Thursday, May 17, 2001, 6:25 a.m. - Mile 4455.7 - Vancouver, BC
My wife, Susan, and I head off to catch the early ferry to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. My wife has promised me that we can still drive at my pace, which holds out for part of the first day. We've been married for 26 years, so I kind of knew what to expect.
6:50 a.m. - Mile 4476.7 - Tsawwassen ferry to Nanaimo
It's interesting how they fill up a ferry. They have lanes for each ferry that have roughly the same area as the deck of the ferry. When the lane is full than that's all the cars that will fit on the ferry.
We get to our place in line, then go have breakfast in the waiting area. They announce when it is time to go back to our cars and drive onto the ferry. It's a two-hour ferry ride to Nanaimo on Vancouver island.
9:45 a.m. - Arrive at Nanaimo
10:20 a.m. - Mile 4500.0 - Chemainus
The town of Chemainus gets more tourists to stop by because they've painted dozens of murals on the walls of the buildings in town. We go have a quick look, then continue on south towards Victoria.
11:15 a.m. - Mile 4536.0 - Duncan
We stop in Duncan because "one of us" just has to see the totem poles that they have in town. In fact, they even have totem poles with murals here. We also have to put the top up again because it starts raining.
Mile 4541.4 - Top down again
The rain doesn't last long and we can put the top down again. The trees in the area are beautiful with many shades of green right up to the road.
11:50 a.m. - Mile 4556.0 - Ferry to Washington
We arrive at the ferry to Washington and realize that it doesn't leave until 3:00 p.m., more than 3 hours from now. There are already about eight cars in line, but we decide to go see Butchart Gardens first, then come back for the ferry.12:30 p.m. - Mile 4570.8 - Butchart Gardens
We stop in for a quick look at the gardens. The flowers are beautiful here. I really didn't understand what a Rhododendron was until I got to the Pacific Northwest. They're beautiful, as are many other types of flowers. Tulips and daffodils are still in bloom here. They've been over with for months in California.
1:48 p.m. - Head back to the ferry
We now know some of the roads in Victoria, so we head back towards the ferry without feeling like we're about to get lost. We make a quick stop by Parliament to take some pictures, then pull into the ferry parking lot.
2:30 p.m. - Mile 4586.8 - Ferry to Washington
We are surprised that the parking lot is nearly full with room for about six more cars. A few more minutes later and we would have been waiting hours for the next ferry.
I make a phone call to a guy who lives in Port Angeles and also has an S2000, but just get a recording, so I give up on meeting any other S2000 owners on this trip. It was hard to schedule anything since I didn't have a real schedule of where I would be at any given time.
5:00 p.m. - Mile 4587.2 - Port Angeles, Washington
We finally clear customs and are on our way again on U.S. soil. They seem to ask each car two or three questions and if they're convinced your an American as stated, they let you through. They asked me where I was from. I said "Pleasanton, California". He then asked me if the town lived up to its name and I said it was a nice place to live, but was named after a Civil war general. He didn't even want to get into how the spelling was changed from "Pleasonton" and all.
After entering and exiting both Mexico and Canada in the past six months, I'm wondering how they catch smugglers. It's so easy getting into and out of the United States on both borders.
5:35 p.m. - Mile 4600.4 - Olympic National Park
We head into Olympic National Park before it starts to get dark. There is nobody at the gate to this park either. We find the little black national park brochure and head on up to Hurricane Ridge. It's raining and we're in fog much of the way, but even with that the road is quite interesting. I would just love to drive up it on a clear day.
Mile 4613.4 - Top of Hurricane Ridge
There's a visitor's center at the top of the Hurricane Ridge road. Apparently they have a ski lift there too. We look at the exhibits in the visitor's center and wish we could be there on a clear day. The views must be spectacular.
6:50 p.m. - Mile 4634.3 - Port Angeles
As we go back through Port Angeles we look for somewhere to eat and the 8th Street Bistro is the first place we come to. It's a bit pricey, but the food is good and we enjoy it. As we're leaving, the owner comes out to ask about the S2000. It seems that he owned a Prelude 2.0si that had four-wheel steering and he recognizes the Honda badge on my car. He can tell that it must be something special. I show him the engine and talk about it for a few minutes, but we don't have time to take him for a ride. He wants a sports car and seems to be the type who would buy an S2000 if he ever got to drive one.8:05 p.m. - Mile 4634.3 - Leaving Port Angeles
We find our way to highway 101 and head out of town. The road leads past Lake Crescent. This is a wonderful road and I would recommend it to anyone who lives within a few hundred miles of the area. There's a scenic lake on the right, beautiful forest on the left, banked turns and very little straight road. I think I had originally planned to drive on Highway 112 along the Straight of Juan de Fuca, but I would have missed this road if I had gone there, so I'm happy with this road choice.
9:20 p.m. - Mile 4693.8 - Forks, Washington
We continue on until we find a motel that we like. The town of Forks is our only choice and is good enough. This has been the longest day yet, but we didn't really drive that far, since much of the time was spent on ferries.
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Page last updated July 9, 2001
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