Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Day Trip To Victoria, BC

We arrived in Port Angeles, WA on Sunday and have been checking out the sights, enjoying beautiful weather and running/biking the Waterfront/Discovery Trail. Once again we are boondocking in the Walmart parking lot and using the local YMCA for doing our weight workout and showering.

This area is a huge operation for shipping logs overseas. It has been very interesting to watch how they bring logs in on trucks, unload them, strip them of bark, reload on a truck and take them a short distance where they are then loaded on the ship. We were told that most of the wood from this area will be going to Japan for the tsunami rebuilding. I can tell you for sure that this is very dangerous work. It is like watching a kid operating a machine and picking up sticks, shaking them or dropping them and then picking them up until they have the load situated to their liking. If one log moves, the whole load moves. I guess they know what they are doing, but I bet there are lots of accidents.

Today we took the 90 minute ferry ride to Victoria, BC. What a beautiful city! The first thing we did was tour parliament. They were in session and we got to sit in the gallery and observe some of their discussions. This is a really beautiful building with beautiful architecture (designed in the late 1800s by a 25 year old young man) and wonderful stained glass. I took lots of pictures and will add these tomorrow.

After parliament, we walked all over the downtown, ending up in Chinatown which is the oldest Chinese settlement in Canada. Had it been later in the day or if we had been hungry, we would have eaten there. As it was, we probably walked 7-8 miles and my feet/legs were tired. Isn't it strange how I can run close to that distance, yet be more fatigued from walking?

Tomorrow we will be in Port Townsend, WA. On Thursday we will take a car ferry to Whidbey Island, WA where we will stay one night in a state park and three nights in a nice campground. I'm looking forward to the luxury of staying someplace other than a Walmart parking lot, although you can't beat the price.

Check back in a day or two and I will try to post pictures.

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