Vacation Log continued

May 7th (Wednesday)

We went to the very end (or beginning) of the Trans-Canada Highway to start our trip across the entire country. There is a big sign there. I can give you directions on how to get there from my house, if you need them. At the entrance to the parking lot at my house, turn left. Take the first right turn, then the first left turn and drive. Keep on going, then go some more. Finally you will get to a ferry. The ferry takes you across the Georgia Straight. It costs $30 for your car and $10 per passenger on your car. Pay it, drive onto the ferry. Drive off the ferry then keep going straight. About an hour later you will be at the far west end of the Trans-Canada Highway.

The Butterfly Gardens are a nice thing to visit. We got a two for the price of one coupon out of the phone book in our hotel. It was really good that we had the coupon. I don't think that it would be worth it to pay full price to see the Butterfly Gardens, but it is definitely worth half price. We were going to go to the Butchart (pronounced "boo-shart" by most, pronounced "butt-chart" by me) but it was a little overcast, and it was very expensive, so we just decided to go to Port Renfrew.

Port Renfrew is a podunk little town on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Its claim to fame is that it is the beginning of the West Coast Trail. Other than that there is not much there. Instead of going back to Nanaimo driving along the coast like normal people, we decided to cut over land and save about a 200km trip. Well the only roads that go from east to west on the island are logging roads. We drove along gravel road for at least 2 hours. We took a wrong turn and came to a dead end. Here's a little hint to the more adventurous types out there. Just because the guy in the Port Renfrew general story says, "It's practically impossible to get lost" doesn't make it reality. There weren't even signs. Fortunately the logging trucks have to radio in about every 10km and there were cardboard signs at all the checkpoints, like breadcrumbs assuring us that we were on the right track.

We finally made it back, and stopped in Cowichan for ice cream. Yes we are emotional eaters, happy to have survived the trip over the misty mountains of Vancouver Island. We got to Nanaimo at about 10:00 but missed the last ferry by 2 hours. We decided to stay at the Travelodge instead of camping, and then to catch the first ferry back to the mainland in the morning.