deralte | Round the West

Dad and I are beginning to feel a bit lagged so we found out our check out time from the B&B and hung out at the B&B chatting with the manager and reading. A little before noon, we got out of there and drove through Vancouver to Stanley park, which we drove around, admired the scenery and eventually stopped at The Grill to eat lunch. It was a little expensive, and I defied their conventions by reading my book at the table, but the food was good. I had very fresh fish and chips (it always amuses me when posh restaurants serve fish and chips) which even had great homemade chips. We were still trying to kill some time before our ferry so we ordered desert. I had a lemon tart which was covered in fruit and berry sorbet. Very tasty. Once we'd finished our drinks, we drove to the ferry and waited in the queue for a half hour before they loaded us on the ferry. We were right at the very back. The ferry to Vancouver Island is very nice. It had comfy seats and places for using laptops and nice big windows. It was raining when we started but there was sun about half way through the 1 1/2 trip. I ended up sitting near the front chatting with some natives of Nanaimo. The view from the ferry is beautiful and we spotted kayakers coming round the islands as we came into the port.

Off the boat, we followed the GPS to my dad's friends house in Nanaimo. We'd never me them before (Dad knows them from WOW) but they were really welcoming. We chatted for hours, were fed tons of food (including more nanaimo bars), and allowed to do our laundry and try out their amazing tv room. I was exhausted by midnight so I retired to their RV outside which had a queen bed and a little space heater. I cuddled under it and had a good sleep, and privacy for the first time on this trip. It was nice to wake myself up in the morning for once.