British Columbia is cheeky

I'm fairly certain I'm misusing the term cheeky. Which in and of itself is cheeky. Cheeky Brits.

Anyways, Vancouver and Victoria are interesting cities and worthy of blogging and travel. Although I recommend not taking your car with you to Vancouver Island- it's not really needed and costs alot.

Day 11, 9-20-08:

Having visited the streets and subterranean passages of Seattle I struck north from my room near the straits of Juan de Fuca (here on Google Earth) for Vancouver, British Columbia, passport in hand. After 90 minutes of drizzle and stop and go traffic I arrived at the checkpoint. As if on schedule I began stuttering to the border guard, who then suspected me of being nervous. Always a fun thing to encounter, even if it is only Canada. Anyways, after sorting out our language barrier I made North again for the first visitor information kiosk sign I saw. Low and behold the Canadians are as bad at marking things (while it's still raining, harder now) as New Jersey is, and I passed it three times before finally finding the center. The fact that the building is a fairly nondescript house didn't help my directional senses much. And the fact that the center is closed on the weekends didn't help either. You'd think that if you had a close a visitor's center for 2 days a week you'd pick weekdays, like Tuesday and Wednesday, not Saturday and Sunday when all the bloody tourists visit! Blast!

After grumbling a bit in my own special way I made my way north along the Canadian version of an interstate in the direction Lucy stated. Who's Lucy? My 3 x 4 inch black box with an LCD screen, woman's voice and demanding "Recalculating" manner. Like Wilson, but less bloody. Anyways, before long the interstate devolved into a surface street-20 miles outside of Vancouver proper. Don't these Canadians know anything? It's like they're driving on the worng side of the bloody road! I spent the rest of the morning crawling towards downtown Vancouver amidst the sodden groundlings, who, incidentally, all had really nice cars. And not jsut nice compared to my one-eyed hailed-damaged menace but compared to American cars in general. Houses and streets too. Clearly, there's a conspiracy about, and this is what happens when you don't spend 25.5% of your national budget either defending yourself or paying off your credit card. Cheeky, if you ask me.

Anyways, downtown Vancouver was still raining, so after seeing a few buildings from my car window I said 'meh' and headed for the ferry to Vancouver Island. I hadn't been on a ferry or indeed any large boat in awhile, and I wanted to make sure they still worked. And I'm on Holiday, after all.

Well, much to my chagrin the ticket lady asked for 66 Canadian dollars. I tried to give her Fritos but evidently the Canadians do in fact have real money and are not living in a Socialist Paradise like Bill O'Reilly keeps telling me. My childhood is ruined, but thankfully Visa saved the day.

The ferry was a big giant boat, and did not grant me three wishes no matter how many times I asked. They sure spell ferries funny in Canada though. We left Vancouver harbour around 2pm and arrived at the Swartz Bay terminus around 4:30. Jolly good.


After daring fate by nearly rearending a Passat on the slippery highway from Swartz Bay to Victoria, I settled for a campground midway between the two ends of Saanich peninsula near Sidney, BC. I decided that since it was too cold to type that a trip to Sidney for dinner was in order. I asked the campground lady for good fish places and was sent to the Salty Dog in downtown Sidney for a meal of Fish and Chips. When in England... and all.



I then took pictures of the surrounding islands and the cloud blanketed slopes, both across from Sidney and from the campground. But they're pretty boring, so here's a pic of driftwood. Exciting!



I fell asleep around 9, while entering the mysteries of why Australia is the biggest ecological CF on the planet in Jared Diamond's Collapse. And some crazy mosquito hawks kept dive bombing me with the flasahlight on in my tent. Scary little buggers.

Day 12, 9-21-08:

I awoke early and encountered my first pay showers of the trip. I decided that I wanted two Loonies worth of hot water (14 minutes). Plus it's a nice way to warm up before freezing again while drying off. I said toodle-oo to the campground and headed for Victoria.

Victoria is the capitol of British Columbia. Which means it has a parliament, but alas, none of those guards in the absurd buffalo hats and redcoats. I found a place to stay for the night, along with a parking space for the whole day, and proceeded to get my Holiday on. My first and main destination for the day is the Royal British Columbia Museum. They had a nice brochure I found outside the closed visitor's center yesterday, along with an IMAX theater. 23 fake-looking Canadian denominations got me inside and an IMAX pass for a show on dinosaurs. Brilliant!

All kidding aside, the RBCM is one of the most impressive museums I've ever seen. All the displays are intricately done and in exquisite detail. The mammoth is very lifelike, and the totem pole displays are ornate and tasteful. Truly, an impressive museum and well worth Canadian excursion.


The Indian/Native American/First People exhibits took up much of the exhibit halls space, and the place seemed a little on the small side, but I enjoyed it all and learned much about the area's history and culture. Wicked.

Next I ventured about Victoria, keen as mustard looking for things to do. Alas, there wasn't much else available that was either cheap or open on Suunday. So I kept walking, ending up down at the docks, around the Victoria to Port Angeles ferry terminal I'd be taking tomorrow and generally getting a good look around the allys and streets of Victoria.

Other than Chinatown, there seems little fun to do in Victoria outside the museum. Maybe I missed it?

Oh well. I found a place called the Olde English Pub and had some more fish and chips before retiring to my room around 8pm. I then proceeded to blog from last night and stay up watching True Blood and Dexter episodes on premium channels. Altogether a fun day, while the RBCM is really something.

I plan to be in Bend, Oregon on Wednesday the 24th, at the invitation of Mrs. Renee Martin, mother of Karee Martin lately of State College PA. I hope to blog again then. Until then, have fun and don't get your knickers in a bunch!