Ashley's Senior Trip - Taking the Ferry to Victoria and Port Angeles

We decided to take the Ferry twice as part of our trip. The first ferry went from a port just across the Canadian border from Point Roberts to a port north of Victoria. It was a cool experience, driving our car right onto the boat. Unfortunately, there was only a small section of the ferry that allowed dogs. By the time we got parked and up onto the deck, most of the seats inside in the pet friendly area were taken and there wasn't a great view from the 2 seats that were available. So we sat down on a bench in the outside pet friendly area. It was great before we started moving.

But then the ferry started moving and the wind picked up. It was already cooler this day than it had been all week in Vancouver and Point Roberts. But when the wind picked up, it made it quite chilly. We braved it for a little while longer. 

After about 20 minutes out there, we decided to move inside. Only, there were still just the 2 seats in the pet friendly area. We left Ashley, Tyler, and Lula there and the rest of us went in search of 3 seats together in another part of the ferry. It took us a couple of laps around the ferry before we decided on our seats. They were the only 3 that we could find that were together. Unfortunately, they were facing seats that were occupied. We squeezed our way into the row and tried not to feel uncomfortable about facing people we didn't know. We mostly looked out the window and looked at each other.

We were on the ferry for about an hour and a half. When we got off, we drove south and explored a few places on our way to Victoria. We stopped at a public beach, but it wasn't much of a beach. And it was a 1/4 mile walk over to the water.

We were ready to eat after that, so we found a Dairy Queen with outdoor seating. Then we continued on to Victoria and checked into our hotel. We relaxed for a bit and made a plan for the rest of our day in Victoria. We started at this castle with gardens around it. We happened to arrive just before a graduation at the venue. The grounds are shared with a college. We were worried that this would make the area more crowded and parking hard to find, but it ended up being fine. We walked around the castle first.

When we got to the gardens, we learned that dogs were not allowed inside the gated garden area. The internet misled us on this one. The boys and I went into the garden while Ashley, Danny, and Lula hung out outside. The gardens were really pretty. There were some really tall and unique looking trees.

There were some fun bridges and ponds.

And a rose garden with all different colors of roses. I had the boys each find their favorite.

After the castle and gardens, we left and found another dog friendly beach nearby. It had a little playground next to the parking lot, so the boys stayed and played for a little bit and the girls (plus the dog) walked down the beach. There was a lot of driftwood, so once we got past other people that were sitting on the beach, we found our own driftwood to chill on.

Lula explored the area. She was more interested in the trees than she was in the water. Ashley and I had a good laugh when Lula chased after a crow and then it started mobbing her (like they would do with the eagles in Point Roberts). After a few swoops down over Lula, I think the crow realized that Lula was much scarier than a bigger bird and it gave up and flew away.

The boys found us after about 20 minutes of sitting there. They had fun throwing sticks into the water.

After the beach, we headed over to Fisherman's Warf. I wanted to get some quality fish and chips and thought this would be a good place to get them. We walked around first to see what our options were.

There were some funny signs around as we walked.

The fish and chips did not disappoint. But we ordered way too much, so we took the leftovers home. Ashley ate them for breakfast the next day (she was not a fan of hotel breakfasts, so she usually just ate our dinner leftovers for breakfast. It worked out well, because she was happy to eat it in the morning and we didn't have to throw the food away).

While we were waiting for our food, Lula had fun trying to get the pigeons that were all around the tables. One of the workers standing nearby thought she was fun to watch. Ashley, thrilled by the chance to show Lula off, stood up and did some tricks with her for the guy. She was limited by the leash and the fact that Lula was quite interested in the birds, but she did a few things. Then the guy left for a bit and came back with some dog treats for her. 

After dinner, we headed out, stopping to get a picture with this less than impressive sign. There was a much better one as we were driving out of the area, but no where to stop the car near it.

The boys swam in the pool again that night. There was no hot tub, so I just read on the side of the pool and tried to avoid getting splashed.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and then headed over to this park that Danny and I had walked through when we stopped in Victoria for our Alaskan Cruise. I think it was called Beacon Hill Park. We were interested in the cricket game being played in the field next to where we parked, so we watched them play for a bit. We did not understand the rules of the game, though, so we didn't watch for long. This park had sooooooooo many birds. Like really big birds (peacocks, geese, ducks). There were also some squirrels, but not as many as there were birds. Lula was not that interested in the peacocks or geese, but she chased after some of the smaller birds.

We walked to the top of the hill, where the Canada flagpole was and then went in search of a playground for the boys. They were getting bored. While they played, Ashley and I walked around more with Lula and found some more birds. 

We also walked around this pond and laughed about the turtles lined up on the log.

When we got done at the park, we went in search of food. We found a chicken place, but there was no outdoor seating near it, so Danny parked on the street and left us all in the car so he could run in and get the food. As we were sitting in the car, a homeless guy walked past and peed in the corner of a building right next to our car. So gross. It was raining a bit, so we went back to beacon hill park and ate the food in our car. After we finished eating, we headed to the ferry. We thought we were 30 minutes early, but when we got there, we realized that we were actually late. We didn't realize that this ferry required us to be there twice as long beforehand to do all of the customs stuff. This ferry was a lot more dog friendly so we were able to get some nice comfy seats together with a nice view. We arrived in Port Angeles in the late afternoon. We checked into a VRBO that we found kind of last minute. It was owned by the owner of a hotel across the street from it, so we still got to use the amenities from the hotel, including their breakfast. We got pizza for the kids for dinner. Danny and I went to dinner at a steak and seafood place. The food was good. There were some loud bells that rang on the hour all through the night. The first couple of times we heard it, there were 10 and 11 in a row, so it went on forever. There must have been a church or something nearby. 

Ashley's Senior Trip - A Few More Things from Vancouver

On our last day in Point Roberts, we found this off-leash dog friendly beach just across the border from Point Roberts. I must not have taken any pictures from the start of the shoreline, but you could walk at least a mile through shallow waters and sandbars out from where we started. We actually lost Tyler and Ashley for a bit as they followed Lula around from one flock of birds to the next. They said that she was actually more interested in the crabs under that water than she was in the birds. She found one crab that had a baby with it and it was in attack position while Lula barked at if for about 5 minutes. 

At one of the beaches we visited, we noticed jellyfish in the water that we were wading through. We had no idea that Tyler was scared of jellyfish until that day. He froze in the water and didn't move for a few minutes. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong side of the water to get scared to go through it. He had to go through it to get back to the shore. He finally ran through the water and tried to avoid it after that. 

I took Ashley and Tyler to the Vancouver temple on one of the nights we were there. We didn't see any other patrons in the temple the entire time we were there. The temple workers were very kind and helpful.

Ashley's Senior Trip - Series of Unfortunate Events Day

As we were planning our Vancouver Trip, Ashley mentioned to us that "A Series of Unfortunate Events" was filmed there. This was Ashley's favorite book series from her childhood and she loved the TV series, as well. She was even Violet for Halloween one year. We decided to dedicate one of the days in Vancouver to seeing things from the show. We had AI plan us a couple of itineraries to see sights from the show and then we picked some of our favorites from the list (with Ashley's help). Unfortunately, the majority of the show was filmed with sets inside of a studio that was not open for tours, but AI listed a number of places that inspired the sets for the show. One of these places was Lynn Canyon Park. It was quite a drive to this park, located north of Vancouver, but I am glad we went because it was one of the highlights of Vancouver for me. The park has a river with a number of waterfalls that cut the canyon and then there are walking paths that weave through the area, with multiple river crossing. The most popular sight in the park is the suspension bridge, so we headed there first. 

The bridge was so high up and really fun to walk over. The pictures don't do it justice. Tyler hated it, because he is scared of heights, but the rest of us loved walking over it. There is another bridge in the same area that is longer than this one, but we didn't visit it because it would have cost $30 each to walk over that one. Lynn Canyon was free. We walked along the canyon/river for about a half mile and then crossed over another bridge. We had to climb about 200 steps to get back to where we started, but we finally made it back to the top.

After Lynn Canyon, we were all out of water, so we stopped for drinks at a convenience store. We also enjoyed some of the snacks we brought with us that day. Our next stop was Stanley Park (again). I wasn't satisfied with our drive through the park, so this time we stopped in one of the parking lots and walked out to the seawall. There was a cafe next to the parking lot, so we got the first of many orders of poutine.

When we walked over to the seawall, we learned that we were actually quite a ways up from the pathway. We didn't want to walk the mile long walk down to the seawall and back up again, so we got in our car and drove to another parking lot that put us closer. We took this picture at the lookout because there was a cool looking bridge. I think this is the one that we drove over this day to get into the park.

We walked along the seawall for about half a mile, until we got to a part that looked more like what I imagined it should look like from the pictures that I saw before the trip. Danny hung out on a bench at the beginning of our walk because his shoes were hurting his feet.

After Stanley Park, we went to the Hollywood theater. We couldn't go inside because it wasn't open at the time we got there, but we got a picture outside. There was an episode or 2 from the show that featured a theater like this one.

We took a break from our "Series of Unfortunate Events" day and stopped at an off-leash dog beach. The whole goal of the trip was to give Lula as much time as possible on beaches so that she could chase birds, and Ashley could enjoy watching her do it. 

Seeing the tall buildings of downtown Vancouver from this beach was pretty cool.

The kids were much better dressed for wading through the water than I was. I didn't dare follow them out to this little island. The beaches in Vancouver were all this type of coastal shelf beach. We had to walk through a lot of seaweed in the water areas.

Our feet got pretty dirty at this beach. I'm not sure what made this one worse than the others. We had to use towels from our car to wipe our feet off. After the beach, we drove by the studio where the show was filmed. It wasn't much to look at and it is too bad that we couldn't take a tour of the inside. We took pictures from the outside and then headed home.

I wish there had been more filming locations available for us to go see, but I think Ashley enjoyed the day and that was what was most important to us.