We left Valemount before 8 after a breakfast at A+W.
The drive home was routine. We drove through Jasper townsite to see how the rebuild is going and were impressed with what we saw.
Caro drove from Hinton home. We stopped in Edson and had lunch with Glen at BP.
All in all, a great trip
We had a room in Surrey last night which we got into about 9 PM
The room was good enough and we were out the door about 7:30 AM for a breakfast at a nearby McDonald’s.
By about 8 AM we started making our way through the city taking a southern route to avoid the construction on Highway 1 in the Langley area.
We had lunch at a Popeye’s in Kamloops ( great chicken burgers). The smoke from the forest fires wasn’t bad and we were not delayed at any point.
Heading north from Kamloops we hit stop and go constructions zones quite a few times. At Barriere I saw a slow speed car crash when I glanced up in my mirror. It was a fender bender and was the result of a frustrated driver getting tired of going 2 mph for “ages” ( it was a “very” backed up road at this point) and trying to turn back the way we came. He/She didn’t realize a truck had moved into the spot he/she had just vacated when he turned into the unfortunate one who had been right behind him in line. Oops!!!!!
We debated back and forth for quite a while about going home tonight but in the end decided it was still too far and we had been driving/ eating etc for eight hours already.
We got to Valemount and lucked out getting the last room at the Days Inn ( which only available because of a cancellation-lucky break for us!)
The hotel has a pool so Caro will be enjoying the hot tub tonight ( I didn’t bring swimming trunks this trip)
We slept relatively good last night but were awake earlier than we wished.
We were sitting on the deck first thing
looking out at the ocean and initially saw three otters moving in front of us. Later we saw a seal very close to shore. Very exciting!
Of course Caro had to use the sewing machine at the house!
The day was spent in the gorgeous VRBO house or out on the beach. The kids were having a blast. Caro and I talked with Michelle’s aunt and uncle separately and together about their world travels. I picked up a couple of ideas for us to investigate.
All in all a great day with everyone.
We left shortly after 4 PM to drive to Dukes Point (Nanaimo) and were on the 6 PM ferry to Tsawwassen.
I slept so-so last night however Caro did better.
We checked out of Quality Inn ( pretty good breakfast included in the room cost) and were at Butchart Gardens at opening time of 9 AM.
While enjoying the flora and fauna, Mike called to inform us of their vacation change due to the wildfires in the interior of BC. They had now booked an Air Bnb on the island at Chemainus and invited us to stay for the night.
We were able to change our ferry reservation until Tuesday at 5:45 from Duke Point to Tsawassen so we could spend tonight and most of tomorrow with Mike and family and Michelle’s aunt and uncle.
We drove to downtown Victoria after finishing the Gardens. We parked near Fisherman’s wharf and then walked to the legislature building where we did a self tour of the two floors open to the public.
After that we walked around downtown a bit before going back to the car for some water/Coke Zero before walking another block to Fisherman’s Wharf. We were there because Caro wanted to have the famous fish and chips ( which we have had before). I wasn’t hungry at all but sucked it up to enjoy a VERY filling meal (😜)
That completed , we made our way north bound over the Malahat pass and proceeded to stop in a few villages along the coastline just sightseeing.
We found our way to the Air Bnb at Chemainus and are enjoying some quiet solitude on the patio overlooking the ocean as the rest of the family is still working their way here. OMG. So beautiful
We said good-bye to Helmut and Ruth about 9:30 and headed down the coast 2 ish hours to Susan and Murray’s place at Shawnigan Lake
We had a great visit with Susan, Murray and brief hello with Isaac.
We sat out on their deck and enjoyed a nice lunch before we said our good-byes and headed down to the Malahat Skywalk. Traffic was pretty crazy however we made it there without too much extra driving.
The skywalk was pricey but enjoyable. We walked all the way to the top of the lookout tower, enjoyed the blue sky , clear day views and then walked back to the parking lot on a nature walk through the trees. It was a nice pit stop.
The drive into Victoria was just crazy on the Malahat highway which desperately needs expanding. We had pre-booked our hotel up near Sidney for easy access tomorrow to Butchart Gardens and then the ferry.
The hotel (Quality Inn) had a list of recommended restaurants and as we wanted seafood we chose a place on the Sidney waterfront.
We each had seafood, enjoying the ambience on the seafront and a later walk on the Malecon.
Lots of driving. In the morning we drove about 2 1/2 hours north to Woss and spent three hours with Christine at her home. She proudly showed us her yard and house and talked “way over my head” with plant names etc.
We left her house about 2 PM and drove south again, back past Klebe’s place and into Parksville where we went to Karen’s place (first time). We went to a nice restaurant located at the local airport before Caro and I drove back to Helmut and Ruth’s for a couple hours of cards and laughter.
550 kilometres driving today
Caro and I walked down to the beach (about a block away). There is a local park on the way we went through. It is a mini forest of cedar trees and it is magnificent ; just beautiful!
We had blue sky all day long which seems to happen when we come out to the coast. Helmut reminded us that the last time we were here was 2018 ( and it was gorgeous then as well)
Ruth was busy with grandkids for a few hours so we hopped into Helmut’s truck and drove out to Cathedral Grove. There we met a 100 people or so all looking for parking which maxes out at 80. What a gong show! Anyway we parked down the road and walked back to the park, which,as always, was beautiful as we marvelled at the massive trees.
From there we drove over to the Qualicum River water falls and did some hiking/viewing.
Before heading back to the house we drove around the quaint town of Qualicum Beach. No fast food chain restaurants allowed in town so it maintains a neat charm and beauty.
The evening was spent chatting and playing some cards.
After a fairly decent sleep we got up to a nice hot buffet style breakfast at the hotel. It was really good.
Our trip south to the ferry was “ OK”. We had severe smoke until about Hope. The highway was so so twisty and fast I ended up not allowing the car to do any self driving. It was safer for me to steer it. The adaptive cruise control was awesome!
All was going well until we hit MAJOR stop and go construction in Langley. We came “this” close to running into the guy in front of us and at the same time the guy behind us almost hit us YIKES; it was ”so” close.
We got to the ferry too soon for them to allow us to get into a waiting lane do we retreated to a nearby mall for an hour.
The trip to the Klebe’s went well and we enjoyed supper and conversation until we hit the sack for a nice sleep
We left Sherwood Park about 12:45 after Caro completed a medical appointment.
Caro drove the new car to Hinton as she prefers 4 lane highways and I handled the remainder of the driving to Kamloops.
I really like the new driving aids such as lane centering and adaptive cruise control. I only encountered a few times where I took over driving the car instead of letting it drive itself.
We saw a bear and a crane (?) and had a beautiful view of Mt Robson.
Due to the forest fires it was extremely smoky from about Blue River south into Kamloops
We arrived in town about 8:40 local time and after a bowl of chili from Tim Horton’s we checked in to the Quality Inn.
