We decided to leave Tofino today, a day early and head for Nanaimo . We have an appointment on Wednesday to get an oil change in the motorhome and we also wanted to stop at Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Park to learn about the trees that we had seen on our way to Tofino two weeks ago.

I know some of you must think, "If you've seen one big tree, you've seen them all", however the serenity felt under these monster trees is amazing. These Douglas fir trees we were seeing vary between 300 and 800 years old and their sheer height is very impressive. There was a powerful windstorm that blew through here on New Year's Day, 1997 that managed to knock many of them over and the landscape is changing as a result. It started to rain so we continued onto Nanaimo.

We arrived at the Jinglepot Campground at 3:00 PM and after setting up, we ventured into the city to get familiar with where the RV was going tomorrow. After picking up a few groceries, we went to Earl's for dinner (a restaurant chain here in the west with the best Caesar salad) and watched Canada win against Finland in hockey. It continued to rain throughout the evening so we got a taste of what we will be facing in Vancouver this winter. It was a good night to stay in, read and watch some TV.