Oh, Canada

Though we had originally planned on driving up to Vancouver, time and money dictated otherwise. So we paid $15 to park the car in Port Angeles for the day and hopped on the Black Ball Ferry to Victoria, Vancouver Island, B.C. The ferry was not as classy as the European ones, but had a cafeteria and plenty of deck space.

After the short trek across the chilly black water, we docked around 11 and were free to explore as far as we could make it on foot.

Our first stop was the Capitol building. It was beautiful, though if you've seen one capitol you've seen them all...so I won't bore you with the details, but look at these pretty pictures!

We progressed up the street to Chinatown, stopped in a bead store, and snagged some sale deals at American Apparel. Once we tired of walking and the bars opened, we swung into Swan's Brewery and Hotel. The sea breeze wafted in through the open windows, and the sun through the sky lights.

From our cozy table we people watched, picking out each others dopplegangers and sipping on Canadian seasonals. The ferry left at 4, and I damn near missed it. So close, that at first they told me I couldn't get back on. But I can be persuasive.

So I made it back to Olympia National Forest for one more night.

Though we only spent a day in Canada, on the surface it was no different from America; everything was similarly priced, they took USD everywhere, and they spoke with the same accent and dialect.

But having lived a few hours from the border all my life, Canada was a necessary bucket list item.