Day 25 - Returning Home

Not a lot to report on our last day of our adventure. Our flight was delayed about a half hour due to a late arrival of our aircraft. I'm glad we chose to fly out of Victoria as it is a fairly small airport with only 13 gates so it easy to get to where you were going and no big crowds. Getting through security was only about 15 minutes but I did get shuffled aside to check the camera bag for explosives.

It was a relatively smooth flight over the mountains and the sun was just going down as we approached Toronto. I captured this one on my phone when we were over Younge St approaching Pearson.

We got home around 10:00 pm in time to get to The Sandtrap in time for a pub supper to end this great road trip.

 Day 24 - Butchard Gardens and Sidney-by-the-Sea

We visited Butchard Gardens 40+ years ago and still had some memories of how beautiful it was. Even though we are not gardeners, we thought it would be a great way to start our last day on the island.

Lots of opportunities to practice my botanical photography so I will just dump a bunch of photos here....

After the gardens it was time to head back down to the waterfront in Sidney for a light lunch at a waterside pub. We watched the sailboats racing on the bay while we ate.

After lunch we walked around the area and of course explored the Sidney Marina. Another first class facility with lots of interesting boats.

We needed to spend some time organizing our bags for tomorrow's flight home so we returned to the motel, cleaned out the car, packed the bags, watched some football and then headed down to the waterfront to enjoy the view of the bay. You can see Mt Baker in Washington State in the far distance.

For supper we went to the Surly Mermaid. We had a bit of a wait on the waterfront before a nice last dinner on the island.

 Day 23 - Returning to Vancouver Island

The rental car had to be returned to the Victoria Airport in Sidney before our flight home so we had two nights booked near there giving us time to explore the area around Sidney. This required our sixth ferry ride from Tsawwassen to Schwartz Bay on Vancouver Island. It was the largest ferry of our trip and was a nice hour and a half cruise through some islands. We passed our ferry's sistership.

Then we passed our sistership.

After departing the ferry we explored a couple of the marinas in the area. A number of powerboat owners have floating boathouses for storing their mid-size yachts.

Very impressive facilities and the home to some fairly significant yachts, both power and sail. This power boat (a Nordhavn 60 is worth in excess of $3M)

A lot of the larger yachts have a Port of Registry in Alberta. Some oil money maybe???

We stopped in the harbour area of Sidney and watched some boats racing on the bay. A very nice downtown area for a small town.

We had a motel right on the water in Sidney by the Sea. For supper, we drove to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and enjoyed a very nice dinner at the club overlooking their harbour.

 Day 22 - More Exploring Vancouver

We had some overnight rain and some spotty showers forecast for this morning with clearing around noon. We let the showers move by in the early morning then headed out in the car for Granville Island for a walk about not really knowing what to expect. This was an old waterfront industrial area that has been transformed into a hip location with galleries, boutiques, restaurants and a fabulous market while still keeping its industrial vibe.

We walked around for a couple of hours while the clouds gave way to sunshine.We took a quick drive by of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.

There was still more of Downtown we wanted to explore on foot so we returned the car to the hotel and set out on foot for a walking tour to first the Yaletown area. The Visitors Centre has the restored first passanger train locomotive to arrive in Vancouver from the east along with the original roundhouse that was converted to a Senior's Centre.

Yesterday we were too tired to get to the Gastown neighbourhood we remembered from 40 years ago so we set out for there. First we had to walk through the centre of the Yaletown entertainment and eatery area that really looked like a happening place.

As we approached the Gastown District, the flavour of the area started to deteriorate. This is on the fringe on the DTES part of Vancouver that has been plagued with homeless drug users, sex workers and others on the fringe of society. Not what we remembered from 40 years ago... We did see the famous steam clock but then selected a different return route.

We stopped at the Vancouver Public Library to go to the top floor patio that is sort of like the Coloseum and provides some interesting views of the city.

From there we walked through the Granville Street District enjoying the retro streetscape and small shops. A re-hydration stop was required along the way. 

We returned to our apartment and after putting in 45,000 steps in the last 3 days, it was time to stretch out in the apartment and relax.