May 30-June 2, Vancouver BC

MONDAY
We worried about the Canadian border crossing after our friends had to completely unpack their SUV about a month ago. No delay, even after driving into the wrong lane. Pacific Border RV Park sits ON the Canadian side of the border. Our view is of the border station offices. We keep hoping we don't miss our turn, since that will mean crossing into the US and back again. Maybe we should carry our passports! We parked the RV and went to Lynn Canyon Park to walk across a suspension bridge that is more than 150 feet over the stream and has been there since 1912. We don't think the perforated steel panels were part of the original bridge! It's amazing that we can be in the rainforest or surrounded by farm fields and only be 10 miles from a major city, but that's how close things are here. So, we continued to Vancouver. We circled Stanley Park, stopping at several vantage points to gawk or walk. The views of the city were jaw dropping. We watched yachts, cargo ships and float planes. Hockey fever is here with the Canucks in the Stanley Cup. Someone dressed an off-shore statue in a Canucks jersey. Following a hot tip from Mom and Sunset magazine, we continued south to Richmond for Chinese food. Our chosen restaurant is known for roasted pork, but they ran out of it 3 customers before us! We had spare ribs instead, which were good. We'll be back in that area on Wednesday, but that's the one day a week the restaurant closes. Not to worry, Sunset had several suggestions and we won't go hungry.
TUESDAY
We took the ferry to Vancouver Island, arriving with minutes to spare. Our main goal was to see Butchart Gardens. We aren't big "garden people" but they were beautiful and we really enjoyed wandering around for a couple hours. The sunken garden was the most impressive. Mrs. Butchart had the idea to put it in the former limestone quarry owned by Mr. Butchart's company. The Japanese garden was also really well done. Hope you enjoy the pictures - remember to click if you want to see larger versions. Courtesy of the gift shop, here's an idea of what to do with old golf clubs. We then drove to Victoria for lunch at the waterfront. It was supposed to rain from 1 PM on, but that never happened and it was sunny as could be after a few sprinkles at 2:30. Our driving tour of the sights included the legislature building and two castles. It was a wonderful day, but it came to a shocking end at Safeway. We started in produce where all the prices were about 50% higher than home, which we expected. Then cereal ($6-8) & cheese ($18/lb). Yikes! Barb was thinking she could easily live in Vancouver but is now re-thinking that plan. Dennis is relieved.
WEDNESDAY
We must apologize for an inadvertent lie told a couple days ago. We thought we would not see anymore people we already knew til Mom arrived - wrong, wrong, wrong! Today we picked up friends Carmen & Jack at the Vancouver cruise terminal. (We will also be seeing Corte Bella neighbors in Denali, but more on that later.) We have already seen daughters Lori & Janice, but missed Carmen & Jack in the Bay Area because they were on an Alaskan cruise. It worked out wonderfully that they'd be here at the same time as us. We were again blanked on our attempt to visit a Sunset recommended restaurant (too early) but found a great bakery across the way and visited over pastries & coffee. It was fun to catch up and compare travel plans. On the way back to the RV, traffic on our 4 lane highway came to a standstill. Turns out mama duck decided to walk her babies across the highway. Bad mama! A good samaritan stopped traffic and was ushering them all across. We're not quite sure how he planned to get back to his car after that, but we applaud his kindness. Trucks were lined up for a mile to cross the border into the US when we left this morning. When we came back, the line had increased to about 2.5 miles. The website shows a 2 hour delay for commercial vehicles, but we think it must be longer. We have only seen a few trucks lined up the rest of the time we've been here, so something unusual must be happening. Dennis is dying to walk over and ask, but figures no one would be too excited to see a nosy tourist. We're doing chores this afternoon & getting ready to head north in the morning. Updates again when we have wi-fi or cell access.