Sunday, August 14, 2011

Today Alyssa and her 2 ½ year old son Logan were coming to join us later in the evening. They were taking the Victoria Clipper from Seattle to Victoria, then renting a car and driving 3.5 hours up Vancouver Island to meet us in Campbell River. To get to Campbell River we just needed to cross Discovery Passage. We tied to the dock near a really interesting bunch of people—a group of probably five or six locals that lived on their boats right there in the harbor. As we came in to tie up, the group was very helpful in running down the dock to grab our lines and the owner of another troller put out his bumpers so we could tie up to his boat for the night. I like how boaters often help each other out with handling lines when pulling into a marina. We walked around town and Aunt Christine ended up at the grocery store while I snuck into a Starbucks to grab email on my phone. Clearly, Campbell River is a large town, most places we go we are lucky to have a grocery store. Aunt Christine was really happy with the prices here; Canada isn’t the least expensive place ever and particularly in the remote locations where we go. However prices at this particular store were comparable to home. Some things are still outrageously priced here though—for example, a 12-pk of microbrew is $44. Now we’re not sure how Canadians can afford to drink as heavily as they seem to do.

Trenton through the pilothouse window: