Island Living

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 - Saturday, July 17th, 2010

START:  RV Park 11:30 a.m.  >>>  Nanaimo, BC 5:00 p.m.  >>>  Chemainus, BC 5:30 p.m.

STOP:  Victoria, BC 10:30 a.m.  >>>  Swartz Bay 12:00 p.m.  >>>  RV Park 3:30 p.m.

WEATHER:  Beautiful and sunny (although sometimes on the nippy side) the whole time!

She livvvvves.  Sometimes I just don't feel like doing my homework when I'm trying to vacation, OK?  It just seems easier to lump all the events of these mini-vacations within a vacation together, but you've all made it quite apparent that you don't share my views on that.

TODAY IS DAY 30!  Officially one month away from home.  While it sometimes feels like we've been gone foreeeever, other days it feels like we've just left.  Regardless, we've reached our most westerly destination and any travelling from this point on will be homeward bound.  But back to what you've missed.  We spent the last approximately three or so days touring Vancouver Island, so I'll start at the beginning.

We figured we'd catch the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo since it would only be about a half hour drive to Aunt Sylvie's after that, so we loaded up and got there in time for the 12:50 ferry but oh, ya don't say?  She was full.  The next one departed at 2:50 so we had a good chunk of time to kill and did so by grabbing some lunch at a restaurant in the village (the waitress didn't know how to count the number of cokes ordered and forgot about Dad's beer all together so after a little coaxing from Mike and I to accept the little gifts life has to offer and keep yer trap shut, he did. We are good people.) and sitting down by the water until it was boarding time.  The ferry was pretty ginormous and boasted some lovely scenery, taking about an hour and 40 minutes total to reach its destination.

We made it to Nanaimo around five o'clock and only half an hour later (& NO wrong turns) we pulled into the parking lot at Aunt Sylvie's.  It was great to see her - and be back at her apartment and in Chemainus since Mike was only five and I had just turned 12 on our last visit - and even with barely any notice (we're good like that) she had whipped up a delicious dinner for us of salmon loaf, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob.  We spent the rest of the night sitting around, relaxing and chatting (Mike went skateboarding and found himself down at the beach) and were spoiled with a motherload of books and things from Aunt Sylvie : )  Thank you for everything!

The next day, Dad, Mike and I decided to head out towards Victoria to see some sights and give Mom and Aunt Sylvie a chance to catch up together.  It was only about an hour drive from Chemainus to Victoria and Mike managed the whole way without one bonch (as he also did on the way to the ferry from the RV Park!  Bravo!).  With each "emergency only" pullout we passed on the road, Dad and Mike suggested we pull over to play a quick game of croquet, or frisbee across the highway, but we carried on, hahah.  We made it to Victoria and eventually snagged ourselves a hotel room and while Mike lamed out in the room, Dad and I went for stroll to check things out and do a little browsing.  As you can see above, it's a beautiful city with a million and one things to do and see and I could have set up shop and stayed forever if it had been up to me.  Mike favours Alberta landscapes over B.C. himself, but nevertheless.  After strolling through the downtown/inner harbour area, we knew Mom would enjoy it just as much as we did, so the next day Dad took off back to Aunt Sylvie's to pick her up and we booked one more night at the hotel.  In a nutshell, our Victoria highlights:

• Mike:  "Sweet!  There's a safe in the closet."
  Me:  "You just punch in a code and then you can store all yer valuables in there."
  Dad:  "Yeah right.  The maids have some kinda master code and it just pops open and then it's a free for all."
  We look to our left.  Smile at the maid in the hall.  Scurry into the elevator.
• Our wonderful waitress at The Sticky Wicket (where we lunched two days in a row), Glamorous Glenys, who should have been a Hogwarts professor.
• The London Wax Museum (unfortunately sans Mel Gibson).
• The inner harbour and all of its boats and yachts and people and shops and shows.
• All of the old-fashioned cars that were driving around the city in preparation for the big show they're having on Sunday - approx. 900 of them will be parked all around the harbour.  Needless to say, Dad was pretty miffed that our plans had us leaving a day too soon.

All in all, we had a great stay on the island (even after going on a hairy goose chase on our way to the ferry back trying to find the Butchart Gardens - or if you're Dad, the "Butt-Itch" Gardens - only to find out it's $30 a person.  Seeeeeeya.)  The ferry back to the mainland was a much more pleasant experience - with little to no wait time - and we made it back to the RV Park with no mishaps to report.

Home sweet home - ish!  We have our site until Tuesday and, as far as I'm aware, plan to take full advantage of it.  Tomorrow is bound to be a pretty lazy one, but I promise to never withhold the days of our lives from you again.

Letting the good times roll,