Travel Archives - Page 11 of 39 - Our View From The Road

Day 37: & so Eastward we are bound

5:30am rise & shine to get ready to depart Galiano Island. The ferry leaves at 8:30am but we have no reservation and so need to arrive at the dock early to have the best chance of boarding.

After a very nice and relaxing six days visiting my parents we say our goodbyes and head toward the ferry at 7:00am. 7:25am and we’re first in-line. A coffee, yogurt & banana while we wait. Turns out that that there was no issue of space and we could have probably slept in for an extra hour or so. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

As we cross the Strait of Georgia towards Vancouver, we think back on where we have been so far on this adventure and the varied weather that we have seen. This morning it was around 10°C when we woke, it will be 27°C when we stop later this afternoon!

Looking towards the Southern Gulf Islands, BC

Our drive across the Fraser River valley is uneventful and after a couple of hours we pull into Hope, BC for fuel & to dump our tanks at a municipal Sani-dump ($free).

For those that don’t know, Hope, BC was the filming location for “Rambo: First Blood”. The town has embraced this notoriety and there are several landmarks about the town that you can visit from the movie. The bridge, across which Rambo walks at the beginning of the movie is gone (2011) but a new bridge has replaced it and there are still signs, but it’s not quite the same knowing that it’s not the same bridge.

Not the ‘Rambo’ bridge in the same location as the original ‘Rambo’ bridge

Everyone’s favorite stop is downtown near where the Police station was in the movie. In the park there are a number of chainsaw carvings of the characters from the movie. We snapped a picture of Rambo (below).

We head East on Hwy-3 towards the Okanagon valley. The road, although windy and hilly as it passes through the mountains, is really very good and well maintained. There are lots of passing lanes on the hills (including one that is 38km long!).

Eventually we notice the trees thinning and the flora around us changing to be more desert-like as we approach Osoyoos, BC. It reminds us of the Southern California desert in some ways with the slope of the hills and the sagebrush. It’s also now quite warm and the A/C in the van is very welcome.

Pulling into Osoyoos, we stopped at a roadside produce stand which happened to have a Mexican food truck next door. Lunch time!

Lunch was delicious and we both highly recommend “Sofia’s Mexican Food”. I enjoyed a chimichanga and Barb had 3 chicken tacos. Barb also picked up a few treats for another time from the roadside produce stand.

Our stay tonight is at a vineyard just north of Osoyoos called Mythology vineyard. The wine is very good and our camping spot is amongst the grapevines behind the tasting room. Our view is West towards the mountains and we look forward to enjoying a glass of wine as the sun sets.

Days 32 to 36: …

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Day 31: Nothing to declare

Oooof…. 5:30am. We’re up & heading for a shower (which gets 4/10 because of very small size & clingy shower curtain). Why so early you ask? We have an early reservation for the Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC ferry. Yep, we are leaving the U.S. after almost a month of travel, it’s time to head back into Canada.

Showered we get the van ready for the day and are driving off site by 6:45am. Traffic is fairly light and this makes our drive back into town to the wharf easy and quick. Black Ball Ferries require us to check-in a minimum of one hour before the ferry “Coho” departs at 8:20am, we make it with a few minutes to spare.

A cup of coffee and a banana are enjoyed while we wait to board which begins shortly before 8:00am. We make our way up to the top deck in order to have the best views back across town to the Olympic mountains.

The ferry is relatively full with most passengers having walked-on. The Salish Sea is mill pond calm and we see a few seabirds fishing for breakfast but no whales or seals today while crossing. Arriving in the Victoria inner harbour, our departure and clearance through Canada Customs takes about 30min. We head towards Langford, BC where we enjoy breakfast at a White Spot restaurant before getting groceries for the week.

The weather for today is predicted to go from sunny this morning to rain later in the afternoon. As such we have changed our plans to try to avoid the heaviest rains and are now heading to my parents home a day ahead of schedule for a few days of rest and relaxation.

We’ll catch-up with you again when we resume our journey next week. All the best and thanks for following our adventures.

Day 30: To the state of Washington

Oregon was wet, it rained a lot. Of course if you’ve been reading along you will have already observed this, but it does feel like I need to say it again, Oregon was wet.

Fort Stevens State Park has the best showers of the Oregon state parks we stayed at. 8/10. They only lose points for being push-button (timed) showers and bare concrete floors. All other requirements of a shower were easily met, especially privacy & cleanliness.

Today is a driving day, we leave Oregon and head across Washington to Port Angeles. Astoria, OR is the last town that we pass through on our way to Washington. Today there is a cruise ship docked in port, visitors are likely on a ‘Goonies’ sightseeing tour.

Washington state has a lot of trees, it’s about all you see as drive through it. We took pictures as you will see below, but didn’t stop at any touristy places. The drive was about the destination as it was 4 hours plus a break for lunch.

Arriving in Port Angeles we went down to the wharf and ate an early dinner at the Downriggers on the Water restaurant and enjoyed a clam chowder and a sandwich.

On our way to our campsite we topped off with fuel and then arrived at the KOA campground just East of town. Tonight we get everything in order to re-enter Canada.

Tomorrow will be an early morning as we are booked into the 8:20am ferry heading for Victoria, BC.

Day 29: Fort Stevens State Park

Our last day in the U.S. without driving anywhere. We slept in and enjoyed a relaxing morning while we waited for things to dry out from last nights rain. The sun was supposed to appear today and the afternoon was going to be glorious.

Barb prepared a delicious brunch fry-up after which I finished reading a second book on this trip and then we retrieved the bikes from the bike rack and prepared to go for a ride about the park.

From our last visit here in 2022 we know that the park is laced with paved bike paths making cycling a great way to get about this rather large park. We started by heading towards the dunes and then cycling down to the beach access allowing us to ride on the beach. The tide was out and the sand wonderfully flat. The cool weather was keeping most people hunkered in their trailers, this meant that the cycling trails and the beach were very quiet.

Oddly I was able to utilize 3 bars of 5G connectivity on the beach but only 1 bar of LTE while on our campsite. I took the opportunity to complete and post yesterday’s blog post from the beach while sitting on a driftwood log. The wind was biting (no sunshine) and so shortly after I had posted the entry we headed back inland toward the campground.

After securing the bikes back onto the bike rack we relaxed in the van for the afternoon as yet another brief shower passed over the area. For dinner, chicken fajitas were followed by an evening of TV. Tomorrow we head to Port Angeles, WA where we will spend our last night in the U.S.