Farewell US of A, Back to Canada

Wednesday, June 22nd – Millersylvania State Park to Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia - Day 131 

Our last day in the United States after 130 days travelling through 22 States, we will finally be returning to Canada. We are taking the ferry out of Port Angeles in north-western Washington. The drive to Port Angeles was two and a half hours along the shore of Puget Sound. The drive was beautiful with scenic views of the sound at low tide with fishermen plying their trade. We wanted to get to the ferry to ensure we could buy a ticket. We finished our drive and arrived to find the ferry terminal almost empty. We were assured that if we showed up an hour before the ferry we would get on. 

Stretching across Washington’s north-west peninsula was Olympic National Park. The visitor centre was 20 minutes away. We showed up and explored the centre; John completed a floor puzzle about animal diversity while the girls took in a display on fantastic fungi. 

We crossed the parking lot to take a hike through a beautiful river valley beside the centre. There were ferns covering the ground and moss living on trees. The hike went down into a dense, lush valley, across the river and up the other side. It was a wonderful hike. 

 There was plenty of things that we wanted to see in the park. The Hoh rainforest was high on my list, it was four hours away. We could have driven to Hurricane ridge, it would have taken an hour to get there. There was a beautiful lake nearby, it was 45 minutes. Our only option was a short hike to Madison falls twenty minutes away. 

The parking lot was beside a shallow river that we let the kids play in for a few minutes before taking the short hike to the waterfall. They played in the water there as well before we needed to get back in the car to make it back to the ferry terminal. At least we got to experience some of the park. 

Once back at the ferry terminal, Gen, Mary and the kids went to shop in some of the nearby stores while I found a restaurant to grab a bite to eat. We rendezvoused in the line for the ferry. 

This will be our third ferry ride of the trip, we had a back-and-forth ferry ride near Galveston, Texas. This was much longer. We found some seats and explored the deck briefly, but the wind was so strong we didn’t bother bringing the kids out. The boat was rocking back and forth as we headed for Victoria. 

 When we landed, we saw the beautiful Victoria harbour before heading to our dear Uncle Pat and Aunt Leila’s house. The groom himself met us at his side gate and we carefully backed the trailer into the backyard. Pat and Leila were so unbelievably accommodating to allow us to set-up in their backyard, use a washroom and welcome everyone into their wedding preparations. I had met Pat and Leila three or four times, I had only seen their children Paolina and James once, and I had not met Matthew, the groom, but they felt like family immediately. Initially everyone except the bride and groom was at James’ baseball game so we got an opportunity to chat with Matt and Leah. They were fantastic and the kids fell in love with Matt. Soon they were decorating a box and doing performances.