It’s a moving day. Beautiful morning, brisk temperature to start the day. Breakfast first, pack, load, get outta dodge (or Vancouver). Except –
The Vancouver Art Gallery. Sally-Heath remembered last night that there is a collection of works by Emily Carr that she really wanted to see. So we first went downtown to the art gallery. I was going to browse with her, but while standing in line to pay I got cold feet, so I spent the next few minutes with the boys. Sally-Heath was out in less than 20 minutes ($1/min!). Turns out Emily’s work was mostly on tour, so she saw about 4 paintings, bought a book. Now we’re off.
The drive to the ferry is straightforward, but I managed to make it complicated. I wanted to have food available in case we had a long wait. In previous ferry trips I remember just parking on the road in an endless line, wondering if I was in the right place, fairly sure I was, but having no idea how long my wait might be. There was no Disney-like “45 minutes to Small World” signs. But those days are apparently over, at least in Vancouver. But wait, the prelude – As we drove out of Vancouver toward the ferry we looked for food stores. You guessed it, none to be seen. Lots of houses, and these folks must eat, but where do they get their food? Finally, as we’re getting closer and closer to the ferry and that nebulous line of cars, I decide to exit the freeway and find food on my own. Oops, I’m on an east-bound road and the next exit is 15 km away! Oh well – we take that next exit, find a food store, get some food, retrace and voila, back on the ferry trail.
It all comes to naught, though, when we get to the ‘terminal’, and purchase our ticket at the toll booth, and are directed to lane 37 to wait our turn – we might catch the 1pm ferry, but more likely the 2pm. The queue is about 500 m long, and 12 lanes wide. And there are two of them. And there is a café in the median in the middle, along with pissoirs, and even some grass for the boys. Well, we were prepared for the worst, and got the best! We did end up on the 2pm ferry. But the time went quickly.
The trip is about 100 minutes, and the weather today is very nice – there’s a pretty stiff breeze, but all in all it’s a pretty comfy trip. We stayed on deck most of the time, preferring to watch the water for sea life (none seen) and just experience the sea (wonderful, as always) instead of slouching and sleeping below deck. (S-H: As it seemed most did.) About the most exciting thing that happened (other than the blonde, oh, and the redhead) was the ships horn sounding. Thank goodness they announce before they blow! Nothing better than a nice, uneventful ride across the inside passage!
We drove off the ferry, and down route 17 towards Victoria, taking a diagonal path to Trans Canada 1 (yep, it’s on the island too!). There’s a lot of traffic, not just because the ferry dumped a thousand cars, but it’s rush hour on Friday. The traffic continues up route 1, but we get to Duncan in good time, find the Best Western, and we’re home again. A friend of mine, Ben Little, wrote a song that applies, although I think the original meaning was a little different. It’s called “Oh No, My Bedroom’s Changed Again!”. I’m sure the boys are humming it. I know I am!
We’ve had a really great meal in the most unlikely of places, the Best Western! They have a great chef, a very experienced manager, and we had a lovely trainee as a waitress. And for just a while we were the only customers. To be fair, it turns out they serve the same menu in the adjacent pub – which was quite busy. But we wanted a nice, quiet meal – one without TV, and the pub was a good sports bar.
It’s starting to drizzle, rain is the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. It has been a good day, and we’re looking forward to our Vancouver Island experience! Goodnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment