VANCOUVER WEEKEND WITH HARVEY August 3 - 4, 2013

Here's a quick photo from the Friday afternoon on our walk near the Visitor Center for the Olympic National Park.  We had arrived so late on Friday afternoon that we didn't have time to go on up to Hurricane Ridge nearly a mile above sea-level, for a hike which is supposed to have amazing views both south of the Olympic Mountains and north to Canada, but since it was such a rainy drizzly day there wouldn't have been much of a view anyway.

We were up Saturday morning at 5:30 to drive the 15 miles over to Port Angeles for our 1.5 hour ferry to Victoria, BC.  I had a reservation for the 8:15am crossing so there wasn't a lot of stress, just needed to be there an hour before sailing. Once we were in the boarding line, we had time to walk a little around the still sleeping township.

Port Angeles is located on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, along the northern end of the Olympic peninsula.  And for us, we celebrated the journey that had taken us from the most southeastern point of the US, Key West, Florida, to the most northwestern point here in Washington state all in the same year.

As we walked a little south of the ferry terminal there were beautiful flower displays and metal sculptures along the sidewalks. The outdoor art gallery is called Art on the Town and now has 39 pieces of artwork on display.

This beautiful mural is at the end of the street and tells the history of Port Angeles, a perfect place to enjoy a view of the little harbor.

By 9:45 we had arrived at the ferry terminal in Victoria, BC.  An easy ride across the water though it was still such a cloudy damp and very gray day.  This was our 3rd trip to Vancouver Island and we had always arrived to find wonderful sunny days before, this was very different but the weather report was for sunshine the rest of the week.  Here's how we looked crammed inside the ferry just before disembarking.



 Our stay for the weekend was at Oceanside RV Resort only 10 minutes away from Harvey and his family, the whole reason for this trip. We got set up by noon and headed over to meet his little Emma Elizabeth Ararat-Ospina, 3 months old.

Harvey, Mandy and baby Emma

My finished quilt for the baby.

Harvey had lived us in 1998 for a year as an Exchange Student from Cali, Columbia. After returning home to Columbia, he finished his high school and university studies.  In September 2008 he made the move to Vancouver Island to study at University of Victoria and that's where he met Mandy.  They were married in 2010 and now live north of Victoria in the near the city of Sidney, BC.  They have a darling Granny Unit in a beautiful area of West Sannich. 

It was fantastic to see him again and catch up on his life and meet baby Emma, now 3 months old. After a wonderful lunch we took Emma for a walk all around their neighborhood and just as we were almost back home we found a FREE sign for a baby crib out in front of a home. Paul and Harvey hauled it all home and put it together with plans that it might be used at Emma's Grandparents' home (Mandy's Mom and Dad) nearby.

Sunday we all went to the afternoon concert on the green in Sidney and listened to a fantastic BC jazz female vocalist and quartet. What a wonderful afternoon!  The cloudy skies from the last few days were totally gone and we sat in beautiful sunshine all afternoon. Paul and Harvey picked up sandwiches for us and we enjoyed a perfect afternoon together.  Sweet Emma slept through it all.

Harvey and Emma relaxing on the grass.

After the concert they came on down to our RV for dinner and a chance to show them where we now live. Such a fun evening talking memories and future plans.

Grandpa Paul holding little Emma, it took him all weekend before he felt comfortable to hold her...too funny, but we had to be sure it happened before they left us.

We stopped back by this morning to say our goodbyes and have coffee with them and I got this photo of their back yard; a perfect home for the three of them.

 We got one last picture of Emma and the start of a smile before hugs good bye.  We know she'll be walking, talking and running all about next time we make it up here for a visit.

 By noon we were pulling out of our campsite and driving north about 50 miles to the area near Chemainis, BC.

 This was a beautiful park and a perfect stay for our visit.