Canada Day 1

Day 1 of Canada. We got up early on a Friday morning and headed to Port Angeles Washington where we would board the Ferry to take to Canada. Keegan was so funny on the ferry, he thought the big white tubes on the boat looks like elephants so he kept making elephant noises. He entertained people sitting in the ferry by playing peek a boo in the window. He loved the ride over. When we arrived in Canada we were greeted by the beautiful buildings on the wharf. They have the Emporess Hotel on one side and then the Parliment building on the other side. We were pretty tired from the long drive so we headed out of town about 20 minutes away to a find our bed and breakfast cabin. Matt took a wrong turn so it ended up taking us a little longer to get there and by the time we did we were all a little tired, grumpy and hungry. But the cabin was cute and quiet and it was nice to escape from the city to the quiet country. One morning I woke up and a deer was walking along the edge. It was just beautiful. There are a few differences in Canada than the US. For instance the speed limits signs are in kilometers, so when I thought we could go 70 it was really only about 35. The gas price was 146.9 per liter, the temperature was in celcius, and they do not have $1 dollar bills. They only come in coins. In order to get a shopping cart you have to deposit a $1 coin in the cart and you get it back when you return the cart, and the grocery store that we went to didn't have any bags. You had to buy a bag to use or use none at all. It was expensive there. We only got .97 Canadian cents to our US Dollar. But we had a lot of fun and we are glad we got to have the experience of leaving the country.

Canada Day 2

Day 2 in Canada. We were so excited to be here. We had gotten a good night rest and we were ready to go and explore. This was the weekend for the "Tall Ships Festival" It was really fun. There were a lot of really tall ships that had sailed in and you could buy passes to get on all the ships. We walked around for hours going in an out of boats. It was soo soo hot on this day though. Poor little Keegan got so hot and his face turned red so we had to leave the festival for a bite of food and bit of shade. Once he was cooled off and full we went back to board more ships. There ended up being two sides to the festival and on our way back we saw all the Pirate ships. They were pretty cool. The lines were long though so we didn't get to board all the ships and we actually missed boarding the biggest one of them all that was the US Coast Gaurd. They were all pretty amazing to see. I think we spent about 12 hours walking around the festival. Long day and tiring, but really a lot of fun.

Canada Day 3

Canada Day 3. Today we decided that we would sleep in a little and take some naps so we got off to a late start. When I was in Victoria about 17 years ago we went to a house called The Fable Cottage. It was a fun whimsical house that this guy had built all himself by hand including the shingles. Anyway it had pretty gardens that were full of nomes. So we decided that we wanted to see the Fable Cottage. Much to my surprise when we found the address the Fable Cottage had been replaced by Condos. So we went on to the Butchart Gardens. There really isn't much to say other than, spectacular. We spent probably 6+ hours walking around there. The gardens were amazingly beautiful and a must see if you ever get to Victoria. It was expensive to get in though. The cost was $26.50 per person, luckily Keegan was still free. I was so taken back by the cost that I forget to give them my dollar off coupons that I had gotten the day before. But all and all it was worth it.

Canada Day 4

Day 4 in Canada we just decided to cruise around the town. They have so many old buildings that are really pretty. We ate at a cute little corner cafe. We sat by one of those windows and the windows are open. Luckily the homeless guy was not hanging out while we were eating. Keegan got a yummy lava ice cream at one of the resturaunts that we ate at. He was really excited with all the smoke coming out. That is pretty much all we did that day is walk and walk and walk. We had fun doing it though.

Canada Day 5

Day 5 in Canada was "Canada Day". Which is like the 4th of July in the United States. We started off by going to a castle just up the hill from town. It was gorgeous. Way back when after the owner died no one wanted to buy the castle so they had a drawing and the person who's name they drew won the castle. Then that idiot lost it to the bank for a $300,000 loan he took out on it. Now that is something I would like to get in on. But word to the wise, when you win a castle just live in it, don't lose it to the bank. It was three levels of beauty. After the castle we went back down to the warf to wait for fire works. As the evening drew near the streets started filling up with thousands of Canadians who had painted maple leafs on their faces and made dresses out of flags. We are talking thousands of people showed up. The legal drinking age in Canada is 19 so there were plenty of rowdy drunk kids roaming the streets. As we were waiting for night to fall it started getting cold and Matt and I did not come prepared for that so we were sitting on the Hotel lawn freezing, that is why we have sad faces. Once we watched the fireworks we went back to the cabin for a good night sleep and then we had to get up early in the morning to hit the ferry back to the "Good Ole' United States." So that pretty much sums up our vacation to Canada in a nut shell. We had a lot of fun and hope to go back some day. And we are happy to say that we made it through customs with out any trouble.