Northwest U.S. & Western Canada Adventure

Day Nine (Saturday) – A Second Ferry Ride, and a Day of Disappointment

We woke up at 4:00am to get to the ferry at 5:10am. We were amazed at the number of cars; we didn’t think there were that many crazy people that would get up so early on a weekend!

The first ferry is operated by BC Ferries and the ride was smooth; this ferry is operated by Black Ball Express and the ride was much choppier. I’ve been on several ferries (including to Catalina Island), and before this ride, I never felt any seasickness. If you are susceptible to any motion sickness at all, I recommend taking appropriate medication before getting on this ferry.

After landing at Port Angeles, Washington, we had three items on our agenda. The first was fueling up; I purposely ran the gas as far down to empty as I felt comfortable. The difference in gas prices between Canada and the US are so great, it made no sense to use Canadian-priced fuel in the US.

The second and third items were two things to see – the floating bridge across Lake Washington east of Seattle, and Multnomah Falls east of Portland. In 2005, we drove past the falls but it was too dark to really see the falls. We wanted to correct that as long as we were out here.

As anyone who has taken a long road trip can attest, there are times when things go wrong. The minute we saw road construction on I-5 north from Tacoma to Seattle, I decided to skip the floating bridge and high-tail it to Multnomah Falls. I thought that was a good decision until we turned off of I-205 to I-84 east; there was a temporary sign saying the parking lot at Multnomah Falls was full and the exit was closed. Stymied, once again!

At least, we were able to get pictures of Ava at the Washington and Oregon state line by The Dalles, Oregon, where we spent the night. We also got a nice picture of Mount Hood, Oregon.