the muffs

Holy crap. Lief and I leave for Sooke/ Victoria/ Sydney in less than 48 hours.

We have been duly warned that we should cough up the big bucks and actually make a ferry reservation, but I don’t think that is going to happen. It is unclear to me as to when Spring Break actually happens – and who actually is on holidays at this time. Because Simon Fraser University did not have any kind of Spring Break or Reading Break while I went to school there, it has been eons since I attended a school that took holidays at this time. Therefore, I plead ignorance and hope that creepy teenage boys wearing Snoop Dog T-shirts and disturbing teenage girls who worship Nellie Furtado are not on our ferry… or at least that their presence doesn’t prevent us from getting out of town by mid-day on Saturday.

And so the fun begins. I can’t even remember the last time that I drove a car onto the ferry. Though I manage to get to various islands and mainland stops on a pretty regular basis, I tend to be a walk on passenger. Though I suppose I used to take a couple of ferries (by car or by bus) to get up to Powell River. But I think that it has been almost 2 years since I did that trek.

I hereby urge the lovely and talented Douglas Coupland to address Vancouverites and our ferry-taking habits in the way that he addressed Vancouverites and our Seattle-visiting habits in City of Glass.

I cannot resist a veggie burger en route, no matter how full I am or how not-heated-properly the burgers are. Fuck it. While I am at it, I will play some pinball.

I look forward to being in Sooke and finding out how eerily similar Lief’s cousin Megan and I are. I can already tell. I can spot a soft-heated loud-mouth from a mile away. My fingers are crossed that we will be able to check out the potholes while we are there. http://www.sookepotholes.com/swimming_sooke_pot_holes.html

From there we will visit another Meghan, only this time she is no relation to Lief. She is a stellar lady who I have had about 20 mutual friends in common with for the last 5 years and didn’t even know it. Luckily, we met face to face at Yvonne’s birthdoo (it was 2 years ago, I can’t f*ing believe it) and have been interweb buddies ever since.

The gang of us is going to eat some grub and then go and meet up with my cousin-once-removed. For those of you playing along at home, my cousin Erin moved over to Victoria and then promptly got pregnant. She and her man-friend are going to come and meet us for drinks (some less alcoholic than others) in some kinda local dive. It will be a triple date, I hope.

Our final day on the island will be spent hanging out with my Aunt Jan. I have insisted to her that Lief and I will go with her to do any activity she wants. I am hoping that she chooses yoga. I am also hoping that Lief has to squeeze into some of her old LuLulemon pants in order to participate. In fact, that is the sole reason that I am going on this trip.

Amazingly enough, one of my actual cousins (not to be confused with a cousin-once-removed) will be there at my Aunt’s place. I think that this will be more family-related activity than I have had… ever.

As usual, I welcome any recommendations that people may have. Good places to stop for a bite to eat? Record shops we have to check out? Tattoo shops that we have to visit? Let me know. I like to learn.

C U Next Tuesday. For reals.