, 1945. This Canso bomber plane took off with 12 on board and crash landed shortly after takeoff. The pilot saved everyone on board and they were all rescued 11 hours later. It is wild how much of this plane is still here. Almost 80 years later. It's not fully intact, but you can still make out most of the plane. And it's just a weird mix of cool, but also really eerie and terrifying. Just seeing this destroyed airplane and just thinking about what it would have been like to be on this plane taking off. And then minutes later, just knowing you're about to crash into this hill. Our friend Porter who lives on the Island said we had to do this hike while we were here. And at first I thought, no way, that just sounds kind of morbid. I'm pretty terrified of plane crashes. That just feels a little weird to go to. But after learning that no one died and it had a happy ending, it felt more comfortable going to see a plane crash. And I will say, it is such a unique stop and I'm super glad we did it. For lunch we came to a spot we've been wanting to try for a very long time. Tacofino, which is a super clever name. Tacos in Tofino. They have a handful of locations around British Columbia, but this is their original spot right here in Tofino. It's just a food truck. And man, this place is so popular. Be prepared to spend quite some time here in line and waiting for your food. But I think it's going to be worth it. I got the crispy chicken burrito and inside this beautiful tortilla here is rice, beans, there's guacamole, there's lime juice, sriracha, cabbage, and then some crispy fried chicken thighs in there. Looks so good. Whoa. I got a big bite of the chicken here and it is still super crispy. I forgot to mention there's black chili mayo in here that adds a lot of flavor. It's really hard to describe, but there's just so much going on in this burrito. It is just loaded with flavor. And I got what is called a gringo, which is a tortilla that's stuffed with cheese and sour cream, and then your choice of meat. And then they're just griddled until they're nice and crispy. I mean, just look at the crispy cheese on this one. That is so creamy. It's such an interesting texture experience. The outside is nice and crunchy, but the inside is just gooey from the nice stewed pork in this one. And then just like the gooey cheese and sour cream. It has that nice kind of burnt cheese flavor, too. This is better than a taco. You have to get the gringo if you come here. Topino is actually the surf capital of Canada. And if you've been following our journey up to Alaska, you'll remember that I took surf lessons in California and I've been dying to surf ever since. So I'm going to go rent a board from Pacific Surf Co so I can surf tomorrow. The rental comes with the board, wetsuit and these boots so my feet don't get cold all for 50 bucks Canadian. So not too bad of a deal. And look, the surfboard fits in here perfectly. It's, it's a surf van now. We're camping at Surf Grove while here in Topino, which is located on the beautiful Cox Bay, which is said to be the best surfing beach in all of Canada. This is a super nice campground with tent sites and RV sites, really nice restrooms and showers, including some outdoor showers. And they're going to be opening a surf shack soon. That way you can easily rent a surfboard and hit the waves. We booked one of their cheapest campsites in the park, which is still 69 Canadian per night. So it's definitely not the cheapest campground we've ever stayed at. And it's definitely a lot more than we normally like to spend, but the location is pretty perfect. We have this gorgeous beach, just like a minute walk from our campsite. Last night we were frolicking on this beach and this morning we are hiking somewhere up there to the Cox Bay overlook to see this beach from above. It's a 2.6 kilometer round trip hike. And the nice thing is that we can actually walk there from our campsite. However, we hear that it's an unmarked trail and it's extremely hard to follow and kind of figure out where to go and surprise. It's really muddy. The first part of the hike has been a nice, easy stroll on the beach. And now we need to enter the woods to start climbing up. And according to all trails, this is where we're supposed to go. But like we said, it's not marked. So we think it's right. We see footprints. So that's a good sign. This is an adventure. So far, this has not been too bad. We download the all trails map, which we highly recommend because we've been basically staying on that path the whole time and it hasn't been too hard to find the trail. It's definitely muddy, but there are also a lot of roots and rocks you can step on. So I have yet to get my foot totally engulfed in mud like I did yesterday. This is one of the most incredible views I've seen in my entire life. We are just loving it here in Tofino. It is one of the most beautiful places we've been. Just all of the mountains, there's snowy jagged mountains behind us, the oceans right here, the beach, all the green. It's just, it's just stunning. I don't know how to put it into words. It's just taking my breath away. This is one of those pinch me places like, is this real? This is so incredible. And the cherry on top for me is just these little islands out here that looks so beautiful. So cool. And now it's time to go surf. I'm going to surf at Cox Bay. We were just up above the beach on that hill over there. We're camping just right there. And this is said to be the number one surf beach in all of Canada. So that's pretty cool. It's only my second time ever surfing. I took surf lessons a couple of months ago on video. So you should go check that out. So we'll see how I do my first time on my own. Let's do this. I'm going to try to stick to the smaller waves, stuff that's more in my comfort level. It should be fun. Not going so hot here today. They make it look so easy, the other surfers. I think what my, one of my problems, many problems, but one of them was the water was already like breaking. So it's just like whitewash on me instead of a nice wave, you know, to catch. So maybe I'll move into a different spot and that'll be better. Surfing is hard. Today didn't go as well as my lesson did. Maybe I need a few more lessons so I can really get the hang of it. I don't know if it was the conditions or maybe my skills. Probably my skills are not there, but I'm proud of myself for giving it a try, getting to surf in this amazing, beautiful scenery here. How can you beat this? This is a perfect day for it. Had a lot of fun, but it's hard. Bye, surfboard. You did me good, but I didn't do you very good. For lunch, we came to Tokidoki, which serves Japanese diner food out of this Airstream. It's located at Topino Brewing Company. And we're trying some new items for us today. And we're starting with a raspberry matcha lemonade, which is super refreshing and delicious. And something called a stickle, which is a pickle on a stick with a seasoning on it called togarashi. I love pickles, so I'm excited to try this. Super juicy, making a pickle mess all over the place. That's a juicy pickle. So on the pickle is togarashi, and it's a spicy seasoning that they toss on here. There's seven ingredients in there. Apparently it's spicy, a little tangy and maybe the pickles tangy, but it just it's like a really good combination of flavors in there. We both got okonomiyaki, which is a savory cabbage and carrot pancake. And okonomiyaki actually translates to as you like. So it's a super customizable Japanese comfort food. Mine is the prawn one, and it comes topped with a couple of different types of mayo, cheese, green onions, aonori, which is a type of powdered seaweed, bonito flakes and mixed greens. So excited for this. Never had much Japanese food, maybe only sushi and ramen. And that's really about it. A big old piece of prawn there. You can see the carrots in there, too. That tastes so unique, like nothing I've ever tasted before. The pancake actually is nice and fluffy and creamy. And you can taste the carrots and that gives it a little bit of texture, too. The prawns are nice and meaty. The creaminess of the sauce is. And then this brown sauce here, it tastes a little smoky and sweet. I read that it's kind of compared to Worcestershire sauce. However you say that. But all these flavors work so well. A little bit sweet, a little bit savory. And I got the pork one. And fun fact, they can actually make this gluten free. I totally forgot to ask for that. So it's not gluten free. But just so you know, they can make a gluten free one. But it's basically the same thing as Adams, but with pork belly instead of prawns. I instantly could taste the pork belly. It had such a good kind of grill flavor to it. Yeah, this pancake is so unique in its texture. Yeah, it's more very moist and kind of creamy on the inside. It just has so much flavor. It's a very unique flavor than what I'm used to. But delicious. We are going to devour this food because we have about a three and a half hour drive to the other side of the island to our next stop, Campbell River. We are going to devour this food because we have this juicy pickle. This pickle is so juicy. It's squirting everywhere. Trying to film this ending and she's getting pickle juice everywhere. Porter, if you're watching this, I did beat you at that all you can eat meat contest, and now the whole world knows. OK, so now you're embarrassing me.