Rocky Mountain Road Trip Day 9

 Today started off with a whale watching trip. Port Renfrew is the first community along the west coast of the island that isn't right across from the Washington state peninsula. This means that one has a combination of the protected currents of the Salish Sea as well as the North Pacific currents. There is also the benefit of only ONE whale watching company, which means any hotspot is not going to be crowded with boats. The company owners use the whale watching revenue to help fund their data collection as they work to catalogue and monitor the whale population in the area. We lucked out that the other group booked on our tour was unable to join, so we had a private 3 hour tour! First step was to get suited up in specialized flotation jumpsuits and get on board. 

As we left the inlet and got oriented, our captain told us that we would normally have 4 ft swells where we currently were floating. That day, it was less than a foot of swell. The ocean was practically flat. This meant we made record time in finding and arriving at "Everest". Everest was described as a non-fixed location based on ocean currents and temperatures where there is a large area with rich growth of plankton. This area is enriched with animal life. We saw dozens of humpback whales. Mother and child, adolescents, ones the captain recognized for sure, others that were being too shy to identify themselves. The pattern of black and white on the underside of the fluke (tail fin) is unique to each whale, like a fingerprint. As part of his work, our captain snapped some shots to identify some of our companions, but they were not being overly cooperative in showing off their flukes with their dives.

On the way to Everest

The ocean rocked some of us to sleep

Found one!

And some more

Yup, we found Everest

After a good hour of being in the middle of a dozen or so humpbacks, we took advantage of the relatively calm water to see if we could spot some orcas or other animals along the shore of the West Coast Trail. Spoiler alert: we saw much Pacific Rim National Park scenery, but no more wildlife.

After a 3 hour tour (♫ a 3 hour tour ♫) we bid Port Renfrew adieu. Before leaving the island, we wanted to do a little sight-seeing in Victoria. We drove down the coastal road as the murder mystery story unfolded. My plan had been to drive down to the legislative building and Beacon Hill park area to explore. Unfortunately, once we crossed from Esquimalt to Victoria we encountered massive crowds and street closures. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the "Northwest Deuce Days" main show was shutting down exactly the same area we had planned to explore. More than 1000 pre-1952 cars were on display and the traffic was blocked. As we still needed to get to Vancouver that afternoon, we decided that driving through Victoria was sufficient and we changed course for the Swartz Bay ferry terminal. We were less lucky this time and were told it would be a 3-4 hour wait. In the end we were the second to last vehicle allowed on to the ferry after just under a 2 hour wait. During that time we finished our audiobook and had a book club discussion about the characters and plot while we waited!

Back to the mainland for the journey back East!

Michael had been looking forward to Vancouver for the whole trip! The first stop was on the way in to Vancouver. We went to the "night market" just as it opened. Unfortunately, the line to get in to the carnival was super long! The event looked similar to the CNE. Michael was vetoed and we got back in the car to arrive at our North Vancouver AirBnB.

Rocky Mountain Road Trip day 5

Before leaving Kamloops on day 5, it was important to all of us to visit the memorial at the residential school. While there I spoke with a woman from Saskatchewan who was involved in a number of murdered and missing indigenous women and truth and reconciliation inquiries. She spoke of some of her experiences and stories relayed to her. It was a hard place to be. I am thankful that I was able to spend some time in that discomfort and I was thankful that I was able to give that experience to my kids. It was a more sombre beginning of the day than our previous starts. 

Several times during our drive from Jasper to Kamloops we had lost our Spotify signal. I was about 3 chapters in to an audiobook from before the trip, so I gave everyone in the car a quick synopsis and we listened to a twisty murder mystery novel as we continued on our way to Whistler, BC. 

During our adventures in Jasper, the sky tram operator described to us and we observed the devastation of the pine beetle. We were able to see that repeatedly throughout the trip. As we made our way through the BC interior we saw evidence of a different devastation. It was not the deadwood of the pine beetle, but blackened trunks of last years forest fires. It was incredible to see how close to the road the fire had been.

About mid-way we stopped at a well placed Fountain Flats Trading Post to check for some gravol. They had some! It was a good opportunity to stretch our legs. It was also good timing for the Gravol. The next stretch of road was a lot of fun driving, a lot of switchbacks and roaring mountain rivers.

In Whistler, we checked into our apartment at the Marketplace Lodge next to the Olympic Plaza. We wandered the Olympic village. Michael has since described it as having a theme park feel. We went to a local hot spot for dinner. Chris and I felt nostalgic as we watched the table of 20-somethings who were wrapped up in their own world. We embarrassed the children by doing some interpretive chair dancing to the loud bar music.  I had been vetoed on the afternoon hike I had wanted to do, so I settled for an after dinner 7km walk including around Lost Lake. On the way to the lake, just outside a parking lot at one of the traffic lights we spotted a bear. We slowly backed up. The bear spotted us. The bear slowly continued on its foraging way, completely ignoring us. Phew! The rest of the lake walk we only saw 2-legged animals of the human variety.

Looking for some picnic baskets?

Lost lake

We were tempted by the beach area. But not enough to walk back to the apartment, change, and walk back. The suggestion of skinny-dipping was vetoed by all 3 teens.

Immersive art!