After the Grand Meetup, Jeff flew down to Vancouver so we could take a short vacation for a few days.

Our first stop was in Washington State to visit my good friends Joanne and Linda who were the breeders of all three of my golden retrievers. It is surreal to think I’ve known them for almost 20 years now! I haven’t visited since I picked up Monty when he was just 8 weeks old. Unfortunately Monty never made the trip back to visit. Jeff got to meet them this time though, and he really enjoyed meeting all their current goldens!

We’ve debated getting a puppy. I don’t think I’m ready. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready. Jeff could have got another dog the day after we lost Monty, but I’m not there yet. Good thing the puppies aren’t born yet so I don’t have to decide immediately!

We went out for a really delicious supper at the nearby Beach House and watched the ocean. They live in a beautiful area.

The next day we took the ferry over to Vancouver Island. It was a gorgeous day and our fellow ferry passengers decided to risk us all getting pooped on, and fed the seagulls as we departed.

After arriving on Vancouver Island, we drove to Victoria in time for a nice lunch of fish and chips along the water, and then went for a whale watching cruise with Prince of Whales.

We zipped out to sea to find some whales!

Before too long we found some! They were along San Juan Island, so we were in US waters. 

All the whales were Orcas (resident killer whales). Whale watchers and researchers know every one of these whales individually. There are about 82 orcas known to live in the area. We saw whales from the K and L pods. Jeff thinks we must have seen 18 individuals. We watched them for probably close to 2 hours. The boat didn’t get too close, so we wouldn’t disturb or interact with them.

We saw some Dall’s porpoises too, which they only see in the area in the fall. They were too quick to photograph though!

Here are some seals.

Here’s our marine biologist showing us where we went on the map:

Back in Victoria, here is a photo of extravagant old Empress hotel.

And here is a cool glass mosaic whale: