After the big exertion of Saturday, Sunday was going to be a bit of a rest. The planned activities included:
- Tammy going to meet Trish for coffee over at the Westshore Mall
- Ian, Dad and I going to the car show and shine
- Meeting up with Stephanie and fam at White Spot for dinner followed by cake at her place
The weather was a bit smoky. On the day of the ride, the smoke was high in the atmosphere making the sun orange, but not impacting air quality. On Sunday, the smoke was down on the ground and so riding a lot would have been a bad idea. Dad rode his new scooter to the show and Ian and I walked. Tammy left earlier to meet with Trish.
We also ran into Zach at the show. It was a good way to wander around and spend some time. Lots of interesting cars to look at, and I answered lots of questions that Ian had about cars. Dad’s scooter worked well (considering he wasn’t planning on going at all until he had it), and we could see his safety flag in the crowd. When we were done, Ian and I walked down to the mall and saw Tammy and Trish and then walked back to Dad’s.
Dinner at White Spot was good: it was good to finally catch up with Stephanie. In the week leading up to our visit, she wasn’t feeling well, so she kept away until Sunday dinner. Afterwards, there was a “birthday cake” for Ian, that was decorated by Brianna. It was a chocolate “lava cake” with strawberry lava and white icing.
At dinner, we discussed the plan for the next day. Before the trip, Stephanie had compiled a list of possible activities. From the list, we chose Adrenaline Zip Lines. Tammy and Stephanie would do their own thing, but I would take the “kids” the next day.
We had a booking for 12:30 and got there in plenty of time. For years, I’d seen the sign for the zip lines when driving on the way to Sooke. It felt good to finally see what they were. In short, I wasn’t quite prepared for the heights. The start was a 4WD drive up a very steep road to the top. There were seven zip lines down over the course of two hours. Most of them were to/from a platform high up in a tree with no way down besides the zip line. The act of stepping off the platform and trusting the harness was difficult for me, but I managed.
Afterwards, we went to Stephanie’s. She ordered pizza from Romeo’s and everyone was playing Mario Kart while waiting.
It was another early morning on Tuesday. We were going to go over to Pender Island to see Colin and Carol. Like last year, Ian and I were going to ride there as an adventure. Because we had our doubts about the reliability of the ferry, Tammy was going to give herself plenty of extra time. She left at the same time we did: 6:20. The morning was a little chilly at eleven degrees, but we warmed up pretty quickly.
The ferry was the Salish Raven: that was a first for us. We’d never gone on one of the Salish class ferries. It was nice, with lots of seats. Ian and I were the only cyclists on the ferry which was unlike last year. The hardest part of the ride was from Otter Bay to Bosun. Two hundred metres of elevation gain in less than 10 km.
We had a nice visit: tea in the morning and then a walk to see the emergency route from Ketch to Scarff (would have been nice to know for the ride – that was my fault. I should have followed up when Tammy texted me info). Then we had some bunwitches for lunch. After lunch we discussed what the plan was for returning to Victoria. As mentioned, the ferries weren’t considered fully reliable, with a chance of not catching a ferry because it could be full. One option was to leave shortly and catch the 3:15, and the alternative being to catch the 7:00. We elected to try for the 7, which let us go to a variety of beach locations: Mortimer Spit, Port Browning and Medicine Beach.
After all of the great sunshine and fresh air, Ian and I didn’t feel like riding back to the ferry, so we put the bikes on the rack and we drove there with Tammy. There wasn’t any problem getting on the ferry: we were there an hour and a quarter ahead of the sailing and we were second in line, but even when everyone was aboard, there was plenty of room on the boat and they didn’t even put the ramps down. 🤷♂️ Guess we needn’t have worried.
We stopped by White Spot in Saanich for a late supper (for those counting, that’s three White Spots so far this trip).
It was a good, full day. It was great to see Colin and Carol. Now to see if there’s chance to see them in Mexico at some point. 🇲🇽🌮🪇🪅
Looks like everybody had a good week, lots of adventures. Cousins allot together except Miranda who was at home taking care of Murphy and working.We did face time.