Whale Watching, PAC NW 9/12

We were lucky on Sunday...we got to sleep in a teensy bit later than the previous days. 

When the time came, we loaded up and drove towards Steveston. I wish we could have spent more time in that little town, but we went there to get on a whale watching boat, so after eating lunch...and finding a miracle motion sickness drug at the local compounding pharmacy...that's what we did. The drug was seriously amazing. Nobody was seasick on our six hour tour.

 

All of my boys spent the majority of the day on the top deck of the boat.  They loved the view and the fresh air!

 

 

Two Humpback whales were spotted off the coast of Victoria, so the Captain headed that way. He was thoughtful of the baby, though. Our guide came down and asked if he would be okay and if we had enough supplies (diapers, food, etc) to last a full six hours. I shrugged my shoulders and said we'd be fine. Blip is so go with the flow...I'm starting to wonder why I ever worry about the unknown with him. The weather was mild until we were close to Victoria. It cold chilly, but not too bad.

 

 

We found the whales. And they were beautiful.  It was my first time seeing whales in the wild and it was breath taking.  It was also the boys' first time and they were enthralled.  No one could take their eyes off of them. 

 

The whales made a little zig zag pattern back and forth across the Straight of Juan deFuca.  We would watch for a spout of water or a glimpse of the huge creatures on the surface of the water and then the boat captain would get up as close to them as he could.

We didn't get back to the dock until after 8pm. We loaded up and headed back to the hotel. Doug ordered pizza for everyone, and Robyn had room service deliver ice cream sundae stuff for everyone. (Her phone was also stolen out of her briefcase while we were gone. It's probably the first time in YEARS she hasn't had her phone with her so she could work...and that's what happened.)

 

 

The next morning, we went souvenir shopping for a bit before leaving Vancouver.  We figured we better, since it was every one's first trip there.  When everyone had what they thought they needed, we loaded up and headed back to the USA. I really enjoyed the small piece of Canada we experienced. 

After crossing the border, we stopped to switch people. We traded Billy for Kristi. We were going to trade Derek for Ryan again, but Ryan was really having a hard time after saying goodbye to Blip. Those two really fell in love over the length of our trip. Ryan cried real tears...Randi would have stolen him, but he was too big for her suitcase.

We stopped for a quick outlet mall trip on the way to the SEC/TAC airport to send Randi and Blip home.  Robyn helped Randi and Blip get to security while we circled the airport.  Once Randi was on her way to the gate, we were on our way back to Battle Ground.

The drive was another 3 hours, but along the way we found a Krispy Kreme Donut that not only sold donuts, but soft serve as well.  We were gluttons and bought 3 dozen donuts and ice cream too!  It made the drive home so much more bearable!