Victoria, British Columbia

Day 1
Mile 0 is a popular first or last stop for any adventure that is set to cross Canada. Our adventure was no different as we parked in front of the Trans-Canada Highway’s “Mile 0” marker across from the Pacific Ocean.

A visit to Victoria is not complete without a visit to the beautiful public Beacon Hill Gardens. As always our kids are drawn to the water ponds. I don’t know what it is about water and kids but the water is like a magnet that draws the kids to its shores… sometimes a little too close… Of course my children love the gigantic weeping willow trees that hang over the ponds in the park. Their favorite thing is to tempt fate, grab hold of some of the strong branches that hang down and swing themselves over the water and back to their takeoff point on the shore. They know the perfect spot which is guaranteed to fill a good half hour of excitement. It did however get a little too exciting when my 14 year old daughter was helping my 6 year old song grab onto a sturdy branch and pushing him over the grey stagnant water. He shrieked with excitement as he swung over the water and back to where he started. She pushed him over and over… what she did not eventually notice is that his shrieks we no longer excitement but rather panic as he was loosing his grip. He could hold on no longer and he splashed down directly into the water, shoes and all!

He was not too pleased with his sister at this point and between sobs convinced her to help him out. Fortunately we had brought our RV and so it was packed with a fresh change of clothes and a good shower to spray the dirty water off of him which within a few minutes was already starting to give him hives (he has many allergies). As he was changing, three of my other children and their cousin continued to swing over the river. They soon got tired of this however and started to scout out new trees and branches. I guess my 13 year old Jayden did not quite clue in as his experimental new branches were not quite as sturdy. As a result he too fell into the water… more than once. It was a warm day at the end of May and so fortunately the air dried him off in little time before we headed off to visit the beautiful waterfront of Victoria, BC.

Our evening ended with a walk in front of the parliament buildings (where tours are offered every half hour), in front of the picturesque Fairmont Empress Hotel and along the inner harbour to see the sailboats. Victoria is the perfect place to take a stroll in the evening. In the warmer 6 months of the year you can usually catch a few performances from some talented buskers out there on the street to show what they can do or what instrument they can play.

In the evening we headed from Victoria to Vancouver by Ferry in preparation of our first night away from home.

Our First Night
30 May 2009 – Day 1

The first night of our Cross Canada adventure will definitely stand out as a memorable experience. Hopefully it will be the most memorable evening but who knows, there will be another 60 or more.

We drove into Abbotsford, BC around 10:30 pm and after asking a relative who used to live close by where a good place to stop would be they suggested we park our RV in the Walmart parking lot. I have heard about Walmart liking and welcoming RV’ers into their parking lots to keep them safe and secure… but I’m not sure about this one… After rushing in to get a few needed supplies that we had forgotten to pack, we retired to our designated beds for the night. Everyone was tired and desperately in need of some sleep. About 30 minutes after all of our 6 kids finally went to bed some crazy lunatic driver decided that they were going to use this optimal time at 11:15 pm to try out the efficiency of their tires around the entire parking lot. They raced at high speeds around the parking lot spinning in doughnuts and smoking their tires so much that I could hardly see where they were.

This got my two oldest boys extremely excited as they raced to the back window of the RV to get a better look at the spinning car in the parking lot. So much for getting the kids to bed. My boys were more interested in seeing what they only dreamed they themselves could do. At one point this driver sped towards our motorhome at 80 km/h only to pull a doughnut within 25 feet of our vehicle. At this point I was about to call 911 when the driver noticed 3 security guards or police officers ride in on their bikes and scared the driver away.

I breathed a sigh of relief, wondering if this night’s sleep would really be as peaceful as I wanted it to be. As I lay down in my bed there was a knock at my door. “Oh Great” I thought, someone is going to tell us to move our motorhome. Well fortunately it was not someone coming by to ask us to move… it was actually someone asking for some money due to his wallet being stolen… I didn’t dare open the door and stuffed a few dollars out the window. Had I been thinking and not woken from my drifting off slumber, I don’t know if I would have believed his story. After leaving our RV at 11:45 pm he moved on to the other campers next to us to ask for more money. The next morning they told me that he ate all of their leftover pizza and polished off a few other things. They had been outside chatting at a table and he took advantage of the company.

Late that evening the sounds of the rowdy bar crowd at the Restaurant overlooking the Abbotsford Walmart parking lot died down. I fortunately did not run into the third visitor that came by that evening. I didn’t find out until the next morning from our fellow campers that someone else came by that evening. A lady apparently had come by holding her clothes in her hands asking for $5. She wasn’t wearing anything.

The next morning while attending church nearby I was informed that this particular Walmart is not in the best neighbourhood of Abbotsford. I have to agree with them and would not recommend this place for an overnight stop. Quite the exciting first night on our family adventure.

Other stops in British Columbia:

Victoria and Vancouver Island
While we did not visit the following attractions in Victoria or Vancouver Island as part of our Cross Canada Adventure, we have visited them and they are well worth a visit.

1. The Royal BC Museum (Old recreated mining and fishing villages, first nations artifacts and the IMAX Theatre.
2. Royal Roads’ Hatley Park Castle and Gardens (Natural looking Gardens and the castle used in the X-Men movies)
3. Butchart Gardens (for the manicured garden look)
4. Nanaimo’s Wildplay Elements Park (Zip lines and obstacle courses in the trees for two hours of adventure with increasing difficulty).
5. Tofino/Uclulet gateways to the Pacific Rim National Park (great places to camp or enjoy the great outdoors).

Vancouver & Whistler
The next part of our adventure took us past Vancouver and through the lower mainland near Vancouver. Once again due to the limited amount of time we have to visit the Southern parts of Canada we decided to mention some of our favorite places in British Columbia rather than visit them all on this trip.

Some great places to stop are:

1. Whistler (mountain biking, hiking or zip lining in the summer, skiing in the winter)
2. Scienceworld (an educational and fascinating experience for kids and adults)
3. Stanley Park (totem poles, Vancouver aquarium and horse drawn carriage rides)

Okanagan & Kelowna
In past years we have stopped in Kelowna and the Okanagan region which is a beautiful valley on a lake. It is definitely worth a visit. In July and August there are also great places to pick or buy fresh fruits and berries. We love the cherries, peaches, pears, strawberries and even went as a family to pick raspberries for a fraction of the cost of buying them in the store. The Okanagan is extremely warm in the summer and the perfect place to spend some time in the water.