I woke up in my bachelor pad Airbnb and used the restroom. Coming back to my room, I noticed my key inside the keyhole. I was baffled as to how it got there. Was that my key? Was it the owner’s second key? I was pretty sure I took the key out, but I couldn’t find mine. Great, I slept with the key inside the keyhole, so anybody could have just walked inside.
I drove to downtown Vancouver, so I could check out a store called Long Tall Sally. They make clothes for tall women and closed all of their US locations several years ago. I’ve had to order clothes online, and this was my chance to try on some clothes in person. Driving through the city was frustrating, and I realized that I don’t want to live in a large city any longer.
I hate trying on clothes. It seems stores put the worst lighting in there. Plus, my weight is always fluctuating, making me feel depressed when clothes don’t fit. After purchasing a couple of items, I walked over to a coffee shop. The girl behind the counter rounded down the total because I was paying with cash, and Canada got rid of the penny. She said they’ll probably get rid of the nickel soon.
After I got my coffee, I drove to the ferry terminal to go to Vancouver Island. I arrived at 1:50 pm, and the next ferry left at 3:30 pm. The attendant said if the ferry were full, I’d have to wait until the next one at 5:30 pm. It cost $75, and I patiently waited in my car, praying there was a spot available. Thankfully, I was the last car allowed to board!
The ferry ride was beautiful. In the distance, I could see the high-rises in Vancouver. I love taking ferries as a mode of transportation because it has the added bonus of being a scenic boat ride. I wandered outside to take in the view. It was a clear day, and the sun reflected off the water. We passed islands and mountains that reminded me of Norway.
The announcer made the call to return to our vehicles, so I made my way down the stairs to the lower car deck. A girl around nine years old was yelling and said, “F*ck!” Her mother said, “I didn’t think it could get any worse, but you just did it. Don’t talk like that.” The young girl started to hit her mother and the mother calmly replied, “Don’t hit me.” The girl hit her several more times as the mother kept saying, “Stop hitting me.” When we arrived at the car deck, the girl ran off as the mother shouted, “Stop!” I couldn’t resist any longer and I got right behind the little girl and sternly said, “You should show some respect.” She turned around at me with a shocked look on her face as she slowly walked back towards her mother.
When we arrived, I started driving towards Torino. It would take a few hours to get there because it was on the other side of the island. The drive was beautiful and felt undiscovered. I drove through the tree-filled mountains, passing still lakes as the sun disappeared.
During the drive, the Brett Kavanaugh hearing was taking place, and Facebook offered to watch it live. I still had cell service, so I played the video, and I listened to it while driving. I had the time, so I was able to listen to most of the hearing. I wouldn’t have the time to listen to the whole hearing in my regular life and instead would have to rely on news outlets to recap it. It felt awesome to be able to get the whole picture and to make my own conclusions. I didn’t have to rely on a reporter’s opinion about what happened. Unfortunately, most news outlets in the US no longer report the facts without adding their personal opinion to it.
When I studied broadcasting and film in college in 2000, we were taught not to add our opinion. As a reporter, you are to remain neutral and report the facts. You shouldn’t cry when reporting about murders, for example. You just report the facts and let people come to their own conclusions. I don’t know of any news outlet in the US that simply reports the facts without including biases. So for the first time in a very long time, I could simply listen to testimony and make up my own mind. I was surprised by how many people on Facebook used the phrase “believe all women.” Personally, I believe in listening to every case (testimony and evidence) before I will simply believe something.
It got dark at 7:30 pm, and I didn’t arrive at my Airbnb until 9:00 pm. I had a hard time finding it on the dark country roads. The owner talked with me and helped me find it. It was more like a small lodge or a motel. I had my own room, complete with a creepy spider in the bathroom sink. At this point, all I could do was laugh since a spider was in almost every single place I stayed.
I updated my blog and went to bed late that night, so I slept in the following morning. When I opened my front double-doors, I had an amazing view!
I found two hikes in the temperate rainforest that was just a five-ten minute drive. I drove there and started to hike “trail A.” It was humid outside, but still slightly cool. I prefer temperate over tropical rainforests because they’re much cooler, but offer all of the greenery.
The trail had a wooden bridge path that wound its way through the forest, with steps guiding me down and back up. Once I completed that trail, I walked across the road and did “trail B.” This was a similar trail that had a boardwalk. I passed giant trees, climbed lots of stairs, and listened to the birds singing.
Once I completed these trails, I hiked on a small trail that led to the ocean. I couldn’t have asked for better weather.
I signed up for an afternoon whale watching tour, so I drove to the meeting place. The guide said this was their last tour of the season, and I was happy I made it just in time. Our group put on full-body life jackets, and we walked towards the boat. There was a family of four with adult children, two couples, and another single female. They were all from Germany. On the walk over, I talked with the single female. She said that she and her partner shipped their RV from Germany and are spending a year in Canada and the US. They started in Baltimore and explored a little bit of the east coast and then drove the Trans Canada Highway to the west coast. They planned to spend the winter in Carmel, California.
We boarded the small inflatable boat and rapidly took to the ocean. The boat was loud, and the quick motor meant the guide didn’t talk while en route. The ride was so fun! We blasted through the water, skipping off waves in search of whales. At one point, our guide got a call that there were some whales in a specific area, so we waited for them to surface.
As we sat there waiting patiently, the boat rocked up and down with each wave. I get motion sickness on boats when I can feel waves. I tried hard to convince myself that I was fine, but I was on the verge of throwing up. I slowly reached into my water-tight bag to find my Dramamine. I didn’t have any water with me, and even with water, I struggle to swallow pills. However, the motion sickness was so bad that I gathered spit in my mouth and got the pill down. Thankfully, it worked pretty fast, and I avoided having to chuck over the side of the boat.
All of a sudden, a whale popped up from the water! We mostly saw the water being sprayed from his blowhole, but then we could see the top of his back as he went back into the water. We stayed at the spot for around 30 minutes and were able to see two whales from a distance coming up and back down a few times.
Our guide received a call saying a baby whale about three years old was in a nearby cove. They knew of this whale, and our guide was excited as he raced over to the cove. We were the only boat there, and as we patiently waited, the baby whale popped up right beside our boat! Normally the guides stay farther back, so they don’t scare or injure the whales, but they said this baby whale liked to surprised boats like that. It was so awesome to watch him swim around us.
Next, we went over to some rocks sticking out of the water where many sea lions were sunbathing. After watching them jump into the ocean, we drove over to an area where otters were hanging out among seaweed and logs. They looked like little stuffed animals just playing around.
The sun was setting, and we sat there watching it sparkle on the water. We made our way to shore just in time to watch the sun make its final descent.
I said my goodbyes to the group and drove over to a fish shack that had good reviews. I ate outside in the dark with a dimly-lit light above the table. As I ate, I surfed Facebook and saw post after post on both sides of the Kavanaugh hearing issue. I tried to tell myself to stop reading. Stop surfing. It was only making me angry and ruining the good feelings I had from whale watching. Eventually, I put the phone away and tried my best to be in the moment and enjoy my fish.
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One Response
Wow, great pictures! Loved reading this!