There and back again
I'm lazy in real life, and also in my blog. Here is the rest of my vaction notes, in point form...
- Missed hooking up with my relatives in Vancouver. People were tired after the Aquarium. Vancouver is very nice city, especially around the English Bay area we were staying at. I could live there. Had fun at the beach too.
- Ferry at Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. Nanaimo to Port Alberni to Pacific Rim. There was an accident outside of Cathedral Grove that spooked dawnsinger. She didn't like I was driving faster than the posted limits on the windy single lane road to the far side of the island.
- Spent three nights at Pacific Rim National Park. Our site backed onto the waterfront, so we were lulled to sleep by the waves. Ocean was spectacular, although the sun didn't set into the ocean, rather beyond the north side of the island.
- Visited Tofino and Ucluelet. That's U-clue-let, accent on the second, not the third syllable. Picked up some t-shirts and had some local flavour of food. All other times, it was franchised fast food, because it was easily accessible and little D demanded it. We drove close to 2900 km, and he looks forward to a McDonald's Playplace.
- BC has signs pointing out Artisans. One was a candy maker - Coombs Country Candy. Oh. My. God Sting. They had the best brittle this side of the asteroid field. It was a complete mistake that I didn't buy more for myself or for others.
- Arrived in Victoria for the Tall Ship festival. It was a complete disaster the first day (Friday) of the festival. A lot of upset tourists. First, we had to line up for our confirmation number (we ordered our wrist bands online). Then we had to line up for wrist bands. Now, we didn't know this part, but you had to line up for passes to board the ships. A lot of people who were in line ups to see the ships probably didn't know this, so there were a lot of people who lined up for hours only to be turned away later. The festival ran out of tickets eventually to pass out. After you had the tickets, you had to line up to get out on the docks. Once you were on the docks, you lined up again to board the boat you had a pass to. Friday was a complete organizational disaster. I heard Saturday and Sunday were better. We never had tickets so we didn't expect to go onto a ship until some kind strangers, who were tired of waiting, gave us their tickets to the Bill of Rights. After we were on the docks, we also snuck aboard the Talofa and the Blarney Pilgrim. The other ships were still taking tickets or the wait was an hour long. At least D enjoyed himself at pirate school and pirate's hoarde of free goodies. We also did Minature World to close out the day.
- Driving back to Edmonton from Victoria. Our original plan was to stop at North Thompson Provincial Park for another night of camping, but I could taste home. I decided that I could make the drive all the way back to Edmonton, if the others would mind sleeping in the car. Sometime outside of Valemount, D had a meltdown. He has been a fairly patient traveller, minding himself with his LeapPad. But I pushed too far with him. He has been travelling all day, nearly 12 hours. We ended up camping in Mount Robson Provincial Park. Dawnsinger was able to quickly set up the tent in the dark and we all crashed. I also realized that I was taking a day of camping away from her. I'm such a heel. Broke camp and finished the drive home the next day.
- Missed hooking up with my relatives in Vancouver. People were tired after the Aquarium. Vancouver is very nice city, especially around the English Bay area we were staying at. I could live there. Had fun at the beach too.
- Ferry at Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. Nanaimo to Port Alberni to Pacific Rim. There was an accident outside of Cathedral Grove that spooked dawnsinger. She didn't like I was driving faster than the posted limits on the windy single lane road to the far side of the island.
- Spent three nights at Pacific Rim National Park. Our site backed onto the waterfront, so we were lulled to sleep by the waves. Ocean was spectacular, although the sun didn't set into the ocean, rather beyond the north side of the island.
- Visited Tofino and Ucluelet. That's U-clue-let, accent on the second, not the third syllable. Picked up some t-shirts and had some local flavour of food. All other times, it was franchised fast food, because it was easily accessible and little D demanded it. We drove close to 2900 km, and he looks forward to a McDonald's Playplace.
- BC has signs pointing out Artisans. One was a candy maker - Coombs Country Candy. Oh. My. God Sting. They had the best brittle this side of the asteroid field. It was a complete mistake that I didn't buy more for myself or for others.
- Arrived in Victoria for the Tall Ship festival. It was a complete disaster the first day (Friday) of the festival. A lot of upset tourists. First, we had to line up for our confirmation number (we ordered our wrist bands online). Then we had to line up for wrist bands. Now, we didn't know this part, but you had to line up for passes to board the ships. A lot of people who were in line ups to see the ships probably didn't know this, so there were a lot of people who lined up for hours only to be turned away later. The festival ran out of tickets eventually to pass out. After you had the tickets, you had to line up to get out on the docks. Once you were on the docks, you lined up again to board the boat you had a pass to. Friday was a complete organizational disaster. I heard Saturday and Sunday were better. We never had tickets so we didn't expect to go onto a ship until some kind strangers, who were tired of waiting, gave us their tickets to the Bill of Rights. After we were on the docks, we also snuck aboard the Talofa and the Blarney Pilgrim. The other ships were still taking tickets or the wait was an hour long. At least D enjoyed himself at pirate school and pirate's hoarde of free goodies. We also did Minature World to close out the day.
- Driving back to Edmonton from Victoria. Our original plan was to stop at North Thompson Provincial Park for another night of camping, but I could taste home. I decided that I could make the drive all the way back to Edmonton, if the others would mind sleeping in the car. Sometime outside of Valemount, D had a meltdown. He has been a fairly patient traveller, minding himself with his LeapPad. But I pushed too far with him. He has been travelling all day, nearly 12 hours. We ended up camping in Mount Robson Provincial Park. Dawnsinger was able to quickly set up the tent in the dark and we all crashed. I also realized that I was taking a day of camping away from her. I'm such a heel. Broke camp and finished the drive home the next day.