Our first stop of the day was the Quw'utsun' Cultural Centre in Duncan. The Quw'utsun' people, whose name was Anglicized to Cowichan, were the first residents of this area and they still are a strong presence. We were a little hesitant to go to the center fearing it would be not be dog-friendly and would be nothing but a tourist trap. We were wrong on both counts. They were quite happy to let the dogs in with us, and we had an interesting guided tour which helped us understand a little of the culture of this First Nation.
Our guide was Josh, seen in the picture below. He was a little stiff as tour guides go, but he was friendly to the dogs and quite knowledgeable about his culture.
The dogs did not seem to notice the fine Northwestern native paintings, but the humans liked them.
The humans particularly appreciated the the remarkable carvings, too.
The dogs had been gazing fondly at the river from the moment we arrived at the center, and the people there suggested a point just upstream where they could dip themselves into the Cowichan River. It was not particularly scenic spot in some ways. There were a couple homeless guys hanging out there and quite a bit of trash that we left out of the picture. The water was surprisingly clear and clean however, and both dogs and one of the humans took a dip. Eli jumped in excitedly after his ball; Edie had to be taken in and dumped since the dainty girl only likes to get her paws wet.
John found this critter in the stream.
We had not had any breakfast, and by now we were ready for lunch. The Cowichan Valley is the best wine region on Vancouver Island and the guidebooks suggested a couple vineyards as a good place for lunch. We found the Cherry Point Vineyard and had a really fine lunch there.
While we were waiting for our food, John walked around and explored a bit of the farm. He liked the way that the vineyard seemed carved out of the forest. And those Canada Geese are just everywhere in Canada.
Driving down to Victoria, we spent most of the afternoon at the Albert Head Lagoon Provincial Park just west of Sooke. It was a pleasant place to toss the ball in the water and read a book. But even we are tired of taking pictures of Eli retrieving the ball, so you will just have to take my word for it that it was nice.
We were scheduled for the 7:30 sailing from Victoria to Port Angeles. Since this is an international trip, the requirements were stiffer than just an ordinary ferry sailing. We were informed that we had to be there at least 90 minutes ahead of time or we would be denied boarding. We arrived at the ferry terminal even earlier than that, so after we picked up our tickets we had a last wander around the lovely waterfront of Victoria.
The ferry information said that the dogs had to be on deck and could not remain on the car deck. The people working on the boat told us we could ignore that, but I decided to take them up and let them bid Canada goodbye. The whole experience seemed to make the dogs a little nervous, and they became very anxious anytime John walked away, even if he was only going to take a picture.
Eli did finally take some time to look at the land disappearing from the stern of the ship.
It got pretty cold as we were crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and John decided to warm himself in the cabin. I stayed on deck with the dogs. I was very affectionate with Edie because she was a remarkably good leg warmer.
At last, our boat approached Port Angeles.
It wasn’t easy to get affordable, dog-friendly accommodation in Port Angeles, and we are at the Days Inn tonight. It beats sleeping in the car, but just barely. Tomorrow we start to explore the Olympic Peninsula.
