Today we were up early and checked out of our nice hotel in Victoria…Coast Hotel right on the water…with hot tub and fridge/microwave!
We headed down the bike path and followed the signs for the Lockside Trail. We saw an amazing sight on the way out of town…dozens of people commuting to work on their bikes! Apparently 6% of people in Victoria commute by bicycle, the highest percentage in Canada. The city is superbly set up for bikes, with paths and signs and respectful traffic. Our ride out of Victoria was by far the easiest city exit yet! The ride was nice as we followed the bike path down side streets and trails as the sun peeked through the fog.
We arrived at the ferry dock in Sidney at 10am, as recommended, only to find that they hadn’t opened the gates yet! We sat and had a good snack. As soon as they opened things up, we headed in, as we were concerned about how long the border crossing process would take. It went smoothly and, having proved we were financially solvent, we headed onto the ferry.
In the waiting area we met a couple from Victoria, Dawn and Paul. Paul is a physician from Victoria and we had a great chat about Canadian healthcare. They were both committed cyclists and don’t own a car. They had lived all over the world and we really enjoyed hearing their stories about their various adventures. We chatted the entire ferry ride over and parted ways at the dock as they were headed for a romantic few days on San Juan Island. On the ferry, I went up to buy a tea and, when I tried to spend my last Canadian coins, was informed that “this is an American boat and we take American money!”. Other than that it was a very pleasant ride.
When we pulled into Friday Harbour the sun was shining and we headed to the grocery store, then out towards San Juan Couty Park on the far side of the island. We stopped at the point of interest on the north side of the island, including the old Hotel de Haro (gorgeous) and a mausoleum (a bit creepy). There was also an outdoor sculpture musuem but we were in a bit of a rush because of the sunset, so we didn’t really explore it. We also visited the English camp of the Pig War (more on this tomorrow). It had some information boards and preserved buildings.
We pulled into the campground about 1 hour before sunset and had our first encounter with self-pay, government run Washington campgrounds. We got sorted out and camped at the hiker-biker site right next to the water. It was beautiful as we watched the sun set into the water right from our site.
Trip Around The World 
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