Vancouver Island

So far we haven't been successful in seeing a bear - maybe whales were more our thing?

We were about to find out on Vancouver Island. On Horseshoe Bay there is a nice little village with a park for those who don't have a ferry reservation.

Then our time had come. Dr Nightmare, our GPS voice told us to board the ferry!

Arriving in Nanaimo we cruised around in order to find a food place other than the usual Tim.

We really should have updated our GPS cause it took us to places that went out of business.

So we ended up having a pizza at the Husband Day Care Centre, hahaha!

I need that at home! They got excellent pizza, too!

The other morning our rental car gave us a bit of a scare:

Speaking of car. The guys found a hiding spot where they had planned a surprise for me:

Hahaha, male humor. Furz = Fart

Let's move on to nicer topics. The beach!!

Tofino is a very nice place that has something almost magical to it. You feel like you are at the end of the world, and you're actually in official rainforest area.

You've got barely one signal bar on your mobile phone, and don't get me started on how slow the internet is, but in the evening you end up at a place like this: Shelter

I never wanted to leave!

Neither did Colin. 'Twas the night he became a football fan! While hubs and I were chilling at the fireplace, C's eyes were glued to the TV at the bar. The Seattle Seahawks were beating the Washington Redskins that night.

The waiters took pity in him and heaved him on a bar stool where he immediately made friends with Seahawks fans, Alexis & Brian.

As it turned out the next night when we met again,
they are newlyweds on their honeymoon!

The next day we were ready for our adventure!

On our way home some otters waved goodbye!

When we moved on toward Victoria we finally had our black bear encounter!

Can you spot it? Can you believe I did while driving?

Yeah, that's better!

Later that day we arrived in Victoria - just in time for some fabulous sunset shots!

Reservations for the ferries were closed two days before, and we had to try for the "first come - first serve" scenario. We almost made it! Only a dozen cars ahead of us on the stand-by parking lot.

We came close - even closer than the folks who actually had a reservation but failed to turn up 90 prior to boarding - but not that close!

Which gave us an opportunity to check out the town some more, plus to finish the "Use Your Words" post that was due the next day. Also we went back to Earl's where we ~~had dinner~~ watched the hockey game last night. And happened to leave my sunglasses on the table. See them?