Woke up early so we can get breakfast this time and drop the car off at the ferry so we can be certain to get a space on the 3pm to Port Angeles. Tired...food should help.

Sitting up in Vista 18 for breakfast loolking out I come to thje conclusion that Victoria is what you get when you mix the brighter points of SF and Monterey, then throw in some castles. Some tall buildings, but fairly flat. Has a Pier 39 feel to the street life, but more Monterey bay relaxed attitude. Not too Steinbeck, not too city. I'd like to come back sometime.

They weren't kidding about the getting to the ferry early. The 10:30am just left and we got in line at 10:45 as a stand-by!!! But we're first in the stand by line, so we have a 99% chance of boarding the 3pm...good odds, but still... There are already people parked for the 7:30pm ferry!!! (Apparently fridays are very busy as per girl at ticket desk.)

Wandered through Thunderbird park, the Fairmont Empress hotel lobby, and more of the shops by Yates and Douglas. Doubled back to see the Dragon Boat Festival tents start to open up at the inner harbour. Dropped by the Gatsby mansion, but since its a B&B, we didn't go in. Also didn't have a chance to go to:
Parliment
Under sea gardens
Hatley mansion
Royal BC museum
Helmken house
Emily Carr house
Bastion square
Bent mast pub- supposedly haunted
and 4 other Ghostly Walks

But hey, we get a good view of the ferry building since we have to be in our car by 1:30pm for customs check. Then we get to load up, hopefully at 3pm! I think the ferry folks should invest in a shade tent.

Thousands upon thousands of my skin cells have revolted and declared war and will not be appeased until freckles are formed. Great.

Finally, on the ferry. It seemed like there was no way possible that so many cars could have fit on the boat, but we made it, as well as about 12+ others...

Pulling away from Victoria was sad. It was saying like goodbye to ignorance of the world. A reminder that we only have 2 more nights to our honeymoon...

Oddly, the ferry, The Coho, announced that there were orcas in the nearby waters and we actually veered off course, as per 1 regular, to see them.

While trying to park to get gas at Port Angeles, a car with Oregon plates was just sitting in the middle of one of the entry ways. Bryan asked " why are they just sitting there?" I said:" because they're waiting for someone to come out and pump their gas. "

Just a little bit away from Kingston is the Norwegian village. Too bad we don't have time to stop.

It took until 5pm to get out of Port Angeles and another 2 hrs to get to Kingston. We made it in time to catch the 7:15 ferry to Edmonds, but the ferry is running a little late.

I'm just glad that it won't be another case of waiting in a parked car for 2 hours. This trip is only 30 min, and it should be about another 30 or so on Hwy 5. Maybe we will get to eat dinner before 9pm???

He Says

Got upearly and had breakfast in the Chatteau Victoria's restaurant. It was nice. And an even better view than in our room that is only 10 floors further down or so.

Went to drop off our car for the 3:00 PM ferry and were only first in the stand by line. Fairly likely that we are going to be able to get on the ferry.

We got out of the car and started to explore the area around the ferry dock. Saw and awesome condominium complex that was right on the water, the unit on the top floor looks awesome. I wish I could live there. We got a closer view of the Parliament Building and Thunderbird Park and then on to the Empress Hotel.

Wandered through the lobby and checked out the area where John Adams had told us a ghost story about the evening before. Wandered through the attached conference center and then on to some shops.

Went to a shop that specializes in Bear parephernalia and bought a present for my mother.

Started heading back towards the ferry. A lot more walking today even though everything is close, our car was holding our place in the ferry line.

Checked out the Gatsby House B&B and had some ice cream at a nearby ice cream shop. They did something I have never seen before. They put a jelly bean in the bottom of the sugar cone so that the melting ice cream would not leak out the bottom. Interesting.

Got back to the ferry and waited for the ferry and watched all the cars that were there even earlier than us go by, and go by, and go by. I was starting to worry that we were not going to get on this one, but we did.

When we were just starting the crossing, the captain announced that there were Orcas in the water, and actually turned the ferry to get closer to them.

The rest of the trip to Seattle was fairly uneventful, but we did not get there until late. Had a little trouble finding the Westin. Parked and waited longer than we should have at the front desk to check in. When we finally got into our room, it was very nice. Not a suite, but still a nice room.

Kryis called her cousin, Jasun, to see if we could hook up tomorrow. We watched some TV and went to bed.