20030625                        Open new window with today’s pictures.

June 25, 2003

Start:   Fort Worden SP, Port Townsend WA
End:     Fort Victoria RV Park, Victoria BC
Miles:   53
Hi Temp: 80.2
Lo Temp: 50.4


We were up early, made the trailer ready to travel, and were on the road to Port Angeles before 8:00am. We checked in at the ferry terminal about 9:30.  We were told to be back by 12:15 for the 12:45 departure.

We walked to a nearby building and had breakfast.  A big breakfast.  Then we hiked around the lower streets of PA, looking for dramamine for Dolores. We came across a little store that had some, solving that potential problem.

We wandered around a little more as the morning warmed up and became nice. The wind was still pretty fresh out of the west.  In the wind, a jacket was needed.

Then we sat in the truck and read our books until the ferry (M.V. Coho) showed up. It steamed up smartly, heading west, just off the loading dock. He put a line onto a piling and pivoted the stern around to the loading dock, thrashing up the water all the way.  Then he backed in to the loading dock, secured to it and vehicles began exiting from the stern.

After the departing vehicles cleared out of the way (they were slow clearing customs and jammed the ramp), we started loading, driving into the ferry in the opposite direction to those departing. We had to take the lane all the way to the port side, most of the way forward. Then we left the truck and made our way to the observation lounge.

A few minutes late, he hooted the underway signal and we marched off smartly.  By the time we rounded Ediz Hook, he was at 15 knots and he stayed there until within the Victoria harbor. The transit was smooth. 

At Victoria, the crew opened a large door in the starboard side forward. When we'd secured starboard side to the pier, and ramps were put in place, vehicles started departing the ferry. Those in line with the door left first, then those in the bow were backed up, turned right, and departed. We had no problem making a sweeping right turn and out the door, behind a Gray Lines bus that had been next to us.

Then we slowly made our way up our lane (one of four) towards the customs inspector. He asked about alchohol on board, any guns, and perishable fruit and vegetables. He asked where we were going and how long we'd be in Victoria.  I guess he was ok with our reactions, since he said, "Have a good trip." 

We turned left, left, went two blocks, and left again to get on the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH-1) in downtown Victoria, going around the old Empress Hotel while doing it. Going through downtown here with a 5er behind the truck keeps one alert. The directions were clear, though, and we made it straight to the campground.

We checked in and set up the trailer in a site up the hill from the office.  The site is level and shaded.  The staff here is very friendly and willing to help.  The map of the place shows over 750 sites. 

The office folks gave us directions to a small shopping center down the road.  We went there, got Canadian dollars from the ATM, and found out the exchange rate (1.324 CDN = 1.00 US, not as good as two years ago, but we'll take it). Then we got groceries next door and returned to the trailer.

About then, I went to the office and received four days worth of email (250+ messages, including all the spam). I came back to the trailer and composed replies off-line.  One required a call to our son, but we couldn't catch him and will try again tomorrow.

We decided to have a picnic, so we had hamburgers and salad on the picnic table. It was very comfortable with a gentle breeze.

During the preparation for the picnic, we heard a train horn softly, then more strongly. Finally, a two-car train of Budd cars stopped at the tiny passenger stop for the RV park and neighborhood.  Four passengers got off, and then the train went on its way, hooting like mad, toward downtown. When asked, the folks in the office gave me a schedule for the train (the Esquimalt & Nanaimo "Railiner").  It leaves Victoria at 8:15am and goes 225 miles to Courtenay BC. Then it turns around and arrives in Victoria at 6:00pm.

After the picnic, I went to exchange email again.  While at the office, I heard a "thump" and a man yelling out about a bird running into the window.  Sure enough, its neck was broken.  Several people gathered and wound up chatting about other things.

I returned and we settled in.  Tomorrow we go to Butchart Gardens (flowers) and a few other places.

20030626                   Open new window with today’s pictures.

June 26, 2003

Start:   Fort Victoria RV Park, Victoria BC
End:     Fort Victoria RV Park, Victoria BC
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: see tomorrow
Lo Temp: see tomorrow


We ate breakfast in the little house, then we took off with the truck to the famous Butchart Gardens.  It's a flower garden set in an old quarry.  The gardens are fabulous. There are flowers at all times of the year, in great profusion.

The rose garden was the big attraction (I thought) this time, but there were several others.  Dolores took a good many pictures.  We were there, in all, a couple of hours.

We had an ice cream bar in the snack bar, and picked up a couple of things in the gift shop. 

Then we went down the road to the Butterfly Gardens, where a jungle condition is maintained in a glass-roofed enclosure and butterflies roam all over.  There are a few free-flying birds and some ground birds that perform clean-up chores.  The butterflies are from this part of the world. The butterfly place in Grand Rapids, Michigan we saw with Mom several years ago is about the same size.

After these, we went back to the little house and had lunch, then took off again.  This time we went to Fort Rood and the Fisgard Lighthouse.  Fort Rood was a Coast Artillery place guarding Esquimalt and Victoria harbor.  It never had to repel anyone. Fisgard Lighthouse guided the Canadian Navy's ships into their base in Esquimalt; it has been automated since 1929 and is still in service.  It was the first lighthouse on canada's west coast.

As we walked back across the causeway from the lighthouse, we spotted a harbor seal off to one side. We watched it for 15 minutes or so, hoping it would come closer but it never did.

While entering this compound, Dolores caught her foot on a low place off the sidewalk and fell.  She skinned her knee a bit and was a little shaken, so we returned to the little house to take it easy afterward.

After a while, we went down the 1-A road to Four Mile House for dinner.  The building is one of the oldest in the area. The food was very nice - I had salmon broiled with a lime sauce, Dolores apple-roasted pork loin.

We returned to the house and got ready to go on.