"Oh the Island Life is the Life for me"

I cried many times today. It's the breath-taking beauty of BC that stops me short and makes me whisper "Thank you Lord".

And I've seen a lot of beauty...

We started a little later than planned but when do Guadagnins get up at 5:30 am? Rugge and I had a tough time sleeping so instead of the 7 am ferry, we went with the more realistic 9 am ferry, a 7:30 wake up call. The family had packed the night before while getting ready for bed so it was just a matter of waking, dressing and eating then out the door. The ferry is not 10 minutes from the Seiberts so we made it in good time for the line up. We chose the ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay near Victoria so we could travel through the Southern Gulf Islands to the East of Saalish Peninsula. I couldn't wait! So Starbucks in hand, we boarded the ferry and exitted the rented Ford Expedition to find a spot on deck. It was raining a bit but we knew the sun was shining in the distance!

The ferry has 2 indoor decks with outdoor walkaround decks and one above deck on top of the ship. I stayed outside pretty much the entire time, enthralled with the mountainous islands and dazzling horizons. The sun was behind the clouds making for really interesting lighting on the rippling waters of the Straight. The kids were inside playing in a kids area, watching tv and looking out the windows for the 2 hour ferry ride. So many of the people on the ferry must take this trek daily judging by their ability to ignore the scenery. I was amazed by every minute.

We landed in Swartz Bay and with only one way to drive, we headed south for our downtown Victoria visit. Just before reaching the heart of the city, we detoured to the east for the "Scenic Route". The route took us through beautiful residential areas and out along the coast. We stopped at a Look out and spotted the Washington mountains in the distance. Wow. The shoreline rocks were covered with little tidal pools which Marina began searching for sea anemones... which she found! Unfortunately, Jesse got a bit of a soaker and Nina stepped in a pile of poop so we had some tears and some cleanup before moving on. Thanks to Jo's packed cooler, we also grabbed a quick snack.

The last part of the Scenic Route took us past Beacon Hill park with its totem poles and look outs. We made our way down Government Street which reminded us all of Ottawa's Sparks Street and we wondered if we should really be driving down it. Parking was found on Wharf street on the Inner Harbour of Victoria. What a lovely city! I know why it is on the list of top ten cities to visit! Bastion Square was adjacent to our parking lot so we walked there to find the Maritime Museum. We had planned this one purely educational stop for the day. It took some settling, but we finally enjoyed seeing the ship models, historic information and of course, the real ship where we had a hard time getting the kids to stop playing.

To be continued...