Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture.):
63) Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island, Brentwood Bay, BC, October 11, 2025 - We got to our campsite at Fort Victoria Campground just outside the big city of Victoria at 1pm. We had a quick lunch in the camper and unloaded the Zero. We rode over to Butchart Gardens for a rainy visit. Jonna had visited Buchart Gardens in high school so this was a return for her. I knew I'd like the place when I saw this stained glass at the entrance.
64) Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island, Brentwood Bay, BC, October 11, 2025 - Butchart Gardens is dazzlingly beautiful. We spent a couple of hours exploring the various sections of the gardens and were amazed at how many different plants were covered with colorful flowers this late in the year.
65) Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island, Brentwood Bay, BC, October 11, 2025 - Even with the complimentary umbrellas we got pretty damp wandering around the gardens in the rain. Thankfully, the rain tampered off when we left so we were wet but not drenched when we got back to the camper for the night.
66) Thunderbird Park, Vancouver Island, Victoria, BC, October 12, 2025 - We were staying in Victoria for two nights so we had a full day to explore the city. We rode the Zero downtown in the morning so we could walk around a bit before an 11am commitment. It started raining as we parked - maybe great for those people running the Victoria marathon that morning but not so great for exploring downtown. Despit the rain we walked through Thunderbird Park, Beacon Hill Park and the grounds of the Fairmont Empress hotel.
67) Empress Hotel Vancouver Island, Victoria, BC, October 12, 2025 - Another thing Jonna remembered from her high school trip to Victoria was having high tea at the Empress Hotel so we had reserved our own high tea at 11am. We left our dripping rain jackets with the hostess and got seated at a window looking out onto Victoria Harbour. We had a sweet and tasty light meal with luscious tea and excellent service.
68) Art Gallery Of Greater Victoria, Vancouver Island, Victoria, BC, October 12, 2025 - We'd planned to continue our walking exploration of downtown but as we walked out of the Empress is started to rain again so we broke down and called an Uber to drive us across down town to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. This was another excellent art museum with a mix of art by a variety of Canadian artists including some very interesting pieces by First Nations artists.
69) Fan Tan Alley, Chinatown, Vancouver Island, Victoria, BC, October 12, 2025 - It was still raining when we walked out of the Art Gallery so we again called for an Uber and used that to get us back into the heart of downtown to check out Victoria's famous Chinatown. This turned out to be a small area, centered on Fan Tan Alley, that has shrunk considerably since its heyday in the early 20th century. Nonetheless, we checked out a small museum space and made the requisite walk through narrow Fan Tan Alley. The rain finally stopped so we walked back to where we'd parked the Zero and rode back to the campground for the evening.
70) Richmond Night Market, Richmond, BC, October 13, 2025 - We had a late morning ferry to get back over to the mainland but since it was a holiday, Canadian Thanksgiving, we got an early start to make sure traffic didn't impact us. We caught the 11am ferry over to Vancouver and then drove all the way around the big city of Vancouver to get to Capilona River campground. We spent the afternoon taking care of chores, then jumped on the Zero as the sun was setting to ride through Vancouver to the Richmond Night Market.
71) Richmond Night Market, Richmond, BC, October 13, 2025 - The night market runs during the Summer and Fall and this was closing night for the season. We enjoyed checking out all the different vendors - most of which were selling some kind of fried food - but also liked watching the singing competition on the main stage. We skipped the zipline, duck race and the shopping but we did partake of the fried food so not only did we get a cultural experience but also got dinner as well.
72) Granville Island Marina, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC, October 14, 2025 - We were staying in the Vancouver area for a few days so we had a couple of days to check out the city. Our first stop, on our first full day of exploring Vancouver, was riding the Zero over to Granville Island. We parked in a free motorcycle parking area and walked along the marina enjoying the scenic views of downtown across the water. We also walked a loop through the waterfront warehouses checking out the fancy shops, tourist excursion businesses and restaurants.
73) Granville Market, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC, October 14, 2025 - We also walked through the very upscale Granville Market which we enjoyed enough that we grabbed lunch there as well.
74) VanDusen Botanical Garden, Vancouver, BC, October 14, 2025 - We hopped back on the Zero and rode back into Vancouver proper to visit the VanDusen Botanical Garden. We spent about 1 1/2 hours walking around the garden enjoying the vivid Fall colors and solving their maze. We returned to the camper in the late afternoon so we could walk to a nearby mall to get some groceries (and so Jonna could take advantage of the advantageous exchange rate to buy some snow boots.) We ended the day by getting take-out from the hot bar at a Japanese grocery store.
75) Vancouver Farmer's Market, Vancouver, BC, October 15, 2025 - Our second full day of exploring Vancouver started with a series of art museum visits. First, we rode the Zero into North Vancouver to see the Polygom Art Gallery. This was probably a great museum but they were in the middle of setting up a new exhibit (of the photographer Lee Miller! Bummer we were too early!) so only a small area was open. Next we Zero'ed across the bridge and back into Vancouver. We stopped in the middle of down town where, after a few failed attempts to find free motorcycle parking, we finally ended up in a pay parking garage. We walked a few blocks to find lunch and then walked back to check out the Vancouver Art Gallery. They also had a floor closed for set-up and their entry price was higher than we were willing to pay so instead we took yet another walk to visit the Contemporary Art Gallery. It was free but it was a small space and the work of the two artists on display didn't do much for us so our day of art was a bit disappointing. Back by the Vancouver Art Gallery was a small park with the Vancouver Farmer's Market so headed there to finish up our day down town.
76) Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, October 15, 2025 - On our trip back to the campground we stopped in Stanley Park where we decided on a whim to check out the Vancouver Aquarium. This turned out to be an excellent choice and it redeemed the day for us! There were many cool exhibits inside including this jellyfish tank.
77) Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, October 15, 2025 - The cutest thing in the aquarium were the sea otters. We got to that area just as the staff was feeding them so we got to not only watch them swim but also eat!
78) Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, October 15, 2025 - We finished our visit to the aquarium by checking out the reptiles area which had many displays full of frogs and toads, including one tank that you could crawl underneath and look around inside a bubble built into the tank. From the aquarium it was back across the bridge into North Vancouver to our campsite.
79) Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Vancouver, BC, October 16, 2025 - We have a good friend, Ariane, who lives in Vancouver. So our priority for our last day in Vancouver was to see her. Ariane's mother was visiting so the four of us met up at the Museum Of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. (We again rode the Zero down which definitively proved that having the electric motorcycle on the back of the camper was well worth the purchase price. It made getting around a big city like Vancouver very easy!) We loved the museum and enjoyed our time with Ariane and her mother. We all grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant and then said our goodbyes.
80) Nitobe Memorial Garden, UBC Botanical Garden, Vancouver, BC, October 16, 2025 - Jonna and I stuck around the university to visit Nitobe Memorial Garden which is a lovely Japanese garden. In the mid-afternoon we returned to the camper to prep the camper for getting back on the road - laundry, drain/fill the camper tanks, reloaded the Zero and various other tasks.
81) Fragrance Lake Trail, Larrabee State Park, Chuckanut, WA, October 17, 2025 - In the morning we filled the camper propane tank at the campground and then drove back around Vancouver. As we drove south we stopped in the little town of Aldergrove so we could spend the last of our Canadian money on coffe/tea and breakfast snacks. We then sat in the camper and ate our breakfast snacks along with a big salad to finish off all the fresh veggies that we couldn't bring back into the US. We crossed back over the Canada-US border at Lynden to return to the US. We had a problem getting Jonna's cellphone eSIM to rejoin the AT&T cell network so we stopped at an AT&T store in Lyndon to remedy that, then had lunch at a restaurant in the same parking lot. We also stopped at a Walmart to re-load our fridge with fruit and veggies. Then we drove out to the coast to Larrabee State Park. We were nervous about leaving the camper at a roadside parking lot due to all the "Warning: Car break-ins happen here" signs posted there but ultimately braved it. That turned out to be a good decision because the hike up to Fragrance Lake was gorgeous and the camper was undisturbed when we returned. We drove scenic Chuckanut Drive and then worked our way out to the port of Ancortes. We had a great dinner at Nonna Louisa's restaurant in Ancortes and then caught the 8:40pm ferry out to Orcas Island. In the dark we drove to West Beach Resort where we camped for the night.
82) Orcas Island Golf Course, Orcas Island, San Juan Islands, Eastsound, WA, October 18, 2025 - Jonna is adopted and her birth mother's family were from Orcas Island. We knew that her maternal grandfather had started a golf course on the island so our first stop of our one day exploring Orcas Island was at Orcas Island Golf Course. We knew the family had sold the golf course about ten years ago but it was still neat to visit since Jonna had a connection to it. The current owners were very gracious in showing us old photos and telling us about the place.
83) Orcas Island Farmer's Market, Orcas Island, San Juan Islands, Eastsound, WA, October 18, 2025 - Continuing our farmer's market theme we stopped in Eastsound, the only town on the island, to visit the Orcas Island Farmer's Market. This was the end of their season and the combination of few vendors and rain meant the market was inside the town's school building. Still, it was nice to look around and support the market.
84) Orcas Island Historical Society, Orcas Island, San Juan Islands, Eastsound, WA, October 18, 2025 - We continued to explore the little town of Eastsound by visiting the Orcas Island Historical Society's museum. This was a small building but provided a good overview of the history of the area and had some neat items on display.
85) Eastsound Waterfront Park, Orcas Island, San Juan Islands, Eastsound, WA, October 18, 2025 - We stopped for lunch at the Brown Bear cafe and then looked around some of the shops. Jonna bought a T-Shirt at a cool printshop and we bought some more groceries for the camper in the town's Co-Op.
86) Eastsound Village Green, Orcas Island, San Juan Islands, Eastsound, WA, October 18, 2025 - This was a national "No Kings" political protest day so despite it raining we walked over to the village green in Eastsound to join the people protesting there. We were thrilled to see that even in such a small town on such a small island there were still a couple of hundred people out in the rain protesting. Given the political climate in the US at the time we were happy to find a glimmer of hope there! We next drove to the eastern side of the island to visit Moran State Park with the hope we could drive up Mt. Constitution but when we got there the low-lying rain clouds turned that into a bust.
87) Orcas Island Pottery, Orcas Island, San Juan Islands, Eastsound, WA, October 18, 2025 - Our final stops for the day were as we returned to the campground for the evening. The first was a Lum Farm which was a small quaint farm on the western short of Orcas Island. Just a little ways away was Orcas Island Pottery which is a decades old art collective with various potters showing their wares.
88) Scott's Bar & Grill, Edmonds, WA, October 19, 2025 - Early the next morning we were up to drive back to the ferry dock on the south end of the island for an 8:55am ferry back to Ancortes. We had lunch scheduled with our friend Ed Guzman and his wife Sandra so we just jumped on the Interstate for the drive to Seattle. We pulled off the slab in Edmonds just in time to make our lunch date. I had a great time catching up with my old friend.
89) Thames Creek Trail, Dash Point State Park, Tacoma, WA, October 19, 2025 - Our campsite for the night was at Dash Point State Park so we had to slog our way through afternoon traffic in Seattle to get there. We rested in the camper for a bit and then did a short hike from the campground over to the Thames Creek trail which led out to a small beach on Puget Sound. We took a different route, the Boundary Trail, to get back to the campsite so a nice outing to stretch our legs after a day of driving.
90) Silver Lake Wetland Haven Trail, Mount St. Helens Park Visitor Center, Castle Rock, WA, October 20, 2025 - Our last goal for this trip, in addition to our needing to make the long drive back to Colorado, was visiting Mount St. Helens National Monument while we were in the Pacific Northwest. So as we drove south out of Seattle along I-5 we made a detour to check out that area. The US Federal Government was in the middle of a shutdown at the time so the USFS Visitor Center was closed but the State of Washington runs the Mount St. Helen's Park Silver Lake Visitor Center so we stopped there. In addition to its excellent displays on the eruption they also have a scenic boardwalk around Silver Lake that we walked to enjoy the beautiful weather that day.
91) Coldwater Lake Trail, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Toutle, WA, October 20, 2025 - In order to explore the National Monument we drove to the Coldwater Lake trailhead. From there we did a hike around the west shore of the lake which was splendid.
92) Coldwater Lake Trail, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Toutle, WA, October 20, 2025 - We got our first good luck at the volcano on the hike. All morning the peak had been covered by clouds but while we were hiking the clouds parted and we could see the summit with its volcanic crater.
93) Coldwater Lake Trail, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Toutle, WA, October 20, 2025 - The other highlight of the hike was seeing the Fall colors. There were vibrant red, orange and yellow leaves on many of the trees along the shore of the lake which gave an appropriate Fall feel to the hike.
94) Castle Lake Viewpoint, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Toutle, WA, October 20, 2025 - As we drove back out of the National Momument we stopped at one of the roadside viewpoints for a final look at Mount St. Helens. It is a grand vista and all the more powerful having learned the story of the eruption at the Visitor Center. That night we stopped in Vancouver, Washington to spend the night at our friend Sarah's house. This was the final vacation stop of the trip. After that it was three more days of driving to get back home to Colorado.
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