Alaska Vacation Part Five--Vancouver and Beyond

As Hurricane Irene slowly leaves NY, I finally have a moment to finish the wrap-up of the Alaska vacation. After our cruise ended in Vancouver, Jerry and I got in a cab and realized we had made the mistake of booking a hotel near the ferry to Vancouver Island where his conference would be held in two days. The ferry was a $70 cab ride away from downtown Vancouer where we wanted to hang out before the conference. We hadn't realized it was so far away. We cancelled the reservation at the ferry hotel--the woman at the desk was nice enough not to charge us for it even though it was less than 24 hours before check-in time--took a bus and a train back to central Vancouver, checked in at our new hotel, and walked over Vancouver. Very nice city with a big seaport where float planes fly in and out. We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant--there is a very big Asian population and saw Captain America at a movie theatre not far from our hotel. (Picture: me in Vancouver)

The next day, we got back to the ferry in the afternoon and took it Nanaimo on Vancouver Island where Jerry's conference was to be held. The plan was for me to get the ferry from Victoria to Seattle and stay over night in the Rainy City while Jerry attended his conference. Just as we didn't realize the long distance between Vancouver and the ferry, I didn't take into account the long distance between Nanaimo and Victoria--a two-hour bus ride and there were only four a day. The first one arrived at the harbor in Victoria just 20 minute before my ferry left for Seattle. Plus would I make it back in the other direction the next day?

After panicing like a baby, I decided to just run from the bus station to the ferry terminal. I had a map of Victoria and figured there were only a few block apart. I just made it and was the last person on the ferry. The ride was nice. Isat next to a Canadian couple who were going to see a Seattle Mariners' baseball game and drank three rounds of vodka and grapefruit juice--and it was only 11 in the morning.

I'm really glad I didn't chicken out because I was able to get on the right ferry the next day in order to make the bus back to Nanaimo. More in Seattle (space needle pictured above) in the next blog.