Happy Birthday Canada, USA, Me.............

Mural in Port Angeles where we boarded Ferry for Victoria

Mural of Historic Ferry

Vehicles Boarding the Ferry

Victoria, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island is a truly pretty little city. Our RV park, West Bay, is effectively right in town and just a bike ride from downtown. The parking space is just a bit tight, making the back-in maneuver an excellent spectator sport (one I've been enjoying as my neighbors enjoyed mine), but we look out our living room window right at the marina and past that the city. See?

Those things that look like houses are actually floating. The marine equivalent of a park model trailer.

Swing the camera 90 degrees and there's Victoria. It's a 5 kilometer shore walk or a 3 kilometer street bike ride away.

Park fees were on the high side of reasonable but the ferry ride was a bad case of sticker shock - $205 one way. Remember that rain I mentioned in Washington? Not a drop here. It's funny hearing TV weathermen promising an end to the blistering heat wave - 80 degrees during the day and high 50's at night. Not to mention the cloudless skies. We're seeing lots of peeling sunburn on the natives and visiting Germans (lots of'em, they love RVing).  Were entertained that night on TV with a documentary on how Canada won the war of 1812 followed by an hour of Twilight Zone (go ask your parents). We also met a couple of Canadian couples who've just barely started full-time RVing.

Next day we biked into town to get the lay of the land. Everything important is nice and close to the waterfront. You could move here just for the view. Once I hit the Lotto, we'll have a summer home here! We found farmer's market in a park just behind downtown. The very place where this weekend will be a gay pride parade. I'm envisioning cut-down wifebeater t-shirts and rubber boots. Tie dye underwear is selling big in anticipation of the event. Honest! Actually I personally ended up with a beautiful birthday present, a tie-dyed hoodie, plus a jar of fir-tip jelly. Tastes a lot like mint jelly.

 Sunday, road trip. A short one to Sooke, just 20 or so miles up the west coast. One of the new fulltime RVers we met is a retired RCMP veteran. He provided us with a list of must-see's in this are and we dutifully followed his advice. Obviously, he didn't steer us wrong. Our first stop at McGregor Park took us along a half mile or so pier built alongside the shore to a big platform one of the locals was using for Dungeness crab fishing. He landed nearly a dozen while we watched, only one male, the females are illegal to keep. Just a couple of the males would be a fine meal for two. Less than a mile from there is Wiffenspit, blocking a few hundred acres of harbor from the rest of the bay except for a narrow inlet. Nice long walk. Before we left we stopped in at the tourist information office and got more ideas and toured an outdoor museum complete with a relocated lighthouse.

Entrance to McGregor Park

Just a dead tree, honest. Looks great though, doesn't it?

Tourists, view, etc.

I think the pattern on the underside means it's female.

The locals just shrugged. Too common a sight to comment on.

Maybe you heard about the excitement on Canada Day in Victoria. Neither did we until the next day. Seems a couple of homegrown terrorists (convert muslims, way not too bright) tried to emulate the Boston thing. RCMP had tagged them much earlier then busted them in full preparation. Meanwhile we took that 5 mile or so waterfront walk and had lunch in Chinatown (oldest on the West Coast) , found leechee and mangosteen (exotic Asian fruits - delicious, indescribable flavor) plus durian (actually pretty tasty but the odor makes it for enthusiasts only) and finished up the day at a waterside pig roast followed by fireworks.

Our RV park from downtown.

Pretty cool, eh?

Gratuitous sexy statue. Other side is definitely R-rated.

Liz swears everyone who heard we were going to Vancouver Island insisted she see Butchart Gardens. Heck, it's only 20 or so miles north of Victoria. A confession. I was no better there than Liz is at a car or steam tractor show. For sure it's impressive but after a couple of hours of feasting my color blind retinas on one lush flowerbed after another, I pled for mercy. I think Liz was relieved to allow me to wander off to the café while she made sure we got our exorbitant money's worth. The gardens are the legacy of a very rich couple who just didn't know when to quit planting the darn things. When they shuffled off this mortal coil their heirs were only too happy to foist it off on local government and enthusiasts who've been raking in the cash ever since.

One of the things in the photo is prettier than the rest. Guess my choice.

I have no way of choosing among the hundreds of pictures we have of this place so here's a representative sample.

One other thing that day. Our semi-trusty Rand-McNally GPS once again took ill. This time the power cord ran a fever and blew its fuse. Of course this is a proprietary cord and the usual power cords just wouldn't do. Driving past a pawn shop, I had an idea. For a fairly nominal fee we now possess a 2 or so year old Tom-Tom. Nice bright screen, though tiny and it even sticks on the front of our dashboard without being intrusive. I expect the Rand will be resurrected eventually due to its huge screen and RV friendly format, but it'd better realize it has a rival.

Wednesday we again drove to Sooke then continued on to Port Renfrew, where the pave road just.............ends. There seems to be not much of a way up the Pacific coast except by boat. First Nation (Indians) owns a huge chunk of this island and seem to be determined to keep it inaccessible, bless them. Anyway we turned inland there and drove between the mountains to Duncan on the east coast, then back down to Victoria. 150 or so miles and an entire day. Just doing the tourist thing.

Port Renfrew is part of the temperate rain forest, like parts of the Olympic Peninsual. Moss everywhere.

The Harris Creek Spruce. Somehow this Sitka Spruce avoided being harvested and now is a minor tourist attraction.

The lumber business is alive and well here. In 40 or 50 years, they'll harvest in this area again.

Thursday we did some big-time touring without ever getting into the truck. Our retired mountie friend had told us about the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver. Claimed you could do it just by bus and ferry. He was right, too. Unfortunately, it's 4 hours by that public transportation and another 4 hours back, leaving essentially no time for sightseeing. Nevertheless, the ferry ride is a nice cheap day cruise.

Major attraction of the ferry ride. Islands, lots of islands.

Yesterday we hit the BC museum in downtown Victoria. That building was a lot bigger inside than out. Since I'm about to be run out of this internet connection, I'll just say if you're in this area be sure to budget a full day for it.

It was tough taking non-flash pictures but couldn't resist this portrait. Johnny Depp's great-great grandpa?

Aand today's my umpty umpth birthday. thanks for all the birthday wishes on facebook.