GONE SOUTH

Today was the day to cross into the US.  We left Richard and Robin's right on schedule at 8 am this morning.  Being Sunday morning, traffic was very light all the way through downtown Victoria to the ferry dock.  We were half an hour early arriving and there were lots of vehicles there already.  Good thing I sprung for a reservation as the boat was jammed full.  Our arrival was two hours ahead of boarding as you are required to be in the line one and a half hours before departure.
It was a gorgeous day for travel, a welcome break from the dismal weather of the past few days.  There were some big swells out in the middle of the crossing causing the boat to roll quite a bit side to side.  We had a grumpy US Customs guy in the parking lot at Victoria but the chap after exiting the ferry at Port Angeles was most pleasant.
We parked in the Safeway parking lot and went in and refilled the larder as we had no fresh food left in the fridge.  Today, we weren't even asked if we had fresh fruit, veggies or meat!  You can't win.    We had our lunch in the parking lot before moving along to our destination for tonight.  We are in Cove RV Park in Brinnon, WA, well under a hundred miles from the ferry.  Its nice to have a shorter drive after sitting and waiting for a ferry.  It positions us well for the next few stages of our journey.  Tomorrow we will probably put on about 260 miles if things work out.  The next day should be quite a bit less, perhaps 200 miles followed by our longest day which will be about 350 miles.  After that, we hope to stay in place for a few days and enjoy some pleasant weather.
We don't have cell service here tonight but we have fair park WiFi.  We may have no internet for the next couple of days.  If there is cell service, Aileen will be able to check emails on her phone but I will be taking some internet down time.  I thought we would try to make it all the way to Florence without activating our Verizon air card for a change. 

While waiting for the ferry, I took a few shots of Victoria Harbour

The Empress Hotel from the ferry dock

Our ride, the MV Coho, enters Victoria Harbour from Port Angeles, WA.  We loaded through that side door and exited out the back end.

A couple of resident tall ships in Victoria

The next several images are from the ferry as we depart Victoria Harbour

A little harbour tour boat

A passenger only ferry

That's a pricey RV park in the center behind the boats

Farewell to Victoria and Canada until next year

After getting the motor home settled and Aileen napping, I went back the way we had come to see if I could get some photos of a waterfall mentioned on a sign.  Nope, couldn't find the waterfall or the trail leading to it.  I did see a photo of it and it was a long skinny waterfall which I imagine probably has little to no water in it at this time.  However, I did see another sign to Walker Peak and this was the view I was rewarded with for making the four mile drive up the hill.  That is 14,410 foot Mt Rainier.  Seattle is just to the left of it apparently.

The main body of water is Hood Canal with Dabob Bay at this end

We were entertained by a few Gray Jays at the viewpoint.  We always called them Whiskey Jacks.

And these well behaved pups sat where they were told to