A Day in Port Alberni

We arrived in Port Alberni Tuesday and the odometer registered 4,973 kilometres. I suppose it must actually be 5,032 since the odometer was not running during the 59 kilometre ferry ride from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay. Perhaps I’ll just let the odometer accumulate until we arrive home. That should make the whole trip somewhat more than 10,000 kilometres. I guess I’ll need an oil change when I get back.

Today Maxine and Bud gave us a look at Port Alberni on the ground and a quick visit to Coombs. Our first stop was at the Harbour Quay. Port Alberni is at the head of a a deep inlet of the Pacific Ocean about 40 km from Barkley Sound and has served as a deep water harbour for decades. Exposed to the open Pacific, Alberni Inlet has been subject to tsunamis. The largest in historic times was the result of the Good Friday earthquake in Alaska in 1964, and destroyed part of downtown Port Alberni. The harbour is still active today and there I found one of the most interesting of boats.The Boom Boat was and I suppose still is used to push logs and log booms into desired locations. Its construction makes it almost unbreakable when crushed between log booms. Today’s photos show a couple more interesting finds.

Our afternoon stop was in the town of Coombs. The entertainment was a general store that contained almost every unusual or food product on shelves crammed full and somewhat organized yet Roses Lime Marmalade was not among them. The other unusual characteristic of the store was the goats that lie on the grass roof of the building. Our trip took us through Cathedral Grove twice, where numerous travellers park beside a busy Highway #4 to take a look at the grove of old growth Douglas Fir trees, some over 800 years old. Unfortunately, no photograph even begins to show their impressive size. It can only be experienced in person. Thanks for riding along on our westward journey. Tomorrow we point eastward to take the Rocky Mountaineer tour before officially heading home.