Saturday, September 19
Rained last night, but it's not raining now. We walked about 8 blocks, sans luggage, and picked up the rental car. Since it's Saturday, the downtown is quiet. The traffic is quiet, which makes driving much easier for a tourist. The Lion Bridge was as pretty up close as it is from the distance...we should have walked across it, for the views. North Vancouver looks like another place to spend some time, and we drive along Marine Drive to the Point Atkinson Lighthouse. Oh, I forgot: there were two lighthouses in Stanley Park, and we saw them both. At Point Atkinson lighthouse, we walked through the rainforest down to the rocks. The trees here are old as dirt, this one is 500 years old!
The ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay is as huge as an airport! There are 12 lanes for cars, campers and tractor/trailers to que, and we watch three ferries come and go while we waited. The crossing from HB to Nanaimo is about 1.5 hours, and we have a picnic lunch of leftover lamb and potatoes on the sundeck. It's only called the sundeck because it's outside...the wind is the strength of a hurricane! There was much laughter and photo-hamming when the ferry first left, but even the teenagers have retreated to the inside or the shelter up top. The views were awesome, rocky coastline and mountains who's tops are buried in clouds or snows.
On the island, we drove to Port Albernie, about in the middle of the island, where we spent the night. A small mill town (paper and lumber, of course) of about 18,000 people, and we found an Indian hotel with kitchenette. There is one brewery in town, at the casino, and we both hesitated before agreeing to go for a beer. We both hate the sound of those machines!! The beer was OK, and we hit the IGA for groceries before going 'home' to cook dinner. Food is pricey here, but the fish is fresh and wild-caught. Salmon for dinner, with leftovers for picnic tomorrow.
Sunday morning...we found the lighthouse. Yes, the lighthouse at the town in the middle of the island! The river comes from the west coast, and in 1967 a tsunami hit this town 50 miles inland! The drive from Pt.Alberni over the mountains was a geographic transition from the east coast...these are just a few of the Dramatic Scenery Pictures we took!
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