Day 13 - Victoria to Kelowna

Judah likes ferries. Not fairies, ferries. Although all the kids were pretty drawn into the Tinkerbell movie at Matt & Teresa's when we were in Abbotsford. But nevertheless, I digress. Judah likes ferries. He would have run around and around it if he could have. It was difficult to get him to sit still. I understand that this is not a simple feat at the best of times, but he was full of energy this day. Even before we hopped on the ferry we were running around looking at different artisans booths at a nearby market that were not quite open. I guess they believe the tourists aren't typically going to make the 9 am ferry. There was a lot of "Don't-touch-that" followed by "Careful" and "No-we-aren't-going-to-buy-that"s. That was from all of the kids, not just Judah. But he was all over the place.

The scenery was beautiful. I don't remember ever traveling from Victoria to Tswwassen on the ferry. So many islands surrounding it. And the ferry we were on was huge and luxurious. I haven't seen its equal.  Okay I lied. There was one that passed by us as we went between some islands through a small strait. We also watched something like a harbour seal breach and splash down (which is unusual - but we knew it wasn't a whale or a dolphin).

Once we landed, we had difficulties because the road we wanted to take was blocked by police for some reason, which sent us a 1/2 hour out of our way. We had to stop in Abbotsford to retrieve our American cheese from Guynups' fridge. By that time it was lunch, so we decided on Subway since it was closest to the freeway (Hwy 1) towards our next destination. Judah brought his puppy in because he was hungry too. He got fed some lettuce and whatever else Judah didn't eat from his ham sandwich. Anyways, on our way to the van, we met a cute puppy whose name was Teddy and his owner. Cool.

Soon we were on our way to Bridal Veil Falls just outside of Chilliwack. When we arrived, Judah and Aslynn had been fast asleep and were slightly groggy. As we looked for Judah's puppy - you guessed it. Or so I hope you did. So I phoned the Subway. They hadn't seen it. They even went and looked for me. So Faith traveled back in faith that it would still be where we left it. We even prayed about it. We've already lost one of his puppies on a holiday. How could we do it again? And we know that it would be virtually impossible to find one even similar to this one or the last one. So I hiked the kids up to Bridal Falls and took a lot of pictures to try to distract them. Honestly, I had never remembered seeing the falls even though on a few occasions on childhood vacations we had stopped directly below them at the water slides. Wasn't that where Flintstones Village used to be as well?

Anyway, Faith found puppy sitting on top of the table still. He hadn't moved. The kids and I were playing hide-and-go-seek amongst the huge, moss-covered trees near the parking lot. And Faith didn't even get to see the falls. We got back on the road and drove to Hope to find the Othello Tunnels. I was navigating this time. Usually Faith gets the privilege of doing this difficult task and all of the praise and adulation that goes with it. Yes I said that right - sarcasm included. The road sign literally said "Othello Tunnels U-Turn Route". We checked out this amazing feat that people said could not be done. One wonders whether or not it should have been done. It doesn't mention the number of deaths there were constructing it. Gorgeous, rugged, exhilarating. As we passed through some of the darkest parts of the tunnels, one must do the 'manaical laugh'. My children do.

Supper was in Merritt. We had grown tired of fast food, but felt as though we ought to arrive at Grandma's in Kelowna at a half-decent hour - like 8 pm when we had said we would. We neglected to call ahead to let her know when we would arrive since my phone died en route. What can you do? We arrived just moments after she hung up the phone calling our house, where there was no answer. It had been a fine temperature all the way there, but as soon as we neared Kelowna it shot up about five degrees. We were all fairly warm that night, and each consecutive night after.