While most of eastern Canada is still digging out from the heaps of snow they’ve had piled on them, here on the west coast it’s practically spring. The grass is green, the crocuses purple, white and yellow heads are in full bloom, and the cheery tree blossoms are just about to burst open. Oh yeah, and it’s raining.

Cottaging on the west coast, especially during March break, is a bit of a crap shoot. You might get some sunshine, but best not to count on it. If you’re planning on renting a cabin for the spring break pack your rain gear: gortex shell and pants, fleece and rubber boots.

As far as activities go we won’t be doing any snowmobiling or skating at our cabins. It’s more like walks on the beach looking for treasures carried in by the winter storms or weather permitting going for a kayak.

If your cabin in on the ocean, it’s also a good time to do some whale watching as the gray whales are migrating. In fact, from March 15 - 23, 2008 Tofino’s is hosting its annual Gray Whale festival. Up and down the shore the blow-spout mist can be spotted as the whales come up for air.

In order to stave off bordeom and subsequent fights, I plan lots of day trips for the kids as March is typically a very rainy month. Some of our favourites are Coombs Country Market for breakfast or ice cream (see Goats on the Roof article). Going swimming at the Ravensong Aquatic Centre, and if we’re feeling really adventurous Mount Washington is only a 45 minute drive and from there we can skiing, snowshoeing or tubing.

It’s very different from cottaging in eastern Canada; there’s no ice fishing in fact our lake never freezes. We won’t be snowmobiling or building snow forts, but we do manage to have a good time - west coast style.

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 10:01 am and is filed under Kids, Road Trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.