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Day 5 (September 20, 2021): Farewell, Vancouver Island!

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Election Day in Canada!  We have never traveled on a federal Election Day, so it feels odd to know we will arrive home at midnight tonight, having spent the entire duration of the electoral reporting coverage in the air with no access to the evolving results.  We had such a comfortable evening at the Marriott Inner Harbour in Victoria last night. Just two blocks from the famous Fairmont Empress Hotel, it was a luxury splurge to end our mini-vacation. But instead of forking over $100 for two plates of bacon and eggs with coffee, I zipped over to Starbucks for breakfast sandwiches, pastries and lattes, which we ate in our room while enjoying our 9th floor view of Victoria! We checked out at 10AM, made it to Victoria International at 10:30, and finally boarded our flight to Toronto at noon (the inbound flight was an hour late). The packed flight was smooth, but no food was onboarded, so there were just a few leftover items from the inbound Toronto flight available to purchase. F...
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Day 4 (September 19, 2021): Trees. And Nanaimao Bars.

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In a Covid world where paper-bag breakfasts have become the new normal for hotels, we were surprised to see a full, serve-yourself hot breakfast at the Bayview Hotel this morning.  We left the hotel at 10AM , bid Courtenay-Comox farewell, and headed off to our first stop of this last full day of our vacation: Cathedral Grove, which is on the road to Port Alberni. Gob-smacked from the size and age of the old-growth forest there, we headed next to Little Qualicum Falls.  From there, we headed to Nanaimo, to check out a few of that city's top sights.  Having heard Nanaimo described yesterday as "the armpit of BC", we entered the city with low expectations, picturing an industrial ferry town.  But we left Nanaimo feeling very impressed!  We thoroughly enjoyed the city's parks and its waterfront.  And let's not forget the Nanaimo Bar we enjoyed. From Nanaimo, we headed to Duncan for a catch-up coffee with a fellow Compassion Canada Board member.  And from ...
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Day 3 (September 18, 2021): Falls, Mountains... and 10/10 Lasagna!

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When we threw open the curtains in our hotel room this morning, there were actually some patches of blue sky.  After yesterday's rain, and given the continued rainy forecast for the entire weekend, we were quite excited at the prospect of being able to take in some sights today without getting soaked. The hotel offered a great selection of breakfast items, which they gave us in a paper bag to take back to our room.  With over 100 new Covid cases on Vancouver Island in the last day, we were happy to be able to eat in the safety of our room.   We checked out at 9:15AM and started our itinerary for the day:  a hike at Elk Falls Provincial Park, to take in the falls and spiffy suspension bridge there;  followed by a trip up Mount Washington and a wet ride on the chairlift there;  then on to Courtenay, where we visited Nymph Falls and the Courtenay Riverway.  We ended this excellent day with a family dinner in nearby Comox.  Indigenous long house...
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