Anybody who lives on our little piece of paradise will know what I am talking about when I talk about storm watching on the West Coast.

We were fortunate to spend some quality family time at a resort in Ucluelet between Christmas and New Year – and the weather was wild, wet and windy, and there was a king tide to boot. What resulted was a spectacular show of Mother Nature’s force in the howling zephyrs, and monstrous waves that crashed upon that rugged shoreline. If you visit the Amphitrite Point Lighthouse, and walk along the cliffs, there is a broiling, churning, tempestuous maelstrom below you, murky and frothy from the pounding waters, and punctuated with strips of kelp torn from the ocean floor and rolling, grinding logs. The wind whips the raindrops and sea spray against your face and above the roar is the intermittent and rumbling boom of the foghorn from the lighthouse caught on the lulls in the wind and piercing the salty air.

If you walked along the expanse of Long Beach with your jackets and hoods pulled tightly to brave the elements, you can almost taste the ocean in the wind that blows in gusts causing ripples on the beach and flurries of spray and sand that whip around your feet. You marvel that there are still surfers out there braving the elements in what feels like sub-zero temperatures, attacking the waves head on. Experiencing nature like this makes you feel insignificant in its size and power, in its unpredictability and beauty. It refreshes you, rejuvenates you and you are ready to face the forthcoming year head on.

The weather was pretty much like this for the whole time we were there until the last day when an eerie calm settled on the area and a double rainbow heralded in the New Year.