In this travel‑vlog style video, the host (with companion Jocelyn) takes viewers on a spontaneous day‑trip to Metchosin, a tiny community just south of Victoria on Vancouver Island. The tour begins with a drive that ends at a beach where the road literally meets the ocean, highlighting Devonian Park’s accessible shoreline and driftwood. The host then explores the quirky Michosen store, a labyrinthine shop filled with everything from remote‑control cars to car parts, noting its owner’s YouTube channel. A stop at a local bakery showcases fresh bread and mini‑bars, while a nearby farm‑market offers seeds, fresh produce, and a miniature florist, with prices noted in Canadian dollars. The centerpiece of the visit is the Metchosin Arts Centre, a repurposed elementary school housing multiple artist studios, an air‑themed gallery featuring felted and sewn representations of spores and dust mites, and Canadian snack staples like butter tarts. The tour concludes with a craft brewpub and a fiber‑art event held in an Anglican church, where pews have been transformed into display space. Throughout, the host offers enthusiastic recommendations, especially for travelers heading to Nanaimo Infusion Weekend, urging them to stop by Metchosin for its unique blend of natural beauty, local commerce, and community art.
Chapters
Imagine a place where when you just drive down the road, you come across the literal ocean. This is our visit to Michosen today, which Jocelyn and I hung out in. Michosen is down here, close to Victoria. Nanaimo's up here, just for reference. It's so small that like nothing has its own name. The store is like the Michosen store. The cultural center is like the Michosen cultural center. There's the Michosen pharmacy. Like it doesn't have its own brand name. And then the My Chosen Cafe. Get it? My chosen café. Anyway, it is actually really cute. They have like a big restaurant there. They've got this bakery kind of off to the side. Yes, they have Minimo bars. They have— those up there are like freeze-dried candies. They're actually really good. And all sorts of little pastries and trinkets you can buy. There's the restaurant. All right, this store we have to talk about. It's one of those stores where you go into, it looks really small, and then you kind of get into the depths of it and there's just aisles and aisles of stuff and you're like, Why do I need a remote control car? I don't know, but it's $20, so obviously I have to have it. And then we're going to keep walking. Now we're getting into like car parts down this whole aisle with like a hardware store. Anyway, I love stores like that. That's the Michosen store. The guy actually has a YouTube channel as well. This was such a beautiful— I forgot the name again already. The park. Devonian. Devonian Park. Relatively accessible for the first little while. There is a hill that goes downhill. And this is— we're beach. It's at the end of this road and it's just literally the ocean. It's like the road ends in the ocean. The driftwood is so nice. It's sandy. It's actually really warm when we went. Really nice place for a quick walk and super accessible right from the road. It's just like downhill. It's so majestic. And we did a little bit of driving. We ran across this place, which is like this really cute farm/market. I feel like they're just sort of getting started. Because it was a little bit empty, but they had all sorts of stuff. They had seeds in there. They had some fresh food. We'll come back to that in a second. They had a little miniature florist shop set up and real food that you could go. Those prices, by the way, are in Canadian dollars, remember? So it's cheaper than you think it is, Americans. And then this bread, she was like, this just arrived. Like every day you can actually see steam in it. That's how— or condensation. That's how fresh they were. Okay, so this is the Arts Centre, which used to be an elementary school. It's actually really, really cute inside. And the whole thing, like, they've got all sorts of different studios and galleries. Look at this. It look— doesn't it look like— it even smells like an elementary school, if you know what I mean. So all the way along the hallways, there's all sorts of different, like, they're all independent artists that have got their own shops. And then there's this, like, surprisingly large art gallery. Their theme was air, so it was all stuff to do with air, things that are in the air, things that pass in the air, and really creative stuff. We kind of lingered on this one down here, which is like, it's fabric, but it's supposed to be spores under a microscope. And this, this one is like what dust mites look like under a microscope. But this is all knitted, not knitted, but like felted. Thank you. And sewn. This is the artist. It was really cool. Here's a couple more things. And because this is a Canadian event, a Canadian art gallery, there's snacks. And look at the very top. Those are authentic butter tarts from Canada. If you know, you know. All right. So we leave this former elementary school. Kind of funny story is this portable, which is where a lot of elementary schools also teach kids. This is now a brewpub, like a craft brewery down the road for a little bit. And we run across this, which turns out to be a fiber store, but our fiber event sale, and it's in like a Catholic church and look at— oh, Anglican. Okay, Anglican church. And look at this, like all the pews are all been taken over by, by these things. Anyway, so Michosen, it's really close to Victoria. If you're going to be coming up to Nanaimo Infusion Weekend at the end of this month and you're going to be coming up through Victoria and you've got some time, stop in at Michosen. It's super cute.
