Hold on to your hat because the crazy-fast pace isn’t slowing yet! In the next twelve hours we entered Canada, ferried across two bodies of water, drove 180 miles, and toured two cities before reentering the U.S. Where we done then? No! We still had sixty miles to drive till we reached our hotel!
We awoke in Port Angeles very early to get in line for the 8:00AM ferry but thankfully I was able to get Starbucks coffee to help me pass the time in line. As we pulled away from the dock I looked back to see the town and rising quickly behind it the Olympic Mountains. An awesome site.
Arriving in Victoria was comforting and fun. Comforting as this is where my Trans-Canada Highway odyssey ended and I was familiar with this flower-filled capital of British Columbia. Fun because I could share my enthusiasm with Kelsey. Staying within a mile of where we landed we took in the sites.
We only had three hours to loiter which is one reason we limited the scope of our exploration. However, I knew we weren’t sacrificing too much. We were in the center of activity for Victoria with the world’s tallest totem pole, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the BC Legislature,Chinatown and great shops along Gov’t St and the waterfront. A short drive away was Beacon Hill Park with the Trans Canada Highway “Mile 0” sign. As usual, too much to do and so little time. We needed to high tail it for our next ferry up in Nanaimo.
For our ferry, we were the last car allowed to enter the landing at Nanaimo. This was important because if we had missed it then we’d have had no time to explore Vancouver. Capilano Suspension Bridge and stores where weplanned to buy Olympics shirts would be closed. The harbor and the skyline would be hard to see after dusk. Gastownand Canada Place would be unsafe. Happily we arrived at Horseshoe Bayin time to do it all … and then it got dark.
When we finally piled back in the car we had only to drive across the border and find a place to eat and sleep. Fairly straightforward except for the words “cross the border” when turned out to be a long and tedious process. Getting in to the U.S. is no easy matter any more, even along our friendliest border. Regardless, we eventually entered the U.S. and found a restaurant and checked in to a motel and all before midnight. (11:00 PM actually)
Not bad!
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