San Juan Islands, then North to Vancouver, then west to Victoria

Ferry to Friday Harbor

We arrived at Anacortes at a dog-friendly hotel, going out to dinner at a nice Thai food place and spent a restful night.

The next morning, after we had a great continental breakfast of muffins, hard boiled eggs, coffee, raisin toast, etc., we caught the 9:30 ferry to Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island, one of many San Juan Islands.

Howard led a tour of the town with Celina and Django eagerly ducking into and out of beautiful little shops filled with lovely things for the taking. Living as gypsies, we aren't inclined to want to take too many things home, but we managed to find some mint extract to add to the instant dark hot cocoa mix back at the hotel, and a package of salmon chowder mix to be turned into a nice delicious meal further down the road. Some postcards, postcard postage stamps, yarn and a crochet needle with which to make a sweater for Django were also purchased. Celina has many skills.

Animal Farm Thanksgiving on San Juan Island

Sunset on west coast of San Juan Island

 Later we got in the gigmobile and drove around the island visiting Roche Harbor, the "American Camp" towards the south end of San Juan Island (where the "Pig War" almost created another war between the U.S. and England), and checking out the real estate.

The island had a wide variety of landscapes, with tract housing as well as large ranch-style properties with beautiful green rolling hills.

As the sun set, we headed back to town to meet Howard's musician friend, Rich Barker and his wife Margaret for dinner. Great conversation and food and the promise to keep in touch and perhaps return in the summer to play a gig or two there.

What a great trip. The ferry is warm and there's plenty of room for stretching out and crocheting, reading a book or just feeling the vibration of the huge engines in the ferry that take us back to the mainland at about 12 knots.

Sunrise near Anacortes, driving to Canada

Curved tower of Vancouver

The next day we got up early and headed North, crossing the Canadian border and making it up to Granville Island in the city of Vancouver, getting there before it got too crowded with Sunday visitors. We walked around, checking out the cool market place, filled with many vendors selling every kind of food you can think of. We found a neat store with all kinds of percussive instruments, and a great jacket for skinny Django, to keep warm.

Granville Island Marina

Granville Island Open Market - foods of every kind

Granville Island

We stayed for the morning, then drove south to Delta where the B.C. Ferry takes off to Victoria, on Vancouver Island. Luckily the day was Sunday, so there was not commuter traffic. The ferry ride was truly scenic, as we threaded our way in and out of the Gulf Islands off of Vancouver Island.

To Victoria - that Ferry is going to Vancouver

We finally reached Victoria, and found a nice Hotel Travelodge just on the outskirts of town. The hotel rates go up astronomically the closer you get to the scenic areas of the city.  But our room is comfy and we dinned on crackers, cheese, fruit and wine.

Next to the hotel was a dog park - this is a nice open area where dogs are not required to be leashed.

Ball fixation

It was the perfect venue to really exercise Django, throwing the ball up and down the park.  Django's focus on where the ball goes is unbelievable.  He takes this game very seriously.

Go get it!

Got it!

Totem in Victoria

Victoria Government Building

Empress Hotel

In the morning, after a good night's rest, we had breakfast at Santiago's, a fusion of South American and Canadian - excellent "Eggs Benny" and Breakfast Burrito, which we shared - as usual. We had booked the ferry ride back to Port Angeles for 4:00 p.m., so we spent the morning and afternoon enjoying the city, checking out the Empress Hotel, finding some cool earrings for Celina, writing postcards, and generally being the proverbial tourists.

Empress Hotel

Howard's the KING OF THE WORLD

About 90 minutes before departing on the Ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles in Washington, it's required to provide passports and pass through US customs. The cars are then loaded onto the ferry and we were off. In order to lose the Canadian coins we had accumulated, we hit the ferry cafeteria and enjoyed some hot soup, candy bars and potato chips. Yum!!!

I'm from Canada, eh?

We arrived at Port Angeles about 5:30, and drove Highway 101 south-east for a couple of hours to Tumwater where we're now enjoying a relatively comfortable Motel 6.

Tomorrow, we drive to Bend, Oregon, to be with the Rick and Chris Wright family for the Thanksgiving holiday. We have been on the road for one week and haven't changed our intention of road trekking for a month, to return to Santa Cruz by mid December. Send us your good vibes and stay tuned. The Gigmobile is full of love and we've feeling adventurous!