My husband and I go to Tofino every year in early December for 12 days. We always get the same beachside townhouse at Pacific Sands and we do the same thing - it's the definition of getaway for me.
This will be our fifth year in a row, and it's to mark our wedding anniversary. It's the only getaway I make room for every year. It's a promise between me and my husband and it's almost a necessity for me in terms of recharging.
Tofino is close enough to Vancouver where it doesn't take 10 years to get there, but also far enough away where I can't get cell service sometimes. …Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds were married there, Twilight was partly shot there. There are very good restaurants there, it's not like you're going to some hick town and yet it's still very primitive in a way. There's a great beach that's shaped like a crescent almost. I run on the beach every day with our dog. We hike trails, do lots of reading and relaxing and unplugging and nothing. I have such fond memories of our visits. One morning, we were woken up at 7 a.m. to the strangest sound. It was halfway between a moan and a honk. It was so loud and we looked outside and it was two sea lions having sex. I've told this story to some people and they've said, "Marine lions don't have sex that time of year." But it looked to me that they were doing something. When we get to our cabin and we open the door, it's almost a sense of relief. Then you get excited.
Lainey Lui is a reporter for CTV's e-Talk and covered the Toronto International Film Festival for The Globe and Mail.
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