Journey to Vancouver Island Part I

We left Calgary early August 22 on our vacation to Vancouver Island. We had packed the car on the Monday and Nina, Danny and I left at 7:00 am. It was a little hazy because of all the smoke from all the forest fires burning in B.C.
There were about 144 fires burning simultaneously throughout the province.
Our first leg of the journey was to Merritt, BC, a distance of about 711 km. We were stopping to see an old friend that I had known since 1957.

We stopped along the way for food and bathroom breaks.
Gotta go to the bathroom!

The smoke started to get thicker as we crossed into British Columbia.

As we crossed over the Rogers Pass the smoke was thick. It was as if we were sitting around a campfire!

We finally arrived in Merritt and went to see my friend, John.
He lives up on a hill and has a beautiful view of the valley.

We spent two nights at his place and although it was still smoky it was a very peaceful and quiet place.
He has a well on his property that goes down 175 feet to an aquifer and the water is amazing to drink! No chemicals, just filtered.

We went to a cool little restaurant for brunch and then to an antique store full of interesting things.

Here is Nina and John at the store. The guy between them looks like Woody from Toy Story!

We left on the 24th after breakfast and saying our goodbyes and headed for Horseshoe Bay to catch the ferry to Vancouver Island.

This was a short hop of 290 km.

Port Mann Bridge going into Vancouver

It used to be a toll bridge but when we arrived they had discontinued the toll fees. Cool!

We arrived at Horseshoe Bay and only had a 30 minute wait to board the ferry, and then we were off to Nanaimo!

This ends part one.
Part two will be about Vancouver Island

I will try to get it done today!

Thanks for watching!

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