Thursday, July 8th: Vancouver Island

We got up early (6am) and headed out of Mt Rainier towards Port Angeles, WA. Our goal was to take the ferry from Port Angeles to Vancouver Island, BC. Our timing was perfect. We just made the 12:45 ferry, which took about 90 mins to cross. After the usual border wait, we made our way to Vancouver city. It was full of traffic! We decided to head out of the city because of the traffic and heat and head to the country.

The campgrounds around were all booked up but we did manage to book into to a private campground at Thetis lake. It was just opened for the season and run by a German family. After some snacks we headed down to nearby Thetis lake where Christy swam and Mike relaxed on the beach. We headed to Victoria in search of some dinner and locally-brewed ales. We arrived at Spinnaker's pub, a micro-brewer in the British tradition - lots of ales, some cask-conditioned. The setting was on the water and we secured a place on the patio. The beer was fairly good but the food was better. We strolled back to our car along the marina, enjoying the harbor views as we walked.

The next day, we slept in but still hit the road at approximately 9am. The plan was non-existent...it was to be a relaxing day of driving along the coast and wandering aimlessly. We took the scenic highways often, driving through much countryside and seaside towns. We hit a beach called Parksville and spent some time lying in the beach and reading. We fell asleep to be awoken by the tide knocking at our feet. A deserved ice-cream followed. We headed back to the campground for a shower and headed into Victoria for a look around fisherman’s wharf and some yummy fish n chips. The food was great.

After eating, we headed into downtown Victoria ... we walked around
the waterfront area which had a Ska-fest going on. We hung around for a while, walked some more of the beautiful downtown area around Government street and headed back to thecampsite. We stopped in at the Six Mile pub (next to the campgrounds) for a couple of pints and headed back to camp.

Even though, Vancouver Island is beautiful, we felt it a little crowded for our likes. Our plan was to enjoy the country more, cities less and people not at all...so, we decided to move on the next day to mainland Canada.