2014 Summer Tour! Victoria, BC.

This morning we awoke a little early, packed up, loaded the bus and headed for the Tsawwassen Ferry Landing.  We had reservations for both the bus and truck, but we had to be there 30 minutes prior to our 10 am sailing time.

Our bus was 2nd in line to drive onto the ferry.  Once on board we headed up to the passenger decks, checked in with the purser and walked to the breakfast buffet (always a highlight of the tour for the AABC staff, but the boys like it too!).

 

The buffet dining room is at the front of the ship and you have a marvelous view out the windows as the ferry wends its way past the smaller islands on the way to Vancouver Island.

After a few trips to the buffet line, the boys headed out to explore!

 

After docking at Swartz Bay we made an important first stop — at a bank so that the staff members could exchange our USA dollars for Canadian dollars.  Then it was lunchtime and afterwards we drove a short distance to the lovely campus of the University of Victoria, where we\’re staying the next four nights.

And then another important job – collecting our laundry!  It\’s been nearly a week since our departure from Costa Mesa so it\’s definitely time to do the laundry.  So right after dinner, two of our staff members (Aaron and Mrs. Cassaro) took off for the laundromat (with 39 people X 7 days worth of dirty laundry) while the rest of the group headed into Victoria to visit Miniature World.  It\’s not a place we\’ve ever visited before on any of our Canadian tours but the AAA Guidebook says it\’s a good take in.

And it was!  Over 80 dioramas, with exquisite detail, depicting everything from the USA Civil War, WWII, early Canadian settlers, railroads, castles, a whole section on Camelot and another wing on Circuses.

Then it was back to our home away from home and the distribution of the freshly washed laundry, and then to bed.  Tomorrow we get to sleep in!