VICTORIA!

Hey!

Soooo, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote, but Mark has done a fine job of keeping you all in the loop.  Thanks again to our kind hosts in Vancouver, it was great to see Kamala back in/on her stomping grounds (not sure if it’s in or on…seems like a question for an ESL teacher?). So from rainy Vancouver, to rainy Vancouver Island, we seemed to be getting the ‘hang’ of the west coast winter.  It very much reminded me of my days in New Zealand, not too cold, not too hot, just lots of moisture in the air….nothing a good umbrella can’t handle (aside from the slanted/side rain….that’s another story). 

Anyways, Mark and I loved Tofino, and yes I’d say he is hooked…I had previously surfed in France and England with my friend Rae, and a few times in NZ, and despite the several year breaks between bouts I also am hooked.  We’ll see what waves Malaysia has for us….or perhaps we’ll just have to venture down to Indo?  Laird Hamilton, Kelly Slater….you got nothing on us J

So, after Tofino we set off to Victoria….after a few stops along the way, and a craving for Swiss Chalet of all things, we got within 100km’s of Victoria.  It started to get dark, and of course it was raining, but HARD this time…joy.  I found this drive to be quite stressful….knowing that I would have a heart attack with Mark driving, I decided to take the wheel again.  To distract myself from the winding, rain covered roads (of which I could barely see due to a combination of poor headlights, and road lines that I think were painted to match the asphalt) we decided to make our pre-USA phone calls.  So Mark called his parents and wished them safe travels on their upcoming cruise, and I called my parents to get the updates (on speaker, of course).  I chatted with my folks for about 20 minutes, which kept me less focused on the sheer terror that the roads were and more on the convo.  So we arrived to Victoria, to an old co-worker of ours, Maureen and her husband Allan.  We got all caught up on the past year or so, and had wished that we allotted more time to chill, but the road was calling so we had to get back at it.  Maureen introduced us to a new YouTube favourite of hers (feel free to check it out…knowing that Maureen has an interesting sense of humour : here), we also watched a few Louis CK, which I had never seem before….pretty funny/dirty stuff for those out there who haven’t seen him. 

So back to it, the next morning we got a tour of the city, dropped Maureen off at work, and had some time to look around.  The city reminded both Mark and I of Ottawa, with the Parliament buildings, and shops, minus the beautiful Ocean of course.  So after our walk around we caught the Coho ferry to Port Angeles, where we would depart and drive about 2 hours to get to Seattle.  The ferry ride was pretty tame, some mild rocking of the boat, and after a short nap looked outside to see dolphins every few minutes swimming alongside the boat, which I was pretty happy about.  The next leg of the journey will take place in the U S of A….so check out our next post for Seattle, and beyond. 

Oh yeah…the answers to the trivia questions posted before:

The movie that first made me cry wasssssssssss…..common Juby, you better know this…..WHITE FANG.

AND to remember Mark’s middle name I think of………..common Alice, you better know this….SARAH JESSICA PARKER, as his middle names are SIDNEY JOSEPH.

And to leave you with 2 new Halloween trivia related questions:

What famous monster made it difficult for Mark to go to sleep as a youngster?

A) Chucky      

B) Jason Vorhees   

C) Freddy Krueger     

D) Pinhead

What horribly embarrassing costume duo did Megan get dressed up as with her friend, Kristina Bender in Grade 7?  (The year that Brooke went as Mimi from The Drew Carey Show, Josh as an upset Vampire due to a ripped cape, and Justin as a hyper Penguin).

A) Woody and Buzz  

B) Robin and Batman 

C) Tin Tin and Snowy  

D) Waldo and Odlaw