Victoria to Saltair, BC – 8/5/2016 – http://fulltimetimeshare.com/blog

August 5, 2016 (Friday)

Today was moving day. We were up around 8:00 AM, but still didn’t beat Larry and Renee up. They packed up last night and then cleaned up this morning. We got up, took showers, finished packing, and then cleaning. Michael did the impossible by loading up the car. We couldn’t figure out how we had more than when we arrived, but we did. Renee and I sat in the back seat and had hardly any room to move. Poor Larry, in the front passenger seat, was buried in bags. Michael had to drive slow and safe.

Though I am not sure what the gunnels are, I am sure the Prius is full to the gunnels!

I was afraid the window might break when I closed the back hatch.

Bags on laps, around feet and beside, sorry Renee.

We left the Worldmark around 10:00 AM and got into Sidney around 10:45 AM. We dropped Larry and Renee off at the ferry terminal and then left for Saltair/Chemainus.

The far off mountains are the Olympic range in Washington State. U of W students put a special dye in the snow on the peaks to see where the water ends up.

Across 18 miles of open water and about 10 miles inland on Vancouver Island is a fresh water lake and the dye turned up in the lake. Amazing! — Across 18 miles of open water and about 10 miles inland on Vancouver Island is a fresh water lake and the dye turned up in the lake. Amazing underground river!

We had to go all the way back to the Victoria area in order to get the highway up to Saltair. There was a lot of construction going on so the trip up the island took much longer than usual. We stopped at an overlook to see just how beautiful the island is (and for Michael to empty his bladder).

Seems there is a view of water from every hill on the island, very beautiful.

We tried to stop for lunch in Chemainus, but we didn’t find anything that wowed both of us.

The city of murals and there are hundreds.

We then drove on to Saltair and stopped at the Saltair Pub. Such a beautiful old Pub. Michael got a triple decker sandwich, and I got a salad with garlic bread. Lots of food, but it was really good food.

The menu features many excellent Greek dishes.

Edie got a salad and split it with me. I split my sandwich with her, well 1/4 to 3/4.

Looks like England at the neighbors as well.

We got to Jan and Caron’s house around 1:30 PM. So good to see them. Such a beautiful home. They are working on a deck at their “cabin” and it is going to be awesome. It’s huge! Love it.

After visiting and catching up for awhile, Jan and Caron took us to a park nearby (Diana Princess of Wales Park). The walk was through a forest with large trees, ferns, and just lots of natural beauty. There were also so many wild blackberries everywhere – ripe. We want to go back with a large bucket to gather them before the bears get them. Lovely walk.

We got back to the house and Jan started making dinner. She made a dish (I had never heard of) called butter chicken. It’s an Indian dish and it was delicious. Along with the butter chicken dish, she made spinach with water chestnuts and garlic shrimp. We also had a pita type bread broiled with butter and garlic. So good. Already want more and will try to copy it on the road.

That was our day. Hope yours was great!

P.S. Have to talk about what happened after Jan and Caron went to bed. Michael and I stayed up to watch the tail end of “Castle.” All the lights were out. Michael put his stocking feet on the coffee table (Caron said it was okay), but he knocked over the large glass candle holder that was full of polished rocks and a large candle. I thought he had exploded something glass as all the rocks went flying, making more noise than you’d think possible from rocks on table and floor. Also the candle went rolling across the room. Jan and Caron came upstairs frantic that someone had fallen, or there had been a big earthquake. So funny. I told Jan and Caron that, after having been looking under couches and chairs for rocks, they had the cleanest floor I had ever seen.