Victoria, Coho Ferry and first leg of our trip south.

Saturday morning we were off at 10:30 am and arrived at the Salish RV Retreat downtown Victoria shortly before 1 pm. Took Freya for a walk and then headed out for lunch at the Spinnakers Brew Pub. They have certainly "polished" up this RV park since we were there 7 years ago. They also have a houseboat community.

Good thing I booked several weeks in advance. The whole place was totally full. Mostly with tourists returning their "rent-a-rigs" the next morning. Lots of suitcases coming out of the compartments of rigs. A beautiful spot to spend their last night of vacation with the sun shining.

Off to Spinnakers.

After lunch Ray took some pictures of the views around the pub. Gorgeous.

View you see from the pub deck

The backside of the pub.

After lunch it's back to the coach so I could set it up for the night. It sure is warm this afternoon until about 4 pm when it cooled down substantially. Rain in the forecast overnight. Malcolm and Kathy came by after dinner for some last doggy hugs as they live not far from here.

Ray wandered around periodically through the afternoon and evening and took some pictures. This well-maintained walkway is just outside the RV Park.

One of the many water taxis that you can take from the marina to downtown.

Once it became dark he went out to get some water reflection shots from within the campsite..

Cruise ship (and one in behind) we could see from the RV Park

Sunday morning we were awake by 5 am as usual but managed to snuggle in until 5:45 pm listening to the rain on the roof. Ray noticed that the powder room toilet had overfilled last night slightly and put some water onto the floor. We had this toilet fixed after our June trip? Unfortunately we will have to get it looked at again on the road. For now we will turn off city water and water pump at night until then.

Ray realized yesterday afternoon that he forgot to bring his coats .... any of his coats and the forecast is for rain. He looked "cute" walking the dog first thing in my new "pink" raincoat (Ray here... whatever dear, it was dark). lol We will have to rectify this at Walmart in Sequim!

Decided to get to the ferry early so we could get breakfast across the street from the terminal at the Day's Inn. Jacks up and running by 7:30 am. We were only 10 minutes away from the ferry so had plenty of time to eat. They had great "Benny's". Back in the parking lot by 8:45 am as they lock you in at 9am for customs.

Here it comes.

Empress Hotel

Harbour Patrol

Going through customs was a breeze. I made a list of "food stuffs" in the fridge for Ray and the only question he was asked was if he had any rice. I was in the car separately. As we got there so early we were the first ones on the ship and so were first off as well. What a treat. And so starts our journey south.

We spent our first night in the USA wally docking and then made our way south on the I-5 before turning off onto I-84 along the Columbia Gorge.  Our stop today was at a small Recreation Site in Rufus, OR. Freya is not too happy with all of the travelling as she is out of practice after nearly 2 years at home. lol

Cruising along the Hood Canal. Still dreary out.

Looking up the Columbia Gorge ... looks like rain.

Nope, no rain just lots of wind.

View out our front window.

Home sweet home for the night. Very windy out though. Lots of kite surfing going on.  Apparently the wind turbines and the population of Rufus is the same... 273

Action shot! Oh oh ... going in!

Although quite windy it was 20C (68F) so fairly warm. Managed to sit in our chairs for an hour before the wind got to us. Ray took a walk just before dark to get a picture of the John Day Dam which is just up the river from us. Look at the bush on the left in the wind. Very fuzzy as it kept moving. lol

It feels good to be back on the road.

Tuesday morning woke up at 6am feeling better. A very blustery night but at least the wind dampened down all of the train and highway noise. lol and I did not notice Ray's snoring :) A beautiful morning, with a snow capped view of Mount Hood. The wind had stopped sometime in the night, so it should be a nice drive this morning.

Here is Mount Hood peaking up over the closer mountains/hills.