The Water Taxi

Annie got us all day passes for the water taxies.  You can get on a water taxi at designated locations around the bay and get off and on where you wish.  It was really fun and I watched many of the people who live there use the water taxies frequently.

 We wandered into a store that had what they call Stuffies.  These stuffies were of the body organs with cute sayings that went with them.  We had to take a picture of each one.  The colon:  You move me.

 The ovary:  Ova achiever

 The liver:  I'm a liver not a fighter

 The bladder:  Don't stop relievin'

 The spleen:  Lymphin the dream

 The appendix:  Feel it in your gut

 Skin:  In the flesh

 Brain:  All you need is lobe

 Gallbladder:  Gall of the wild

 I absolutely loved this sign.  It was on one of the science displays for kids.  It was great!

 Annie and Mallory resting on a bench and watching the dogs chasing sticks in the ocean.  You can actually see some blue sky!!

 Another incredible waterfall and river. 

 Trail through the woods.  Beautiful!

 Annie kept saying it smelled like a Christmas tree lot.  She was so right.

 Walking across the floating bridge.  A little bit creepy but the view looking down was breath taking!

 One of the hardest things we had to do was find a place to eat.  Nearly impossible to find places.  I'm sure they had them but they were well hidden.  Mallory and I had remembered seeing a pizza place and we finally found it.  It was called Boston Pizza.  Hey Mr. Boston, you didn't know they had a pizza place named after you!  The food was delicious and a great change from hamburgers!

Day 3 cont . . .

We went to a place for lunch called Goats on Roof Old Country Market.  There really were goats on the roof of the store.  The live up there and keep the grass eaten.  There is so much rain that the grass is naturally watered every day.  I don't know who came up with the idea of having goats on the roof but it is a total novelty and a great tourist trap!

We also saw a deer as we were leaving the park.  Annie spotted him and we had to take a quick picture and then drive away slowly.  We didn't want him to run out in front of the car.

I'm thinking my time frame is not totally accurate but it is close.  When you do all the activities that we did in the four days we were there it is hard to keep them straight.  If this is a little mixed up, no one will know except Lynda Ann and Mallory.  Just chalk it up to Gam moments!

We went on some trails through the park and saw more waterfalls and Annie even spotted a little tiny mouse.  It is amazing that something that tiny can scare the living daylights out of us!  We all got past the little varmint as fast as we could.  It could have been Gus Gus or Jaq!

More pictures of the walk through the park

Day 3 Vancouver, Canada

This day was devoted to going on the Ferry to Nanaimo, Canada.  It started out at McDonalds in Pemberton, Canada on our way to the ferry.  Mallory was fascinated with the fact that everywhere you looked you saw the maple leaf.  Even on the McDonald garbage cans!

 Walking through the park and enjoying the sights of the park and aquarium. 

 The waterfalls were incredible.  The pictures do not give it justice. 

 Englishman River Falls at Provincial Park

 My yellow rain coat that I wore every single day because it rained every single day!

 We laughed at this sign.  If you could look down into the rushing river there is no way you would want to jump off the bridge.  However, there is always a knucklehead or wingnut out there that would be just stupid enough to try it.  My guess is that someone may have and that is why the sign. 

 to be cont . . . . .

Day 2 - Vancouver, Canada

Lynda Ann had arranged for us to go whale watching.  When she booked the reservations she was told it could be s short day or a long day depending on where the whales were.  Well this day ended up being a long day but it was so worth it.  Lynda Ann and Mallory and I were so fascinated with the whales that we didn't think to stop and take pictures.  But in after thought, the chances of getting a picture of them jumping or spy hopping (I think that is what Annie called it - or we may be having a Gam moment here.)  It is where they come up out of the water nose up and act like they are looking around and then go back in the water.  We saw them jump out of the water many times.  We saw two females a baby and another group of them.  It was amazing. 

We had to dress in these orange suits that were waterproof and helped keep us warm.  We were in an open boat and by the time we got back we were nearly frozen.  But it was so worth it.  We ended up in the San Juan Islands, which was about a 3 hour trip to get there but so incredible to see these mammals in their own safe environment with their fins completely straight out of the water and not curled. 

 These crazy suits were hard to get into.  Annie said they reminded her of the snowmobile suits we used to wear. 

 On the way back we stopped to see two bald eagles perched on the water (I don't know what it is).  That was a bonus. 

When we got back we wandered around the village for a while and came to a shop called the Broom Shop.  There is nothing in there but all kinds of brooms.  I had to take a picture of the marriage brooms.  Who would have thought there would be such a thing as a broom shop!  I was fascinated!

 Another cute picture of Mallory.