Year Four - Day One Hundred and Eleven

Sam’s View

Today we put the rv into a shop.

Summer’s View

We were supposed to drive to Kent, WA (just outside of Seattle) to spend the night at the KOA so we can get our windshield replaced tomorrow, but the stop engine light keeps coming on, so we are taking the RV to a garage in Olympia. All of the gauges are reading good temps, so we think it is just a bad sensor or something, but we have to get it checked.

After stopping at the garage, they told us they can’t look at it until tomorrow, so we had to find a place to stay the night. After calling all of the RV campgrounds in the area and only getting one to answer the phone (no vacancy) we decided to drive up to stay at the KOA in Kent after all. 58 miles each way – bummer.

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Ten

Sam’s View

Today we took the rv and car on a ferry to Port Angeles, WA!!!!! We made it back to the USA!!! Yay!!! We stayed at a KOA. It has a pool and hot tub! I will be in both.

 

Summer's View

We finally made it back to the lower 48 today – woo hoo! We took a ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, WA. After a nice ferry ride where we saw a pod of orcas on one side and a humpback whale on the other, we made it into port. The customs agents went through our fridge and took tomatoes, scallions, and a green pepper (for fajita night, I suspect), but they left an apple. I find that strange, because they took the apples from a car in front of us. Hmmm.

We just drove down the road to spend the night at the KOA, but the stop engine light kept coming on, so now we have a new engine problem. Oh, joy.

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Nine

Sam’s View

Today we went whale watching! We saw orcas, grey whales, seals, sea lions, birds, and I even saw a little squid! One grey whale came really close to the boat! I loved it a lot!!!!!

 

Summer’s View

We decided to go whale watching today with Jaime’s Whale Adventures. What a great day! The weather was postcard perfect again, and the bay was flat like glass. Along the way to the area where they spotted whales feeding, we saw some harbor seals lounging on the rocks, and some sea lions. There were quite a few sea lion pups, too!

We came to an area where there were several grey whales feeding – awesome! One came really close to the boat and even came up to look at US looking at him! For the first time, I was actually close enough to get some decent pics!

 

 

On the trip back to the harbor, we came across a pod of orcas feeding, so we watched them for a while. It was a family group, and they had one calf that was only about five feet long – he was so cute! It was an awesome trip!

 

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Eight

Sam’s View

Today we went hiking on the Pacific Rim Trail! We saw tidepools with sea stars, crabs, snails, and anemones! We also saw a shipwreck and a lighthouse! It was amazing and I loved it!

 

Summer’s View

We hiked a mile or two along the Wild Pacific Trail, and it was beautiful! The views were amazing, and the weather was gorgeous. We went down to climb on the rocks a couple of times, and checked out some tide pools. There were bat stars, hermit crabs and snails everywhere! Lots of anemones, too, including the green ones.

 

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Seven

Sam’s View

Today we took a ferry with the rv and car to Vancouver Island! After that we drove for 2.5 hours to Ucluelet! The camp has a hot tub and sauna! Yay!

Summer’s View

Today’s adventure was our trip to Vancouver Island, taking the RV and car across the bay on a ferry! It was a two hour ferry trip, and they had really good food at the cafeteria on board! Buster had to stay in the RV alone, so he was not a happy camper!

After arriving on the island, we had about a four hour drive to Ucluelet, which is a small town on the western shore of the island. The drive took us over and around a lot of mountainous terrain, along a narrow, winding road.

The campground I had made reservations with was not what it advertised on the internet – it had no power hookups, only electrical boxes for an extension cord to plug into, and the “lodge” was closed with a tarp over the roof. The office was closed, and the person in the pub had no idea what to do about a campground check-in. We left and went down the road to a different campground, which at least has 30 amp power and water. They also have a hot tub and sauna – big plus! Dinner at a local restaurant with EXCELLENT food wrapped up the day!

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Six

Sam’s View

Today we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park! We walked across a 450 foot long suspension bridge, in the treetops, on a cliffwalk, and over streams! I loved it!

 

Summer’s View

Today we went to Suspension Bridge Park to check out a reeeeeaaally long suspension bridge! LOL It was a beautiful park, with boardwalks and nature walks all along the river and huge canyon. There was a treetop walk, and a cliff walk, too! We had a good time, and Sam really enjoyed it!

 

 

 

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Five

Sam’s View

Today we went to the Vancouver Aquarium! We saw fish, beluga whales, jellyfish, dolphins, porpoises, crabs, and sea otters! They were amazing!

 

Summer’s View

We went to the Vancouver Aquarium today to check out their sea creatures. It is a beautiful aquarium, but a lot of the exhibits are not in operation, and only one cafeteria was open for food, and it was lined up out the door with SLOW service.

This aquarium is the only one in Canada that does not capture their animals in the oceans, but rather only displays and trains animals they have rescued and rehabilitated, and that cannot be returned to the wild. The white-sided dolphins were beautiful!