We awoke to somewhat, overcast and smoky skies, but at least it wasn’t that cold. We packed up the car and headed to Timmie’s for breakfast, grabbed some gas and pointed the car towards home. We took the highway through Agassiz and along the north shore of the Fraser. Mum still had one place left on her ‘must-do’ list…a visit to Old Navy. I did a quick Google search and found one in Park Royale in North Vancouver – only a block off our route.
We made good time along the north shore and arrive at the mall just as it was opening. I took the first sign mentioning parking and grabbed a spot by the escalator. While we were walking, I pulled up the mall on my Point Inside app and found that we were on the wrong side of Marine Drive. We headed in the approximate direction, but still had to ask someone for directions. We finally found it and both Mum and I were able to find a few items. As we were leaving the store, I looked at my watch and realized that we better get a move on as it was less than an hour from the ferry sailing time.
We were able to make good time on the Upper Level Highway and checked in with plenty of time to spare. The weather; however, had turned to a windy, rainy conglomeration of yuckiness by this point, but not enough to cancel the ferries, luckily.
Our sailing was fairly uneventful. Mum stayed in the car while I went up on the covered sun deck and chatted with a interesting guy from Austin that was living in Vancouver now. Before I knew it, they were announcing our arrival at Departure Bay and I headed back down to the car.
We disembarked and headed to Timmie’s to meet up with my Dad and my sister, M. M was already there with my fur nephews and we chatted for a bit while we waited for my Dad in the rain. He arrived about 10 minutes later and we offloaded Mum’s stuff into his car and M and I both grabbed some veggies from him.
After grabbing a coffee, we headed our separate ways. It’s always hard at the end of a trip. I am glad to be home, but I miss being on the adventure with my mum. In ten days, we traveled over 3,200 kilometres, visited a dozen or so Food Network restaurants and dealt with temperatures between 1°C and 33°C, from sea level to over 2,000m. This is the eighth year in a row that Mum and I have gone on a road trip together – I can’t wait until our adventure next year…