July 4th - 11th, 2017
It's finally time to head across the water to Vancouver Island. We will spend three weeks here staying a various places on the island. First stop is the city of Victoria, where we will spend a lot of time with family.
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| Since there were 4th of July celebrations planned in Port Angeles, Washington a little later in the day, we decided to get to the ferry terminal early so we could avoid any street closures. |
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| We went to downtown Victoria and took a harbor tour on this cute little tug. We were the only ones on board. It was great being able to hop from seat to seat to take pictures and see all around! |
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| The Empress Hotel and its harbor across the street from it. |
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I saw a couple of seals in Victoria's harbor. Come to find out, they were the only ones we would see during our stay.
Below, are houseboats of all shapes and sizes. What a view for these people.
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| Thank goodness Norm is really good at driving and parking in close quarters. They REALLY pack the vehicles in like sardines for the 90 minute trip across the waters to Vancouver Island. |
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| We put the motorhome and car on the ferry and enjoyed the 90 minute trip over to Vancouver Island, British Columbia where we spent the following 3 weeks |
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| Norm and I had lunch on the waterfront in downtown Victoria amongst a profusion of flowers! |
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| Norm's niece and boyfriend took Norm one day on a long hike, and I joined them the next for a lovely bike ride on one of the local paths that goes for miles and miles |
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| This was a lovely maintained trail, but frankly, I was bored to tears. I guess when I bike ride I like the "thrill" and this trail felt more like "exercise". |
Victoria is a very bike friendly town. It rather freaked me out how all the cyclists just jump out in front of you, expecting you to stop as they approach. It is very different in the states. Cyclists realize they need to be the cautious ones. Pedestrians have the same mentality. If you are walking and even approach a crosswalk, traffic immediately comes to a halt. It's a great way to be, but I warned our family to be watchful of the US citizens. We might just run them down!
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| While I went to Urgent Care to get my ear cleared, Norm, took a very long and arduous hike with his niece, Louise and her boyfriend Phil. at East Sooke Regional Park. Boy are they in good shape! |
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After a wonderful week together we all went to a cooking class /eating event at London Chef where we learned to cook authentic Tapas dishes.
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| Norm impressed everyone with his "pan-flipping" abilities! A chef in the making! |
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| We had a FABOULOUS meal of fresh Sockeye Salmon with an incredible dill sauce at Louis and Phil's house one night. We were sure treated like royalty while here! |
We were also taken up the coast to see the smaller towns a little north of Victoria. We had lunch at a seaside restaurant, and later that day we all had ice cream! We had a lovely week in Victoria, and it was great to spend so much time with Louise who we had not seen in almost a decade, and meeting Phil was such a pleasure.
