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Last weekend Scott, Rosemarie and I headed over to Vancouver Island to camp and go tubing down the Cowichan River. The weather wasn’t great but luckily the water was suuuuuuper warm so we could still tube.

The tubing is pretty neat, it’s about 2.5 hours long of floating. You can bring drinks, they even have floating recycling bins at various points down the river. Most of it was pretty calm but there are a few sections that go a little quicker. It’s definitely a lazy river rather than anything XTREME though. You do kind of have to paddle with your arms sometimes to make sure you go the right direction. I enjoyed myself though and I’m sure it’s a lot more fun when it’s a really hot day out and there are more people.

While it was kinda fun to be camping, it was too cold to swim or lay around and there was a fire ban… so we didn’t have a whole lot to do. Camping is all about the campfire!!! We played some games but it sprinkled rain on and off and the wind kept picking up our cards (and placing them into Scott’s hand). Eventually we just went to bed and read by flashlight.

nanaimo bar cheesecake

We decided to spend the last day in Nanaimo going on a Nanaimo Bar Crawl. They have a brochure that has 34 different places you can get Nanaimo Bar things. Unfortunately because it was Sunday A LOT of the places were closed. :'(((( We must have gone to at least 10 shops that ended up being closed. Bad luck.

But we did enjoy a slice of Nanaimo bar cheesecake that was SUPER YUM at Minnoz Steak & Seafood.

salted caramel nanaimo bar

And a salted caramel Nanaimo bar at Bocca Cafe that was also very good. I kind of want to sprinkle salt on all my Nanaimo bars now. They also had peanut butter, and chili Nanaimo bars and a lot of other really good looking food.

deep fried nanaimo bar

And then a deep fried Nanaimo bar at Pirate Chips. It tasted ok, but not as good as I expected.

All three of us liked the cheesecake one the most.

Then we waited 5+ hours in the line for the ferry back to Vancouver. UGH. It started off fun, we were playing Carcassonne on the ipad.

Then it got more tedious. And we got hungry, so I prepared a charcuterie dinner using a paper bag as a cutting board. SAFETY.

Ugh then we found out that the ferry price was not a return fare (like when you go the Sunshine Coast) and we all cried while we emptied our wallets. Yeesh going to the island is expensive!!!!!! We totally should have smuggled Rosemarie in in the trunk.

Eventually we did get on a ferry and we snagged a good games table to squeeze in a couple more games of Settlers before the weekend was over. I kept my eyes peeled for whales in between turns but didn’t see any.

Soooo in conclusion, tubing was fun-ish, camping was fun-ish, Nanaimo bar was fun-ish, etc. etc. And visiting the island costs A LOT and is terribly annoying on the weekends. Well I’m glad we went, but I’m not in a huge hurry to go back, at least not for just a weekend.

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Rosemarie and I went to the Black Hoof for dinner our last night in Ontario. We were supposed to meet some of my friends but they all work too hard!! So instead Rosemarie and I had a sister-date and gorged ourselves on all sorts of offal. Delicious delicious offal.

Horse tartare. With crunchy sunchoke chips and an egg yolk. A+ WOULD EAT AGAIN. Raw horse tastes a lot better than you might think.

Sweetbread karaage with Japanese mayo and lots of pickled vegetables. This was my first time eating pancreas. It didn’t have a strong taste, but it did have an interesting texture. Not bad, just interesting. Deep frying anything in crunchy karaage batter helps anything taste amazing. I give this dish an A-.

We had some pork carnita tacos. They were awesome, like last time. Grade: A.

And because we are pigs, we ordered tongue on brioche too. The meat was so tender and tasty, I swear you’d never guess you were eating tongue if no one told you. It comes with grainy mustard and pickled celery. This one gets an A+.

I love this restaurant. I’d really like to go back some day with a big group of people so we could order one of everything on the menu. Still so many things I want to try: salmon crudo, liver and onions, beef heart etc etc. If you live in Toronto and haven’t been yet…. why?

The Black Hoof Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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The Ripleys Aquarium in Toronto is really cool! The best part is that there is a really long conveyor belt that goes through the main part of the aquarium, including a tunnel section, so you don’t even have to walk. You can put your bags down and just relax for twenty minutes while gliding past tons of sharks and fish and rays. Rosemarie and I did the conveyor belt twice. :D

That was the first time I have been in an aquarium tunnel. When we were in the dark part you couldn’t see the glass and it looked like sharks were just floating through the air above our heads. Really cool effect.

Rosemarie and I really liked the aquarium. We had perma grin the whole time. Also if you go after 7PM it’s $5 cheaper (and less crowded!).

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Last weekend Rosemarie and I went to Listowel thanks to a super awesome Sunwing sale. Dad and Kate decided last minute to join us so we ended up having a really nice impromptu family reunion!

I was really happy not to have to drive to Listowel from the airport. I think I only got ~1.5 hours sleep on the plane.

After lunch and a house tour at grandma and grandpas we all drove out to Lake Huron to my aunt’s cabin. We had margaritas and dinner and a campfire. It was fun!

That is Rosemarie getting coached by 10 people on how to make a campfire pogo. We used homemade Italian bread and a hotdog and it tasted awesome. I need to get one of those things because the possibilities are endless… cheese… chocolate?… yummm.

Uncle Terry kept our wine glasses FULL. :)

The next day we took the scenic way to Aunt Joanne’s house via a beach near Inverhuron and my cousin’s new house. The sun was nice and warm but the water was super cold.

Dad cooked a big stir fry and Kate made a chocolate cake for grandma’s birthday.

There was a gust of wind, OK?? :P

We came back to grandma and grandpa’s house to sleep that night, and then just relaxed and chatted the next day until we had to leave. Dad and Kate braved Toronto rush hour traffic to drop us off in the city. Rosemarie and I explored Toronto on our own a bit but I’ll leave that for its own post.

While I don’t think I slept properly any of the nights, I’m so glad Rosemarie and I were able to take advantage of that sale because the trip was worth the pain. It was great to see everyone after not visiting for so long. I would do it again for sure.