Rex the dog, Finnegan the yellow cat and Shasta aka “Bunny” are Dan & Tammy’s pets. They also call Rex, “Rexy-poo”.

“Yes”, we actually did drive through the Rocky Mountains, and “no” it never gets old (snapshots taken out the window while cruising through the Roger’s Pass highway).

It’s a five hour drive (including stopping for lunch and gas) from downtown Vancouver to Kelowna – our next stopover point along the way home. Kelowna treated us well. It was 16C/61F at the summit of the Coquihalla Highway, but it got hotter and hotter as we dipped into the Okanagan Valley to arrive in 29C/84F temperatures – perfect for time at the beach. Tomorrow we drive through Rogers Pass and into Alberta. I’m not sure if we’ll stop one more time or not since the rest of the trip is an eleven hour drive.

I’m backtracking a bit because I already posted about our ferry ride and our time at the aquarium and Granville Islande in Vancouver. That aside, I wanted to post a few photos of our last night in Victoria, which we spent with Dad and my brother and his family (Tammy, Tyler & Cheyenne. They took us on a walk around a lovely little lake near their house that’s been designated a nature sanctuary. I love the first photo of Tyler (others follow it below).

Just a little collection of my dad who kindly shared his home with us for the past several days while we were in Victoria. Thanks Dad!

Here are a few of the better photos – not a lot of them due to the low light conditions coupled with (mostly) fast moving creatures.

We got on a BIG ferry today to head over to Vancouver and the beginning of our trip home. What a beautiful ferry “Coastal Celebration” is. Spacious, modern and tons of room to lounge about and enjoy the views.

Best of all, I got to be in some pictures with my family (the fisheye shot at bottom is something we do everywhere we go now) and my daughter took my new favorite photo of Lori and I. Way to go, Cassandra!

Victoria’s inner harbour really can’t be beat – so beautiful and packed full of stuff to see and do. Here are two shots of us enjoying the area. Note that I really do exist and am proving it by actually appearing in a photo.

We went to a pretty cool model airplane show – miniature versions of real airplanes (past and present). The coolest one was a red jet that could attain very high altitudes and over 200 miles per hour. Unfortunately, the venue had absolutely no shade to hide from the 35+ Celsius heat so we only stayed for about an hour.

We had a nice first day in Victoria visiting with my Dad – aka the kid’s “Nonno” – and my brother Dan’s family.

We drove for about five hours and got onto the Tsawwassen Ferry on Wednesday, August 11th. The trip went without a hitch and the kids loved the ferry ride – which we had beautiful weather for.

Lori had a Clay for Kids thing today, so we got a late start and managed to get to Valemount, B.C. – just a few minutes past Mount Robson (the highest peak in the Canadian Rocky Mountains). We stayed at a very nice, brand-new Best Western in Valemount – great for the kids due to it having a fun pool and waterslide.

Obligatory Photos of Elk in Jasper National Park