Boeing manufacture of Flight

On our way out of Seattle today, we paid a visit to the Boeing place.
Quite interesting to see and fead about different planes and how and what they do.

This one was hanging overhead.

The inside of a cockpit that people could sit in and get a feel of all the dails etc that pilots need to operate.

Very important are the tyres and unlike what a lot of people apparently think, the tyres are made from the same rubber as bicycle or car tyres.

Lunch was Mexican and as we didnt know what to order  John ordered for us, it was good but we couldnt finish it all and we only had a late and light dinner tonight.

This had pork in it.

 This one was chicken and we shared some of each. I had always thought Mexican was hot but not so.

Washington State

We needed to go thru customs before we got on the ferry. It was quite easy though, as an officer came to the car, checked our passports and asked a couple of questions mainly about us, the Australians. Once onboard, it was deemed American land.

Olympica is the capital of Washington and we dropped in to
see the Government buildings.

Massive buildings and lovely gardens around them.

Pumpkins, boats and Junk shops

Yesterday we set out for the ferry at Victoria BC. As we had time we called at our friends store, she calls it a junk shop but it is well laid from what I could see. We had lunch with them a couple of weeks ago.

Luqi had some news for us, she is taking her daughter back to China to visit her mother and step father. We think its the first time since she left China seven years ago.

A totem pole in the alley way next to Luqi 's store.

We continued on to Victoria and saw an RV park with floating houses and boats as well.

Beautiful weather as can be seen by the sky.

Gardens in Victoria harbour, later we sailed in the waters behind, by ferry.

Last night we went to a supermarket, lots of pumpkins.

Halloween is just around the corner.

This morni g we stopped for coffee at a small cafe, they had pumpkin pie and I tried it, humm not my favourite. The server, who it seemed to be a mum and dad business, his wife did the baking, brought a piece of pecan pie to the table after hearing that we had not had one.  I thought my understanding of the language was alright until he had said P'carn, was what I heard, oh, pee can. Oh yes, I liked that more than the pumpkin.

A day of food

I tried different foods today. Breakfast was a chocolate milk, unusual for me but we were going to be travelling so I thought I should have something as I didnt know when we would get a chance to have lunch. Silly me!

It was foggy when we started driving, the scenery is amazing and I am still blown away by the massive trees that line the roadways.

Morning tea was a stop at Tim Hortons, we had only been to the famous Tims once before for an iced coffee so I had to try something, my choice was a med hot chocolate and three bite sized apple strudel,  I didnt need three but that was the deal. Warren had a double double coffee (that means double milk and double sugar in the coffee) and a strawberry jam donut and couldnt beleive that it was only $5.35 for both.

We got to Victoria  BC and walked to Fishermans Wharf where we thought we should have something to eat as we had a ferry to catch, we needed to be there 90 minutes before as we had to clear customs and immigration  and then the ferry ride was another 90 minutes.

Plenty of choice here, our table went for two fish and chips, a Mexican meal and I chose a salmon taco. A nice piece of salmon on a bed of lettuce, all wrapped in a soft taco, yum!

We didnt really feel hungry at dinnertime so we took a trip to a supermarket  (we were in USA by then). Oh, that was different. I got some sweet and sour pork, there was hot plate and several hot meals ready to go. It was served in a cardboard box. We also bought some cereal and milk ready for breakfast in the morning as we are heading further into America.

Different shops/stores

A couple of stores that I found of interest.

A Flip Flop Shop.

The last two were taken in a Sporting store, there were many stuffed animals on top of shelves and on the walls. This was a display at the back of the store. There were Elk, Moose, a cougar a big horned sheep and other smaller animals.

A Different Shopping Experience

Went to a mall yesterday. The guys went to a movie and we checked out the stores seeing what was the same and what was different.

We visited a clothing store and one of the assistants came over,  welcomed us and explained where things were, they had some red ticket items (sale).

I picked up a couple of things that I wanted to try on. Same lady came over and chatted about them and then asked me a question. I was surprised that I didnt understand her and said "Im sorry could you say that again please". A little slower and louder she again said what I thought she said "Can I prepare a room for you" what?

Feeling a little preplexed I told her I didnt understand what she meant.

As I had some items in my hand, she had asked what I thought she said but didnt it make any sense to me. In this store if you want to try clothes on, they take the clothes into a changing room and when finished looking, you can then go to that room and try on the clothes. A very different experience.

When we did go to the changing rooms, there were the items that I had chosen hanging up, another assistant was in the area and told that she could get other colurs or sizes for me if I needed them. My name was written ib chalk on the one of the doors.

Three hooks inside the changing room, with Love it,  not for me and Tempted. Jenny did bring me another top as I requested, in  a smaller size!

Some items were 50% off and because I bought two items the second one was a further 20% down. I did buy two pr of jeans, two other pr of pants and a ful, price top all for $143, got to be happy with that, I certainly was. Now to fit them in my suitcase.

The Whimscal Forest

We walked thru this forest yesterday, its not that far away but first we visited the biggest ammo box in Canada. It is a geo cache a few kms away then John dropped us at the entrance to the forest.

Massive trees again and although there are trails through the forest, they are not as defined as the others, but still easy to walk along.

There are interesting additions along the way such as little mushrooms, gnomes, small ceramic pieces,. It was so cool to find all the little bits and pieces that people had left.

A holly bush.

Warren using a frond to break through spiders webs. 

There were four caches in and we found them all and then made our way out to the main road then walked down to the beach.

Protection Island

This is a small island off the coast from Nanaimo (this is pron a different way to how I asked for tickets on the ferry, thankfully though the lady selling the tickets realised and corrected me).

We waited for the ferry in a waiting room? that was on the water so a little rocky. Ferry goes every hour and it is about a ten minute trip. We calculated that we would be approx four hours as had to estimate for the car parking.

Caught the 1.10am ferry and went out across the water, both drivers we had very skilled at berthing the ferry and tied up with no assistance. On the island at the dock is the Dinghy Dock Pub, the walkway went to the right for the island and to the ,eft for the pub. We had lunch first and sat out on the dock, great lunch!

It is approx two and a half kms long but maybe one and a half with 144 houses on it (we counted), we walked most of the roads and found interesting houses and went geo caching. People over there get around by golf cart or walking, no shops or services except the mail boxes.

We met a girl walking and she told us that they go over for weekends, she worked in Nanaimo as a teacher. She said on the island her kids 9 &6 were "free range".

Mussels

We took a ferry from Naniamo today across to Protection Island.
This was my lunch.

Oh my goodness they were good!

Courtney

We went up island yesterday to Courtney and we went to the shore.

So many boats and then a glazier behind up in the mountains.

Near the shore was a large sign promoting staying safe and they didnt just advise on it, there were life jackets to borrow for kids, how neat is that?

After we went to an airforce museum,  it was all outside and all planes.

We also saw snow! It was actually came from the ice rink but it did make good snow balls to throw at each other.

Ucluelet Aquarium

There was an aquarium on the dock and we had heard from a ranger that it was pretty good, so we decided to check it out. We got seniors discounts which was a plus as somewhere else we were, only local seniors got a discount.

Very interesting place with a large tank that we were warned not to put our hands in, several tanks were hands on, touchy feely. We had to wash our hands first to protect the fish and creatures.

We were told that it was a catch and release place, what? Apparently they catch all the exhibits in the local waters and the maximum time they spend there was nine months and then they were released back to the wild or sea in their case.

We couldnt take flash photos and I didnt take any at all but it was a neat place.

The girl on the reception even gave us a recommendation to a bakery for lunch, it was good too.

Ucluelet or Ukee as the locals say.

This is wood that has washed up on the shore, some they say could have come from as far as Japan. The beach is Long Beach.

These logs are scattered all along the beach, there are hundreds of them.


We went on to a lighthouse that was very squat, it was built like a bunker from the war,  we had a short walk through some rain forezt from the car park to get thete and we could hear a regular mournful sound. I wondered if it was a sea lion or similar pain but we soon learnt what it was, a buoy out to sea. It operated on or by the waves, the rougher the seas the louder and more frequent the sound.

Second photo is out to sea, quite dark as it was taken into fhe sun 

Third photo is the light house.

Warren at the Wild Pacific Trail and yes we were on it, the trail goes for several kilometres around the coast line and many people were starting their walks there. The way to the light house is on the trail but we only walked a couple of hundred metres on it.

Mud Flats

We went walking this morning, only 700 metres from motel as crow flies. We just walked down the road and seemly come to a dead end that announced private property. Ha! We spied a gap in the foligage and then there was a sign post alerting us to the walk.

Huge trees and a well marked path to the beach? Still getting used to the downhill walks to the waters edge. This one ended in a small board walk and a platform.

Just awesome!

So serene!

We stood and watched the water moving in for some time, it was just so pleasant. We saw what we assumed to be salmon moving through. We figure that they were feeding on the weeds underneath. Seagulls and other birds came in as well.

Once we had seen enough, we walked back through the forest.

Warren did a bit of rock climbing after lunch, he was checking out the tree.

Tofino

Pulled into a rest area on the way to Tofino and the first thing we saw was a little mouse.

I have seen plenty of mice but never in a setting like that. Then there were some blue jays which were really pretty but hard to photograph, three ended up there but not together they were in a tree each.

Going through the mountains, did have a little rain but not much, plenty of motor homes on the road. A road sign had me confused for a little while and I cant remember the exact wording but basically it was saying that if you were a slow vehicle and had five behind, you needed to pullout, and pullout (pullover) areas were provided. At home it is just hoped that they would pull over/off, maybe we need something more formal.

Close to Tofino, we stopped to visit the beach oh boy it was rather steep to get there.

This was the pathway and in the car park were warnings about wolves and bear had been seen in the area the week before! What? The signs did advise to  make noise so we talked loudly. There were some Vicki seats on the way but I only needed/used one of those on the way back. There was a board walk for the last hundred metres or so. It was quite cool toobecause of the foliage.

Once in Tofino, we went to a couple of art galleries, one was Native art, very nice stuff, but got to remember that I am trying to downsize at home.

A walk around today

We left this morning and made our way to the stores via the long way which was far more interesting through massive forests and trees.

Met several people walking their dogs, most were off the leash and then we realised that some areas were off lead, all the dogs were very well behaved.

Our trip took us to the local train station which is no longer in use but they do have black berries growing for locals to eat. We had some for dessert the other day.

As it was raining we took shelter here for awhile before continuing on to the museum which was closed on Mondays, but we did find a cache there!o
I went to an Art Gallery further along the street, of course Icouldnt take any photos inside but I did take one outside.

Chemainus

Today on our way back from visiting with friends we stopped in at Chemainus.

There was a small museum shop and then we were invited into view the exhibits, there was an older guy at the cou ter and we didnt realise it at first but he was the guide and very interesting.

At one point he showed us a piece that was about himself, he was a Korean veteran.

This was a structure in the gardens representing the first nation people.

A waterwheel was on the other side of the garden. There were many murals in the township.

Goats on the roof

Our last port of call tkday was Coombs where a farmer put turf on his roof and his goats grazes there. As people were stopping to see the goats on the roof, businesses set up there and now it us quite a largish community.

This is rather a dark photo

,This was at Englishman falls, this part was quite mild and serene  but no much further the water tumbled over the rocks and fell several metres down and then it settled into an almost still pond.

We had lunch at an Organic farm called Whiskey Creek. The food was good, the wait was not. It is a working farm and tbey only open on Saturdays.

At the falls the guys went to the left and lower falls while we went to the upper falls.

We went to country market first with lots of crafts and produce to buy.

Very pleasant to sit, have a coffee and listen to music.

Bear!

Yay, we saw a bear, just the one but thats okay, it was a bear even though jt was a long way away thats how I liked it.

We took a tour in Ketchikan that went around the town a bit and then out to where bear are often seen. Of course there was no guarantee that we would see any wild .ife but thete had been sightings in the morning so it seemed likely that we could see some.

It was a black bear and if you look close at the photo, he is a black spot to the left, just about to go into the water. He headed over to whefe the water was coming out of the pipes and grabbed a salmon, threw it in the air a couple of times, then ran over into the trees. He moved very fast.

Massive trees

As a kid I grew up with massive gum trees around but boy oh boy thet were nothing compared to the ones we saw yesterday and today, not far from Qualicum beach.

This photo was today and the trees were only about three metres apart but the two trees didnt fit in the photo!

Check these beauties out. Such a nice walk with good paths about two metres wide, very comfortable to walk side by side. Saw a couple of people walking their dogs.