Day 6 - Back to Seattle - Chihuly Glass & the Space Needle

We're heading back to Seattle today and flying home on Sept. 7th.  Here's Ron on the ferry.

We ferried to Port Angeles and then drove to Sequim where we had lunch at the Hwy.101 Diner.  Shades of Elvis everywhere!  Great burgers and fries - yum!

Checked into our motel around 4:30 and asked for directions to the Space Needle.  Advised that we should not drive it but take the motel shuttle to the light rail system, ride to the Westlake stop, and then take the Monorail directly to the Space Needle and Chihuly Glass Gardens and Exhibit.  It was a challenge for two old fogies but we made it without too much difficulty.  The broken elevator meant 50 stairs to climb for the monorail (up and down) and being forgotten by our shuttle driver after our adventure meant a 30 minute wait at the end of the light rail ride, but these things make the trip memorable.

After 45 minutes in the glass exhibit, which even impressed Ron, we had an hour to kill before our elevator time on the Space Needle.  Everything that was open when we got there was closed now so we had to eat at McDonalds.  Wouldn't have been our first choice but we were glad to find it open when all other options were closed.  Apart from a few homeless people begging, it was just like being in Keller or North Carolina.

Very few people asked to have their picture taken by us - most were taking selfies with their phones.  But a couple of nice looking gay guys asked us to take their picture (which we did) and then they took ours.  Not looking too bad for the end of the trip and 50+ years together.  Thanks for a wonderful trip, Ronnie rascal!

Day Five, Continued - Victoria - Harbor pics and Harbor House for dinner

After a short rest my batteries were charged and I was ready for a walk around the harbor.  Most of the flower pics were taken around the grounds of the Empress Hotel.

Harbor Ferry

 Pink Floyd

Music by the harbor

Ron's salad and my leftovers from dinner at Harbor House Restaurant.   Delicious prime rib - wish I could have eaten all of it.

Day Five - Victoria - Goldstream Provincial Park

Started this morning with a walk on Fisherman's Wharf to see the seals being fed by tourists.

This was a floating B & B.  I considered one but thought it might smell too fishy!

 Next stop - Tim Hortons for coffee and Timbits - a must do in Canada.

On to Goldstream Provincial Park to see Little Niagra - same height as Big Niagra but not nearly as wide!

The route to the falls is through a culvert under the highway and through the creek bed that will soon be filled with water and not passable.  I stacked a few rocks but forgot to take a picture.

On the way back to our B & B for leftover lasagne for lunch, we were delayed by a wreck.  A truck pulling a camper rear-ended a car, jack-knifed, and landed on its side.  We heard later that there were no serious injuries, thankfully.  

Day Four - Victoria - Sooke and the western coast

Day four started with a drive up the western coast of Vancouver Island.  A seagull is dining on the fish remains.  The coast line is very rocky here and we were never able to find a place to get close to the water.  Probably too cold anyway!

Traveling on we came to the town of Shirley and the Sheringham Point Lighthouse.  The weather was changing with every mile we drove, sunny in places and then very cloudy.  

There was a country market/craft fair going on and we enjoyed walking through it and talking to the vendors.  Bought a small flower pot made by Dottie Pots and a post card of a better shot of the lighthouse.

Tried to get a cup of coffee at the Shirley delicious Cafe but decided it wasn't worth the wait so we continued on to Jordan River where we saw several signs for Jordan River Hot Dogs.  Thought it would be a restaurant but, no, it was a food truck - actually a grill on a trailer.  The hot dogs were delicious though.  We found a log to sit on for lunch, not exactly what I had envisioned but fun anyway.

As we traveled on, I noticed the water had changed to white fluff.  Guess it was clouds - looked like a washing machine had overflowed.

Port Renfrew - foggy and cloudy again.

We headed back to Victoria by way of Lake Cowichan.  Mountains and winding roads - the island has a bit of everything.  Stopped in Langford for dinner at Original Joe's.  Another near perfect day.