Sunday

Today we drove up the coast and took the ferry across to Victoria. There was a shorter way to go, but Michael and Timmy wanted to drive "the scenic route" up the coast so we could look out our window and enjoy a nice view of the pacific ocean! Well, that didn't happen! It rained ALL DAY and was very cloudy...not to mention the road was not on the actual coast line! Check out this picture...

We were standing on a cliff that over-looked the pacific coast. We took a picture towards the road from the cliff...you can see the clearing about 200-300 feet beyond the trees...that's the road! I think we stopped about three times to get out, traipse through the woods, and take pictures of the coast...then it got old! Brandie and I didn't even get out the car on the last "little adventure!"

Here's another stop on the side of the road through the woods. This one had a trail that led down to the pebble "beach." See how cloudy and overcast it was? Not a good day for pictures...but decent for in car traveling. Michael actually took this picture. I didn't hike all the way down to the "beach."

That's me...the TINY little yellow dot in the center of the picture. That's the halfway mark. That's as far as I went. Brandie decided to sit this one out & stayed in the car...it was raining!

Here's the famous picture where Michael was probably getting soaking wet! I had already gone back to the car, so I missed the excitement, but Timmy and a bunch of other tourists saw Michael NOT out-run a big wave! He said he was trying to get a picture of the pebble beach, and realized too late that the wave was coming in bigger than he thought. He tried to back-peddle, but couldn't get any traction on the pebbles, and soaked both feet. He almost fell on his behind, but caught himself with his hand(s)? Not sure, come to think about it, what he did with the camera? It still works, so I guess he had time to shove it in his pocket...who knows?!? We had to play freeze out the rest of the day while he tried to dry his shoes and socks in the car!

We stopped to eat at small mom and pop restaurant in some little town about an hour from the ferry. The food was good, but the service was slow! We were supposed to be at the ferry a half hour before it left to guarantee our spot that Timmy reserved. Well, were weren't even close. We pulled up 5 minutes before they boarded, and almost got in a fight with some Mexicans over our reserved spot! The girl told us we were supposed to be there earlier (duh..we knew that), but she said her boss said we could go ahead since we had a reservation. Well several cars and trucks (who did NOT have reservations) and who had been waiting to board for 30 minutes to an hour...were NOT happy that we just showed up, and were allowed to board the ferry! Some big guy in a big truck fussed at Timmy and told him to get behind in another line, but we were told to go there. Anyway...I was scared for a minute, but then we boarded, and he was left sitting in his truck in Washington while we set sail for Victoria! :) LOL

Here's a picture of a double rainbow just as we were leaving the ferry dock. You can barely see the second rainbow, but it starts right above the little triangle roof all the way to the left of the picture.

Okay...so the only thing I said I definitely wanted to do on this whole trip (if allowed at 6 months pregnant) was go whale watching! We had some brochures from our honeymoon, but didn't have time because we were only in Victoria for the day. So I wanted to squeeze that in this trip. Well, both Michael and Timmy "researched" the whale watching trips, and told me that all the trips took place in the same area as the ferry route, so there was no need to pay to go whale watching. We could just watch for them on the ferry ride. I think they just told me that because whale watching trips ran about $80/person, but Timmy did show me the brochure that showed the same route we were taking, so I was determined to see a whale on the ferry ride. Well, it was still rainy and wet outside on the ferry decks, so we found some inside seats and perched to watch for whales. About 30-45 minutes into the ride...we got bored of seeing nothing! So Brandie and I decided to go the the gift shop. (I think we went to EVERY gift shop everywhere we went..so we couldn't NOT go to the ferry gift shop!) While window-shopping there was some commotion outside. I forgot to mention...there was a huge tour bus full of some high school boys team..not sure if it was football or soccer or what...but they were all over the ferry! Anyway...I saw a bunch of them running around outside all in the same direction, so I started to think we were missing something. Just then Michael comes and finds us in the gift shop, and told us we missed the whale!!! I was like, "NO WAY!??" And he was like, "YEP! Y'all just had to go to the gift shop, and you missed the whale!" So I asked if he saw it in time to get a picture. He showed me these two pictures on the camera! Brandie didn't believe him at all...she thought it was a joke. But Michael said, "Didn't y'all see everybody running just now?" I was convinced! I couldn't believe I missed it! I was sooooooooooooo disappointed!

It wasn't until later that night (after I had gone on and on about missing the whale all day) that Michael finally confessed that there was no whale! That he and Timmy took pictures of the whale-watching brochure to pull off this fabulous joke on us! Brandie said she knew all along that there were no whales, but I don't believe her. We both thought we missed out on them! I felt really dumb after he told me that! I had even called home to tell Mom and Dad that I missed the whale on the ferry! NOT FUNNY! Usually I'm not that gullible, but I really wanted to see a stupid whale!!!