Top Ten Blog Posts

I've been blogging for just over a year now and I want to thank you for reading! A special thanks to those of you who commented. Your remarks and my little old "statscounter" give me a real insight into what you would like to see and read. Sometimes it surprises me - a lot of you looked at my post on the life and death of architect Arthur Erickson. A lot of posts largely made up of my own photography seemed to grab your attention. That tells me to keep the blog personal.

Here are my Top Ten Blog Posts of 2009:

10. Who knew that our trip to Tofino would capture your attention? Obviously, the secret is out.
9. Glad you liked my tip off that Google Earth now shows you beautiful Vancouver in 3 D.
8. As an innkeeper, I just had to get the stifling subject of nestled over-coziness off my chest!
7. Then, I took the guest perspective on common apprehensions about B & Bs.
6. I tried to look at all sides and the pros and cons of online reviews.
5. Five ways to avoid bed and breakfast burnout spoke for itself.
4. So did the top 5 reasons to open a bed and breakfast.
3. The most popular of my professional insider posts was about loving people.
2. A video review of Nelson House B & B was not only an Editor's Pick on tripfilms.com but the most watched Vancouver video there! This is the youtube version of it in a bigger screen.
1. My many posts on a local's view of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games drew the most hits by far. This post is just a sneak peak of what is coming!

Love to hear from you. David.

Surfs Up/Back from Tofino

About 5 & a half hours travel time from Vancouver, Tofino and the surrounding area are extraordinarily beautiful. It is not by accident that Pacific Rim National Park and the Clayaquot UNESCO Biosphere Reserve have been created as examples of British Columbia's great temperate rainforests. The geography showcases a series of sweeping ocean beaches and offshore rocky islands, magnificent coastal forests, first nations's people and their ancient culture. Add in migratory grey whales, sea lions, bears, cougars and wolves and you have the place for a wild getaway.

At either end of the series of Pacific beaches lie the lively small towns of Tofino and Ucluelet. The former has become a tree-hugging, eco-everything base camp for whalewatching, ocean kayaking, wilderness education and exploration. Bed and breakfasts, gift shops, gourmet restaurants and multi-million dollar homes rub shoulders with hostels, youth culture and surf schools. In fact, the tides, winds & coldwater waves of Long Beach and Chesterman Beach draw surfer dudes from Australia and Hawaii to test their skills against BC's rip and curl.

Wetsuits, boots and gloves are required year round. Winter storms are so ferocious along this coast that they have become a selling point for winter tourism. No snow here - simply enormous waves and the awesome force of nature.

When we were not running with Ozzie, our Cairn Terrier, on the wet and spring-rainy beaches, we stayed warm and woodsy in a comfortable vacation cottage, called "Shipwreck", at the Gold Coast Retreat. We especially loved the Finnish-style sauna and yes, since it's been a very long time, the sound of frogs every evening. Fresh air, exercise and sweet rest.

It's Tofino Time...

Off in the morning - bound for the west coast of Vancouver Island, to a cottage named "Shipwreck" near Chesterman's Beach, the Pacific Rim National Park and that lovely, end of the road town of Tofino.