Day 4

When vacationing in a place you've never been to before, it's a bit of a trial and error experience. Day 4 was taken up with primarily traveling back to the U.S. After it was all said and done, Jeff and I agreed that we're glad we went to Vancouver Island, but if we were to do it again, we'd spend more time there because just getting there and getting back took so much time.

First, you have to drive to the ferry terminal. You want to give yourself plenty of time to get there in case traffic is bad. As you buy your ticket, you find out if there's room for you on the next ferry or if you'll have to wait for the following ferry or even the one after that. This could have you waiting at the terminal for several hours. Once you get on the ferry, the ride itself is rather longish. It's a hurry-up-and-wait sort of a deal.

As it was, knowing that that week was Spring Break for the British Columbian schools, I made a reservation (which cost about $18) for our return trip because I thought there might be extra traffic with all the people wanting to do something fun with their kids while school was out. (Btw, if you miss your reservation, there is no refund.)

I won't bore you with all the details, but basically, we waited at the terminal for two hours...


...rode the ferry for an hour and a half...


...drove back to the border and waited in line to cross over...


...for about an hour.

Yeah, the most exciting day of our vacation, it was not.

But, there was this cool bit of artwork just on the American side of the border to welcome us back:


...and the kids had all day to think back fondly on the French Toast with Cardamom Sauce that they'd had for breakfast:


One other fun thing about Canada--check out this speed limit sign:


Don't get too excited. It's in kilometers per hour. :)