Portland - Olympics - Vancouver Island

[matloik]

Day 6-7 - Victoria

We stop to eat breakfast at this place in Coombs. And didn’t realize until leaving that they have goats on the roof. But of course, where else would the goats be.



After sort of roughing it and going cheap with our lodging up to this point, we opt for a hotel right downtown Victoria. And Susi scores us an upgrade to a suite. Sweet.



By the way, I’ll just toss this in here, we had better luck finding open wireless Internet access in Central America than on VI. Not sure if our experience is typical and representative, but it was a bit frustrating at times. Also goes to show how dependent we’ve become on that. Had to go the visitors centre and do it the old fashioned way to find a hotel. Eh.

We spend two nights in Victoria so as to get a whole day in the city.

A few pics around the harbor.



That's Washington over there across the channel.

[matloik]

DAY 8

So we plan to leave on the 10:30 am ferry the next morning, the first departure. While walking around the city the day before we stop in at the Blackball Ferry ticket office. All reserved moto spots are taken. But we can come early to see if we can get on. Hmm … this doesn’t sound promising. The gal at the ticket window says we should come at 7:30 am. So we get all packed up the night before and get up early. We think if 7:30 am is good then 6:30 am should be better. Except that they don’t even open up the gates until 7:30. But we are first in line.



A little before 7:30 another couple riding two-up on a Harley of some sort show up. They have more info than we do—evidently they only allow reservations on 4 of the 12 moto spots. We are relieved, we are in.

All 12 spots will be taken on this ferry. Almost all the bikes are big touring bikes.

[matloik]

DAY 8 - Ride Home

We had thought that we’d camp one night on the way home. It’s 230 miles from Port Angeles to Portland if you hit I-5 at Olympia. We didn’t really want to run straight down the interstate, but once we got on the road we decided to just push home.

And now a word from our sponsors.



Cheers.

[Squishy]

Love VI, & Victoria. Saturday market on the waterfront is cool. Thought the Coho ran earlier than that, maybe i'm thinking of the BCF, we usually ride the Coho to PA though.
Have to hear more about it, see you at AJ's.

[Crash Clay]

Great Report. Glad to see you both out enjoying your first multi-day ride together!

[Apple Jam]

dang..I subscribed and then forgot about this.
A good read on a foggy, icy, Parkdale day....

Cheers, indeed!!!

[matloik]

Originally Posted by Apple Jam

dang..I subscribed and then forgot about this.
A good read on a foggy, icy, Parkdale day....

Cheers, indeed!!!

You must really be bored to be reaching back so far in your subscribed list.

We are already thinking of what kind of ride to do this summer -- maybe a WA, BC, MT, ID loop.

[Apple Jam]

Originally Posted by matloik;[URL="tel:205[URL="tel:28089"

28089[/URL]"]20528089[/URL]]You must really be bored to be reaching back so far in your subscribed list.

We are already thinking of what kind of ride to do this summer -- maybe a WA, BC, MT, ID loop.

we were considering either the very long way to the Wallowas gig this year,
or....trailering there with the Big Red Cage the Saturday before,
then taking off from that CG & tour some dirt in Idaho...
Dunno yet. But MS wants to ride!!


While we're quoting posts, codemaster,...
......WTF is my Firefox browser, with my Motorola phone docked in a station,
trying to turn the post location code in the quote into a phone # or URL address or something ?

DogDamn I hate it when computers/programs try to "help" and cause me so much grief.
Why can't they (code geeks) just leave stuff alone, and quit trying to help so much ?

[thehead21]

Great Report! Enjoyed reading it.

[squiffynimrod]

Originally Posted by matloik

I still don’t know how to pronounce it—is it u-clue-let?

Hey, that's my old back yard! That pronunciation is correct. And you got to see the goats in Coombs. Cool.
But you missed a highlight on the Inner Harbour- Spinnakers.
http://www.spinnakers.com/gastro-brewpub

[selkins]

Thanks for sharing the trip! I love that part of North America, and it looks like you got some real quality time with one another.

[matloik]

Originally Posted by squiffynimrod

Hey, that's my old back yard! That pronunciation is correct. And you got to see the goats in Coombs. Cool.
But you missed a highlight on the Inner Harbour- Spinnakers.
http://www.spinnakers.com/gastro-brewpub

Nope, didn't miss it -- we happily consumed some fermented beverages there.

[squiffynimrod]

Originally Posted by matloik

Nope, didn't miss it -- we happily consumed some fermented beverages there.

[Pongo]

You just had to hang around a few months, they have put WI fi all over down town now...

Nice RR, I will be doing it in reverse in a few weeks.