My husband and I took a trip to the sea a few weeks ago. We drove up Vancouver Island and across to Tofino. The road is narrow and winding, a lot of people don’t like to drive it. But day time is fine, unless it’s raining. When it rains on the west coast, it’s quite different from when it rains elsewhere.
This is rain forest country. Many times we have walked Long Beach in October, our favourite time of year to visit there. We travel that endless flat sand with the sun in our faces, just watching the waves. Often when we turn around to come back, a black cloud has come up, following us closely down the coast.
It starts to rain, the drops coming thick and fast, pelting down. By the time we get back to our car, I can feel the water running down my legs inside my jeans. Everything I have on is wet through including my dripping jacket, soaked gloves, soggy shoes.
This time, it was June. The weather was lovely, warm enough to feel like real summer. We spent a few days on McKenzie Beach, poking around, biking into Tofino for lunch and groceries. The third day we went to Long Beach. We put on sunscreen, brought our sun hats and walked the beach.
The wind kicked up, blowing harder and harder. The rain began to fall, dumping down on us. Things blew across the sand in the forty mile an hour wind – an umbrella that finally dug itself into the sand, it’s handle like a brace keeping it facing into the wind, a blue bucket that had been ripped to shreds by the wind and water whipping it along the sand.
By the time we got back to our car, I could feel the water running down my legs inside my pants. June is a lot like October at Long Beach.
