At 2 a.m. on Wednesday, December 23rd, Grandpa David, Grandma Sally, Uncle Freddy, "Scotch the Wonder Dog" and I piled into Freddy's Jeep and headed up across the U.S./ Canadian Border at Blaine in order to catch the early morning BC ferry from Tsawwassen, BC to Duke Point on Vancouver Island.
Scotch, Grandma Sally and I were pretty crowded in the backseat with all the Christmas decorations, presents and such, but we were happy to be on our way to the family cabin on Thetis Island!
The BC Ferries are really luxurious...with cafeterias, coffee and gift shops, and lots of places to sit and watch the beautiful scenery float by!
The
Queen of Alberta was built in Australia...a long way from its final home!
I had a lot of fun exploring the ship!
Grandma Sally and I spent part of the two hour crossing reading on her
Kindle...her electronic reading devise that directly downloads books from
Amazon.com! I bet if you'd check, you'd find Jeff Brown's award-winning series there!
Then I helped Grandpa David win a game of
Risk on Uncle Freddy's computer! They're addicted to the game!
Me and Uncle Freddy and Grandpa David on the car deck of the ferry! We're just arriving at Duke Point, near Nanaimo!
Yippeeee!
Once in Chemainus - a small town on the southeastern side of Vancouver Island - we checked out the world-famous murals and then bought a Christmas tree to take to our cabin on Thetis Island!
Logging was the local industry for many years on Vancouver Island.
We were thrilled to find a beautiful tree...and at only $30 Canadian dollars! I helped load it on the roof of the Jeep!
Waiting for the smaller ferry from Chemainus to Thetis Island, one of the Canadian Gulf Islands.
Everything in Canada is labeled with both English and French, because Canada is what's known as a "bilingual" country...a place with two official languages. They speak English on the west coast of Canada and French on the east coast.
Oh là là...c'est compliqué!
As I waited for the Thetis Island ferry to arrive, I read up on "Killer Whale" facts...they're really called
Orcas. The orca or killer whale is a toothed whale and is a member of the Dolphin family (it is the largest dolphin). There are 3 distinct species of these warm blooded, air breathing mammals: Resident Killer Whales, Transient Killer whales, and Off-shore Killer Whales. The main factors which set each species apart are - social behavior, physical appearance, preferred food, and vocal dialects. At this stage, there is little known of the Off-Shore species of Killer Whales as they are seldom seen in protected coastal waters. Although the travelling ranges of Residents Killer Whales, Transients Killer Whales, and Off-shores Killer Whales overlap, they have never been seen to mix. One of the best locations for orca whale watching is off Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada...that's right! Right by the McLaughlin's Thetis Island cabin!
I was so excited when the ferry to Thetis Island finally arrived!!
Woooohooo!
The sun came up as we made the 25 minute crossing from Chemainus to Thetis!
Before I knew it we were approaching Thetis...the McLaughlin family has had a cabin there for over fifty years!
Hooray for Thetis Island!!
What fun it was to finally make it to the Thetis Island cabin! I'd heard so much about it from Ryan! And he didn't exaggerate...it's a really beautiful place!
While Freddy, Grandpa David and Grandma Sally unloaded the Jeep, Scotch and I ran around on the point, looking for sea otters and blue herons!
First thing Uncle Freddy built a warm fire in the cabin's stove in order to chase the Canadian cold away!
Toasty warm...ahhh!!
