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[Monday, August 9, 1999: Touring the Strait, down the island.]
We actually woke up early. Early being seven in the morning (which is three hours earlier than normal). Got to Pops's place with a little time to spare, but Laz wanted to get some pictures off from his camera so that he could take some photos during our visit of the provincial capital. This took quite a bit of time. Spent over an hour trying to get the thing to work. Since I had no idea what was going on, I sat and watched a number of Dr. Katz episodes while the two of them wrestled with the computer.
We got to the ferry dock a bit past 11:30am. We were quite early.. for the 12:30pm ferry. Crap. I did wander around a bit, although there wasn't much to see. The ferry we got on was one of the older (and bigger) ones. It had a very large upper deck where people could laze around outside and enjoy the view. The front was also very exposed and had a huge wind tunnel effect just next to the bow of the ship. It was so strong that I was afraid of losing anything that wasn't securely attached to me.
Since the ferry was a little late, we were dropped of at Nanaimo sometime after two o'clock. Victoria was still more than an hour drive away so we couldn't stick around to check out the city. We sped through down the Trans-Canada highway and made it in time for dinner. We had food at the Wharfside, which had a very nice view of the inner harbor and the parliament buildings. There was some sort of event going on, as there were a number of street side performers, and tourists. It's too bad that we had to rush back to the ferry since we wanted to avoid the possible BC day lineup and Laz wanted to meet one of his friends before it got painfully late. We walked around for fifteen minutes before heading back. Too bad, the view was nice, and I never got to take a closer look at the parliament buildings.
We made it back to the docks in time for a ferry that was not on the schedule (it probably was an extra one for the long weekend). Our worries of a long lineup were a little unfounded, as we got there with a fair bit of space to spare. Then again, our car WAS at the back of the ferry, so maybe we were a little lucky..
![[Day 13: Enjoying the food.]](../Pictures/1999-07-21/1999-08-02c.jpg)
During our stay in Vancouver, Laz and I convinced his buddy Pops to drive us out to Victoria. It was a very nice city, and we stayed at the Wharfside for dinner, and it had quite a nice view.
During the entire trip to Victoria, Pops was nearly impossible to catch on camera, despite Laz's repeated attempts. This is the only photo I have which actually shows Pops's face. Of course, it's also a picture that makes fun of me a bit, but hey, when isn't that happening?
Pops is on the left, trying to give me (on the right) those bunny ears.
The ferry we got on on the way back was one of the newer "faster" Pacificats. It had a tiny deck and could hold less (and smaller) vehicles. I was a little annoyed that the deck was so small, without an exterior area at the front of the ferry, and what deck was available was exposed to the dozen or so air conditioners which spewed forth a fair bit of hot air. Bah. Laz took a great picture of the sunset tho.
![[Day 13: A nice sunset.]](../Pictures/1999-07-21/1999-08-02d.jpg)
The ferry rides to and from Vancouver Island were quite leisurely, and weren't that long (about an hour and fifteen minutes). Tons of people were coming and going that day, a lot which had to do with the BC day long weekend. The view from the deck was also quite nice, although the deck on the Pacificat was unbearably small (the old ferries were much better). Still, we left the island as the sun was setting, and since the Pacificat deck only faced the rear, we were lucky enough to catch the sunset.
A very nice picture of the sunset from the rear of the Pacificat ferry. A nice way to end the trip.
The ferry ride back (as well as the ride to the island) had a fair mix of people, although I could've sworn that there were way more kids on the way back..
The car next to us had a for sale sign attached to it. It looked brand spanking new, so as soon as the driver got in the car, I asked her why she was selling it. She told me that it was five years old and wanted a new one. (New one? Good grief!) Of course, she's selling it for fourteen grand.. a little to steep for my tastes. Considering how old the car was, that's not that much depreciation.. is it? She said that she was going to get the same model.. it was an LS of some sort (Integra? IntagraLS!). Looked quite nice tho.
During the ride, I remembered two things that I forgot to mention about before. A couple of buses that we saw in Vancouver had this bizarre contraption at the front that was actually designed to hold two bikes securely. An interesting idea, freeing up space inside the bus for more passengers, but head-on collisions would be poor.
The other thing I forgot was during the ride into Regina. The land was very flat, and the countryside was dotted with houses at various intervals. It reminded me very much of the countryside view in the Takahashi's "On your mark" music video (sans the nuclear reactor). Quite bizarre.
We looked around for gas once we got back to town. The 7-eleven that we stopped by was full service only, so we headed off to a Petro Canada down the street. No sooner did Pops get out of the car did the lights in the station turn off. Son of a.. Fortunately, we had enough juice to make it to an Esso a little further down the road. Whew!
Laz set up a time to meet with his friend down at some bar. She had suggested that we go to the Playdium, but we had been there, and who the heck wants to go to an arcade to talk? I think the place was the Rose and Thorn, and that's where I met Kim. We were there for half an hour since Kim and Pops had to work (Pops left earlier), so she drove us back to the house, which was nice of her.
Back at the house, BSB was there and we told him about our trip to Victoria. He told us that there was a faster way to the island, and had we actually talked to him, we could've spent a little more time down there. Can you say.. DOH?!? We had just let Pops drive us down, as we didn't know better, but next time.. next time..
