Day 7 (Friday) - The day we began our journey home.
This was a sad day for me. John (clearly sensing my hesitancy to ever leave the Island) woke me up at 5:15 am so that we could have one last look at the ocean. We left our kids sleeping soundly in their sleeping bags and made our way down the little path to the shore of Long Beach one last time.
The fog was heavier than it had ever been (or perhaps it is always that thick at 5am?) and there was just the slightest hint of a sun rise. We were all alone and able to just drink in the beauty of it all.
One thing I really grew to appreciate during this week is how small I felt whenever I was near the ocean. It was spectacular!! We ran along the shore together and dipped our feet in the water one last time. By 6 am we left the ocean behind us and made our way back up to our campsite knowing full well that we may not ever get back to this place but so grateful for the memories we'd made.
By 7 am we were on our way.
We were leaving the Island from a different port this time which gave us the opportunity to drive further south on the Island all the way to Victoria. The salmons were taking a ferry out of there early that afternoon and thought it'd be fun to show us Fisherman's Warf before we parted ways. I'm so glad they did!! Unfortunately they had to leave to catch their ferry so we were pretty much on our own to explore from this point on. It's a fun/vibrant part of the city. The harbour is filled with boats and homes on the water. Apparently there is a resident harbor seal named Lucy who hangs around but we didn't see her.
What we did see though was lots and lots of vendors selling all sorts of yummy food. Of course we had to try some Fish n' Chips!
There is nothing tastier than a basket of fish n' chips while sitting on a dock.
nom nom nom...
We walked around the Parliament grounds for a little while before hopping in the van and making our way to Sidney.
Our Ferry would be leaving from Port Sidney that evening and we wanted to give ourselves a few hours there to explore as well. Both Victoria and Sidney were more beautiful than I'd expected and part of me wished we'd given ourselves a full day for each of these places.
Sigh....it just means we'll have to come back, right?
Sidney was perhaps my favorite town. I'd actually been here before as a teenager and it was fun to recognize few familiar landmarks. We spent some time exploring a local fish market, watching locals trap crab from the pier and exploring some of the gift shops.
Oh and ice cream. We spent some time eating ice cream too;)
Occasionally John and I would be shocked to discover that somethings were actually cheaper on the Island. Gasoline....Cereal....and Ice cream. Hooray for that!
We took the kids over to the marina and walked along the docks there for a while.
This is where my high school class had set off from for our week long biology trip. I spent some time trying to locate the actual boat we'd travelled on before remembering that that was 25 years ago.
We loved the seagulls in this area. So large and fat (obviously with so much fish to eat) but they weren't annoying scavengers like the ones I'm used to. They were actually lovely to watch.
We could have watched this seal for hours. It was just meandering around the boats in the marina.
I imagine she is well known to the locals.
The time quickly came for us to head to the loading bay for our final ride back to the mainland. I'd inadvertently booked this final trip on the "Spirit of Vancouver" the largest vessel in the BC ferry fleet. It was impressive to say the least. It had the same gift shops and restaurants as the previous one but also an arcade - which blew my boys' minds! haha.
A few of us remarked that this may be the closest we come to ever taking a cruise!
Ever since our first Ferry ride Nate had been wanting this toy from the gift shop. All week long I'd continually promised him that if it was on the ferry headed home that I'd get it for him. You better believe that the gift shop was the first place he went to the moment we were on the boat! I'm actually super proud of this kid. Prior to leaving Alberta he'd expressed lots of worry about walking across a suspension bridge, whale watching and - riding on the Ferry. Throughout the week he'd gone along with each scary thing and overcame a lot of those anxieties.
We were told that the channels we'd be sailing through is home to some resident orcas and that they can occasionally be seen on trips like this. It was by biggest hope to see a pod of orcas and we anxiously scoured the horizon for the entire duration of the ride. (I was probably more anxious to see them than others;)
We saw other Ferries...
...and beautiful sunset views.
....but no orcas.
Sigh.... I guess that means we'll have to come back, right?
We reached the mainland around 9pm and returned to Capilano RV campground to camp for the night. Our initial plan was to play in Vancouver the next day and then arrive back at home late Sunday night. As we woke up Saturday morning though (Day 8 of our trip) we wondered if we should just make the drive early and push to get home that day. With the Salmons gone and the Ocean behind us - there was little point in hanging around anymore.
I was probably just sad and wanted to be home.
It's about a 13 hour drive from Vancouver to Home but it is a very mountainous drive which makes it feel longer. I was immensely proud of my kids and the way they handled that change of plans and the discomfort of travelling in a crowded vehicle for such a long, windy journey.
By the time we reached Calgary we'd all agreed that a reward/celebration was in order.
We'd recently been introduced to a sushi grill called KINJO and menu item #75 was on all of our minds! haha
So- at 9:30 pm we stopped for a sushi supper celebration.
Our waitress was surprised to hear that we'd gone all the way out to the coast and not tried the sushi there. She said it was 100x better than Calgary sushi. oops!
I guess we'll have to go back again, right?
That last stretch of our trip (from Calgary home) was a quiet one.
All four kids were sound asleep which gave John and I lots of time to reflect together about the trip.
It was amazing and special and perfect in every way.
So grateful for friends who led out with the planning of it and for the chance we had to go.
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