Today is the start of the second part of our vacation. The only plan was to get to Parksville and therefore sleeping in was in order. Once we got going, we had a nice leisurely breakfast with Pat. She suggested that we should stop at Goldstream Provincial Park. So after getting packed up, we said our goodbyes.
Goldstream Provincial Park is only seventeen kilometres from downtown Victoria. There is a campground, 16 kms of trails, a day use area and a variety of wildlife including spawning salmon in the fall. Because it was Sunday, the parking lot was full but we did get lucky and find a spot. We spent about a hour here walking around and admiring the beauty.
Since it was just after 1pm, we stopped and had lunch at Malahat Chalet where we had Spinach Cake for dessert. It was only a one and a half hour drive to The Beach Club Resort ($221.98 CAD / night) in Parksville where we are staying for the next two days. We walked into our room (#226) and we were greeted with a beautiful view of Parksville Beach. I went out and picked up pizza from Salt Pizzeria which we enjoyed on our balcony. You can’t get a better view than that.
After dinner, we headed downstairs to walk the beach. Because it was low tide, all you could see was sand. The water was way way off in the distance. It was so cool to walk out on the ocean floor. There were lots of shells and the most sand dollars I have ever seen. As we got closer to the water, you could see that the tide was starting to come in.
We ended our day relaxing and watching the tide come in.
We have an aunt that lives in Parksville. Kathi Paulik. Karen may remember her. Say Hi if you see her. Hahaha.