Blogging from the Beach
July 20, 2008 Posted by Tyler CruzWell, not exactly. I did go to the beach, and I did bring my laptop – but I didn’t actually connect to the Internet or do any blogging. I just brought the laptop to take a few shots that I’ll probably use to update my about page.
There’s nothing instructional or work-related in this post guys, so be forewarned!
Last week, Lisa and I went to the beach for a day trip.
I live on Vancouver Island which is located on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. Vancouver Island is very beautiful, and so a lot of people move here to retire. Sometimes I forget just how beautiful BC (and especially Vancouver Island) is… it’s little excursions such as this one that help remind me how fortunate I am to live here.
We took a million photos, but I’ll try to limit them as best I can. At the end of this post there is also a 10-minute edited video.
I live in Nanaimo, and we were headed to Long Beach which is on the north west coast of the island. Google Maps estimates the trip to take 3-hours, but I believe it’s longer since the second half of the journey goes through the mountains and has a million curvy turns (as opposed to a straight drive).
This is Vancouver Island, and pretty much what I’m used to seeing every day. I live in the city, and am not living out in the “country”, but a 5-minute drive from almost anywhere on the island will get you there.
About 3.5 hours later… Long Beach!
It was very windy when we went. It’s usually windy around the Tofino/Long Beach area, but was extra windy when we went, which was fine with me as it kept me cool.
Feeling the water.. which was very cold, but refreshing.
Me doing my signature pose!
Lisa holding the sand down.
Debby (I call her Deborah) from MarketLeverage absolutely loves the beach with a passion, and so I thought I’d send her a little message. I actually made the MarketLeverage logo in the sand too, but it was so windy that it kept filling up shortly after, heh. The beach was like a giant Etch-a-Sketch that day!
Me being bendy.
I started to write my name in the sand, then I thought. Hmm… too small…
…That’s better!
I’m out of shape. I was exhausted after writing my full domain in the sand… all the bending was painful!
Ta da!
I, Tyler Cruz, hereby declare Long Beach, Tyler Beach!
This is where they film LOST:
The beach is called Long Beach for good reason. The beach is so long that it takes around 45-minutes to an hour just to walk from one end to the other.
We climbed on this huge volcanic rock thing, and I enjoyed the warm wind up top.
The view from the big rock.
Lisa wanted to go swimming but I said “Wait! I need to check my eCPC for today!”. Just kidding. Actually, I just wanted a few “publicity” shots for my blog… I’ll probably use a couple of these to update my about page.
After we finished at the beach, I lost my car keys, and a lot of hassle ensued. To make a long story short, we ended up getting towed to a very small local town (2,000 people), and stayed at a Carmel By The Sea hotel.
To make things more bizarre, the receptionist lady said that there was only room available, and that she was sorry that it was so large. Large? “No problem, thanks”. Hey, a large room is fine with me!
But when we got inside I understood what she was referring to. The “room” was a cabin with two floors… and four double beds! It was all fishing-related too which was funny. There was a note stating that room cleaning started at 6:00am… since all the fishermen most likely were out by 5:00am.
When we woke up, it was time for breakfast… which was served on a boat! So we walked aboard the giant boat and had breakfast inside. It was renovated into a restaurant, but the entire thing was on a slant. It made me feel like I was a villain on the old Batman series.
Here’s a 10-minute video edited and stitched together of the “day-trip” which turned out to be two very long days:
Wow Tyler, it really looks fun! It must have been a good break from all of your work? I don’t live near the beach, but the next time I go to one I am going to write my url in the sand also.
Zach
Day at the beach? Story of my life… ;^)
Actual… I work in a windowless cubicle about a block from Waikiki Beach but close enough.
You should visit us here in Hawaii some time. The floodgates of Canadian tourists opened up a few months ago when the Canadian Dollar suddenly started to out-rank the US dollar and made the trip relatively cheap compared to what it was.
Our beaches can’t compare to the beauty of Hawaii’s… definitely won’t contest you for that.
Are the public beaches there pretty crowded? I’m just wondering since Long Beach had only a handful of people…
It all depends on the beach. In general… People stay close to the hotels. Waikiki and a few other beaches get pretty crowded during the peak seasons but a LOT of the best beaches in Hawaii don’t have many people at all because they are not zoned for hotels.
Looks like you had a great time Tyler. I love going to the beaches here in Thailand. Never thought of taking my Laptop though.
ps. Are you putting on weight? It suits you though.
Battling a bit of a pot belly, yup 🙂
Are there not many rodes up your way where you can pass people? They are a pretty normal thing in the US.
I personally haven’t seen that type of road before, but I don’t travel much.
It seems so dangerous to me… especially at such high speeds…
Dear God, you don’t actually think that just because you saw a rural highway in Canada that all highways in Canada are like that, do you?
Tyler was travelling on the northern west coast of Vancouver Island, which is a very ruraly, sparsely populated area, a six lane highway would be mighty odd there.
Where Tyler lives, in nanaimo, however, there is a beautiful six lane highway that runs along most of the southern half of the island to Victoria.
It looks like you had an absolute blast. 🙂
Tyler,
Gosh this must be may favorite post EVER! I love it! I especially love my name in the sand. That was really thoughtful. You made me wait long enough to see it! HA!
Keep going to the beach and blogging about it… I like it!
Debby
wow.
lots of great pics
nice place
and your wife doing great stunts 😀
Looks like you two had fun over at Long Beach. A bunch of us went over there a month or so ago to go camping. Was pretty cool one day, then really foggy the next day.
The other beaches up the coast towards Tofino are great too. We stayed at a campsite that was on Mackenzie Beach, a bit more secluded than Long Beach. All good times. When the tide goes out, it goes out REALLY far.
I have been living in the Kootenays for the summer, and I can’t even express how much I miss the coast and real beaches, and my beloved Vancouver, and the island, and the culture there.
Here I feel like I am living in South Park, it’s all rednecks and hippies, and not much in between. Not that it isn’t beautiful, but a rocky lakeshore with some trucked in sand is not a beach! I don’t care what the locals call it!
A couple years back I went up to Ucluelet in the middle of the winter, and stayed in a cabin that was built on a raised boardwalk in the rainforest. A short walk along the boardwalk led to a cliff overlooking the beach. At night I would fall asleep listening to the rain pound down on the skylights and the waves crash on the rocks below. It was wonderful.
wow that’s like everyone’s dream.
I wonder who had the pose first, you or Ian Fernando :p … Just kidding. Great looking beach if I may say so myself…
Tyler, great video of a stunning drive. I love the island myself and the road to Tofino is long but worth the wait once you get there.
Coming to the Comox Valley anytime soon?
I stayed up to Courtenay a couple years ago… incidentally I went to Miracle Beach and did more “sand spam”.. that time for PublisherForums.com, lol.
You truly are a lucky man,enjoyed the view. i always love Canada cant wait to retire there…..
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