Seattle

Friday September 30th

Yesterday we left Victoria in the 10.35 Black Ball line Coho ferry to Port Angeles in the USA on the Olympic Peninsula. This was a two hour sail, crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It was an old boat, built in 1959, and it rolled a little bit in the strait. We had great views leaving Victoria Harbour

 The bridge lifted to allow a yacht through

Harbour ferries setting out on the first trips of the day

We went through immigration in Victoria, then there were just a couple of questions when we got to the US, but they were happy to send us on our way without inspecting the van......thank goodness.....we've got a lot of stuff!!!

We then drove to Kingston crossing a floating canal bridge en route

The Kingston-Edmonds ferry took about 20 minutes and took us in north of Seattle, so that it was a relatively easy drive south and slightly west to Jessie and Ross's house, in Ballard. We were made very welcome, and with excellent directions from Jim, I managed to reverse the van into the back yard, it is a very tight fit and we have to get in and out by the passenger door. 

We had to turn the mirrors in but I didn't hit anything!!

We had a peaceful night, apart from the odd apple falling from the tree! 

Today Deb and Jim took us downtown to the Pike Place Market where there was a great variety of stalls particularly flowers,  vegetables and fish.

Dinner plate dahlias

And fungi!

We had a look at the original Starbucks, but there was a huge queue, so we drove back up to the Lighthouse roasters for coffee, then down to the Fishermans Terminal. We have never seen so many boats, both a variety of fishing boats and pleasure boats.

There is a wonderful fisherman's memorial here too

We ate at the Little Chinook fish cafe, when I enjoyed tempura battered prawns and chips. We then had a quick trip to the Ballard Market supermarket where they had a huge variety of foodstuffs for sale.

...and great displays of pumpkins.....already!!

Later on in the afternoon we picked Emmett up from school and went to the locks which link the sea in the Puget Sound to Lake Union and the harbour. There is a range of fish ladders there, for the salmon to move berween the slat and sea water depending on the time of year.

Just realised I didn't take any photos...just pics of the girls wearing the jackets I knitted for them when they were born almost a year ago. Apparently they are wearing them every day at present.

Libby

Daisy

...and Emmett playing with his new ferry

That's all for now, not sure how far we drove yesterday, will look it up later.

Not sure what is planned for tomorrow ! 

Victoria

Wednesday 28th September 

We left our Jordan River campsite yesterday morning in the mist, and drove south to Sooke where we stocked up with propane, and petrol, and coffee etc!  We weren't rushing as we couldn't book I not to the RV site until 12noon. Once more the road was not good, bumpy and twisty for the first part of the drive, then it got busier as we need the city. Fortunately we were driving in on an easy rout, from the west and the GPS was working well, however I did had to have my eyes peeled for traffic, traffic lights and pedestrian crossings ( pedestrians have right of way at all crossings and crosswalks at junctions).

We arrived shortly before noon and were able to chacon straight away and park up. We are at the back of the West Bay Marina RV park, the spaces on the front have wonderful views across the harbour to downtown Victoria.

After a bite of lunch 

we caught the Harbour Ferry ($40 for the two of us return, seemed a tad steep, but....)

On the way we passed the nest boxes for the Purple Martin, but apparently they have flown early this year

And some very smart floating houses!!

 On arrival we were immediately impressed by the waterfront and architecture

 The flower displays were lovely, very colourful and inventive 

 After a walk around we went to the BC museum, which was fantastic. Lots of information about the First Nations, the languages, way of life etc then the development following the arrival of Europeans, particular the British. I am astounded that we settled this place, it's a very long way by sea! 

Unfortunately my left knee has been playing up, I thought it had settled but it hasn't, so that curtailed our exploration and we got the ferry back here, seeing lots of sea planes and going across the. 'runway' on the way.

These planes are a way of life here! 

Today we have ridden the public buses, down inot town and out to the Butchart Gardens. A day pass is $5  for as many bus rides as you like in the day!! Altogether we probably spent 3hours on buses, but we saw a lot of sights. We could have got a tour bus but the would have cost about $30 each on top of the entrance to the gardens.

The Butchart Garden was created by Jennie Butchart when she and her husband moved out there. It was created in an old quarry and is fantastic. Lots of "Wow"s here!

The sunken garden

The planting and the flower displays were wonderful. Here is just a small taste

.....and just to finish off..a maple leaf! 

Off to the US on the ferry tomorrow morning for a family weekend in Seattle, back to Canada and Vancouver on Sunday evening.

Km yesterday : 67 nil today

Wildlife: hummingbird on black eyed Susan today.

Lake Cowichan and Port Renfrew

Monday 26th September

We had a more successful fire last night and were able to sit outside with a drink and nibbles.

This morning we woke up to lovely light in the water.

We set off back through the rolling farmland towards the Highway 1 and came across one of these signs! I love them!! Can you imagine our farmers' reaction to one of these warning of their farm entrance! We saw lots as we drove south from Jasper, but never in a place where it was safe for me to pull off the road...

We crossed the 1 and drove west on the Pacific Marine route, on the 18,  first to Lake Cowichan where we filled up with petrol, did some shopping at the Country Grocer, and had a coffee with Internet at Tim Horton's. The latter is a coffee shop chain we have seen everywhere, but this was the first time we had been in one. It was OK....is the best I can say!!

We then drove off into the wilds!  Up hill and down dale with forests in either side, some of which had been partly felled. At first all we met were huge logging trucks, the a few more vehicles but on the whole it was very quiet.

We arrived in Port Renfrew shortly before 1.0pm and found the pub!!! The Port Renfrew Hotel, which had a nice deck area on the harbour side, and we stopped for lunch! Fish and chips, I think this is the first meal we haven't made ourselves apart from sandwiches on the ferries. It was very good and Michael enjoyed his pint of Island lager. After lunch we had a look at the local campground, which is right on the beach and run by First Nations. I had read some poor reviews and we found them to be justified so we changed our plans and moved on. 

View from lunch spot

Looking up the Renfrew river

Port Renfrew is one end of the West Coast Trail, which is a 6 or 7 day hike along the remote west coast. As we reached the road junction we saw a young man with rucksack etc hitiching a lift, so to cut a long story short we picked him up. He was German from Berlin, a social worker, also studying for his Masters. He had just completed the trail and was on his way back to Victoria. We took him as far as the Jordan River where we found a shoreside campsite, and were pleased to see he got another lift within a few minutes of us arriving there. It is not a busy road. 

So, we are now sitting looking at the USA and the Olympic Peninsula across the water, we will be over there on Thursday!! It looks very mountainous and, as we were driving down the road, we could see some very high snow capped peaks.

We are completely off grid here, so this will definitely not be posted until tomorrow.

Nanaimo rest day and Duncan with photos!!!

Evening view from the camper

We had a very relaxing day yesterday, took the bus into town, $2.25CAD each way for Seniors, so maybe just over £3 each in total. Seemed expensive for the 5km distance each way, it is a flat fare. The bus exchange was up the hill from the waterfront in a bit of a seedy district. We didn't walk back up but found a bus stop near the ferry terminal for the way home.  I had a dodgy knee and wasn't walking very well, think I must have strained it, possibly on the board walk the other day. Anyway, we walked along the waterfront 

Looked at the sea planes, 

saw one take off... 

Then we had a coffee and found the bus stop.....after a short visit to a very nice shop selling decent gifts!!  

In the afternoon Michael took himself off for an hour's walk while I rested my knee, applied tiger balm and made a lace. 

It is growing very slowly, I haven't had as much time to do this as I thought I would. I also brought some patchwork, but I find that difficult to do in the van even with the extra lamp I brought. I am working on dark fabric with dark thread, so, surprisingly, it is easier to see the lace!

We saw a seal, various ducks including loons, heron and a black squirrel. 

Later on we became real Canadian campers and made a fire, one of Michael's favourite occupations! 

Unfortunately just as he got it going nicely, it rained, however he toughed it out!!!!

So we had a damp evening, but were warm and dry in the van.

Km today 0!!

Sunday 25th September

A gentle start, then I got back behind the wheel and we drove south for three quarters of an hour to the British Columbia Forest Discovery Centre, which was really interesting. There is a replica logging camp using  buildings which were saved from demolition, and include school room, accommodation,  blacksmiths shop etc. Lots of locomotives and machinery too. We took the train ride which runs through the site and along the side of Somenos lake, crossing a wonderful trestle bridge

We spoke to a very helpful lady at the Visitor Centre just across the car park and came away with loads of information for the rest of the morning and tomorrow.

We drove about 10-15mins south to Duncan (we had to visit didn't we!!). This town is famous for its Totem Trail. There are over 40 carved totems around the town and they have set up a self guided trail, just follow the yellow footprints....

The widest totem in the world!!!!

They all tell a story and the project was set up in 2012 to demonstrate the link between the town and the First Nation heritage. Most were carved by First Nation men, who had learned the skills from their forebears, although one was Maori. First Nation houses had carved house posts, which informed about the families living there, and the totems were a way of recording their legends.

Following recommendation from the Visitor Centre we drove back north to a small village of Crofton on the sea front. The drive was delightful, rural farmland and mixed woodland with Autumn colours. We are parked on the harbour front, it's a bit public, but we have got a nice view across to Saltspring Island. The wood pulp processing mill is also  just in view! 

Interestingly the sand here is black

Although just across the inlet it is white!!

We had a pleasant stroll along the boardwalk and around the village, then relaxed! My knee has improved a lot, but is not quite back to normal yet.

Km today: 67, a very gentle day!

Tomorrow we plan to drive to Lake Cowichan and across to Port Renfrew