Now don't quote me, but I think the statistic I've heard goes something like this. 75 percent of the population of Canada lives within 90 miles of the U.S. border. And yesterday I think every last one of those Canadians was on the ferry traveling from Horseshoe Bay, just outside of Vancouver over to Vancouver Island.
Who would have ever thought that you needed a reservation to take a ferry boat? I thought the only people who lined up for anything anymore were those overgrown Mousekateers who were lining up for anything and everything at Disneyland. Not so, in Canada they line up big time to take the ferry.
So line up we did. In fact we almost cut it too close and barely made the half-hour cut-off to claim our reservation.
Of course, once you're aboard the ferry it's quite comfortable. You drive your car on board then walk up to the passenger deck where every seat has first class leg room. There are two restaurants, a gift shop and a kid's zone. In other words a lot to keep my 11-year old daughter entertained on the hour and a half ride. Now that we've arrived at our final destination, Union Bay on the northern part of the island, keeping her entertained will be more of a challenge. Life here is unhurried and uncomplicated which suits a middle-aged guy like myself just fine. "Tweeners" just don't do unhurried and uncomplicated very well. Nevertheless, we will adjust.
We are the guests of Keith and Karen Robertson, two expatriate Santa Barbarians who moved up here about seven years ago to operate a bed and breakfast, the Baywood House.
Keith is a former law student of mine who passed the bar then thought better of practicing law. He's been a reader of my blog and when I mentioned on the blog a few weeks ago that I was coming up to Canada for a vacation Keith e-mailed and invited me to drop by if I was in the neighborhood, so, here we are.
We have an ocean view that looks across Bayes Sound over to Denman Island. And it feels like a million miles from Santa Barbara, or the city of Vancouver for that matter.
Sunday's News-Press carried an announcement that radio talk show host Kim Komando's newspaper column on computers and technology would start running in the paper.
So is Wendy kicking down some bucks to hire some talent?
Not so. According to a source in the industry Komando recently sent out a mass e-mailing to newspapers offering them her column for free so long as it was accompanied by a tagline promoting her nationally syndicated radio show.
Wasn't it just last week that "Nelville Flynn" wrote to brag about the content of the News-Press becoming "tighter and brighter?" Make that "tighter" as in "we don't pay."
They do have a Safeway store nearby where we're staying and I could have sworn I saw a photo of Agnes Huff on the side of a milk carton when we were in there picking up a few groceries. Haven't heard from her in connection with the News-Press in quite a while. Wonder what happened?
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