Day 4 - Vancouver to Galiano Island

The next day our ferry to Galiano Island wasn't until 6:30 but of course we had to check out by noon. The Metropolitan let us leave our car in the garage so we took off for breakfast at the Pan Pacific Hotel near the water. It was a really good breakfast, but at hotel prices, which was kind of annoying. From there we decided to walk to Chinatown, which was a longish walk that felt longer because the heat had soared to almost 90 degrees. By the time we reached the ornamental gates, I wanted nothing more than to sit down in the shade with a beverage. We saw the world's narrowest building (six feet wide) and a fancy garden with lily pads, and then staggered our way to a Bubble Tea Café and had some kind of Chinese "slushie" that tasted like green apple and had a giant straw (but no tapioca bubbles; those things skeez me out.) We headed back into downtown with a brief stop at our car, even changing into lighter clothing in the garage. :) Then we started off down Robson St., the main shopping drag, and I bought a cute t-shirt in Roots Canada (earlier in the day I'd gotten a blue cashmere sweater at a shop called Mount Cashmere.) I checked out the beautiful-smelling goods in the bath shop Lush, and some cool jewelry, and finally we were about falling over needing lunch so we collapsed at a sidewalk table at the Inlet Café and ate a quesadilla and a wrap (David said they were the same food in different shapes :)) and slurped a bunch of Pellegrino and lime. We met another Australian couple at the table near us; I think we kept meeting Australians because I was wearing my Rottnest Island cap and no one else in the world knows where that is! :) After a bit more shopping, we got in line at Mondo Gelato behind about 50 Japanese high school kids, so it took a while to get our cones. We decided it was late enough to head back to the car and start our drive to Tsawwassen, where we would catch our ferry.

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The traffic was hellish. Even though we were leaving Vancouver a good hour and a half before departure for a 24 kilometer drive, we inched along for most of the way. When we finally got to the ferry docks it was 36 minutes before our ferry took off. I know this because I tried to show our reservation to the guy and he said "Reservations just ended-get in the stand-by line." I was frozen in fury (and fear-it was the only ferry that day to Galiano and we'd already paid for our room there.) He said the cut-off was 40 minutes, not 30, even though none of my internet print-outs said so. I could barely speak, I was so mad, but then we noted with relief that we were being waved through into the ferry queue. It was exciting to drive onto the ferry, which is the size of a cruise ship with several levels just for cars, and then very cool to sit up on the top deck and watch the sun go down as the ferry pulled out. We were soon enveloped in clouds and chill, though, and the ferry left an hour late, so we went inside. The BC Ferries are an amazing business, connecting Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle and all the islands in between, often with many sailings a day. When you are floating on a pristine channel surrounded by long, thin islands covers in evergreens, you often see no sign of civilization except for these large white ships passing each other. And they have everything inside: comfy seats for viewing the scenery, bookshops, arcades, massage chairs, and in one I counted FOUR restaurants! Except for the screaming kids, it was pretty relaxing.

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The trip to Galiano, which is the closest of the Gulf Islands to Vancouver with no stops in-between, took about 50 minutes, but since we were an hour late we had slightly missed our dinner reservation at Atrevida, the restaurant at The Galiano Inn, where we were staying. It was just getting dark when we drove off the ferry ramp and up a very short bit of blacktop to the turn-off for the Inn (you can see the Inn as the ferry comes in; it's less than a minute's drive from the terminal.) Right away, you feel the tempo of life slow around you, with the small roads, the ramshackle, cottage-size businesses, and of course the ocean all around you. It reminded me of camp, somehow, but at camp I had been up in the mountains and woods. Even the parking lot of the Inn was lovely, with a little fountain and two wooden houses all lit up-one with the rooms, the other the dining room. I rushed into the dining room to tell them the ferry had been late, and the nice lady said she'd still saved us a seat by the window. She took us to our room, which was all done in pale yellow with beautiful furniture, pretty tiles and brass fixtures in the bathroom, a fireplace, and a balcony that extended over the ocean. It was just stunning. We quickly changed and headed into dinner, which was a lovely circular room with tables overlooking the water, very romantic. They were a little understaffed, but everything we ate was divine, and many of the veggies and some of the wine were locally grown and produced. Too bad we were too full for dessert! It was just chilly enough to warrant a crackling fire when we returned to the room, accompanied by some nice Celtic guitar music provided by the hotel for the CD player. We read in bed and then slept very well. The only thing that marred that first night a little bit was a disturbing number of mosquitoes that kept making it into the room; we weren't sure how. The next day we discovered that the balcony French doors were slightly ajar, and once we fixed that we didn't see them anymore.

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