Vacationing in Victoria, B.C.

As I post this, I am overlooking the inner harbor of Victoria on a cloudy June day. We have had a great trip so far and we are all in "chillaxing" mode (Riley's word) right now. I will add pictures when I can. Due to the internet connection here, it takes forever to upload Joe's pictures!

We are happy to be back in Victoria! It is my and Joe's second time in 10 months and it has been fun to introduce the girls to all the things that we loved when we were here in August. Even the grocery store in as adventure because all of the groceries have English and French names, and everything is measured with the metric system. It makes deciding what the speed limit is very interesting. Also, it was 8 degrees on Monday (Celsius) and we aren't really sure how many miles away anything is.

We are staying at the Worldmark resort on the inner harbor. (For those who have been to Victoria before, it is about a 10 minute walk to the Parliament Building and the Empress Hotel. For those who haven't, you are really missing something!) We also get to watch the ferry's come in, as well as the sea planes. It is fun during the day, but the planes are SOOOOO loud early in the morning. The harbor is beautiful at night with everything lit up, reflecting lights into the water. Courtnee and I had an amazing 5 mile run around the harbor last night--it reminded me a bit of the running paths I loved in Eugene.

Here is a brief synopsis of the trip so far:

Sunday, June 8th--leave early in the morning and work hard to remember that it is Sunday. Stopped at a rest stop in Idaho for lunch and one in Oregon for a break.

Ended at 6:00 in Pendleton and had a great visit with our friends from Heber, Bret and Karilee Barfuss and their four daughters. It was so good to see them and remember how nice it is to have good friends!
Monday, June 9th--leave really early so that we won't miss the ferry to Victoria! Didn't stop, but drove through some really beautiful areas! Almost got lost in Seattle because Mapquest wanted us to go one way and the GPS said another. The GPS won and we got our first ferry ride from Seattle to Port Townsend and then drove to Port Angeles where we arrived two hours early and 4th in line for the ferry. We ate some lunch and watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail in the car while the rain poured. We drove onto the ferry which left at exactly 5:15 p.m. The crossing was very rough--even Joe felt sick. Amazingly, I was okay unless I tried to walk. Courtnee's solution to the queasiness was sleep. Riley, Lainey, and Halle's was running around on top of the ship and feeling the wind. We arrived safely in Victoria to unusually cold and windy weather. The torrential rain is not that unusual, but a bit unusual for this time of year. We drove about 5 minutes and checked into our room, ran 5 miles on the treadmill, ate a quick dinner, lit a fire, warmed up and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 10th--Halle woke everyone up because the planes and ferries woke her up. The girls laid around for a while while the boy (Joe) finished up a work deadline. Then we packed up (we had to switch rooms for the next two nights) and went to tour Hatley castle. Joe and I loved it when we went there and we were excited for the girls to see it. It was the first stop of Courtnee's pilgrimage trip. Her favorite TV series, Smallville, does some of its exterior shots there. For X-men fans, X-men 2 and 3 were filmed there--it was Professor Xavier's school for gifted children. It was a perfect castle-visiting day: cold, damp, cloudy, peacocks everywhere. We enjoyed touring the inside of the castle, and then the sun came out just as we went to tour the gardens. We spent a lot of time outside admiring the Italian, Japanese, and bog gardens and the three lakes.












After the castle, we stopped at the grocery store, checked into our new room, fixed dinner, ran 5 miles, sat in the hot tub on our deck, read books, slept.

Wednesday, June 11th--the planes woke us again, but it was so fun to listen to them and watch them. Joe took Lainey and Halle for a walk and I finished a great book called Buster Midnight's Cafe and Courtnee and Riley hung out. Then we went to Fisherman's Wharf for fish and chips and took a trip to Beacon Hill Children's Farm to see the animals and the petting zoo--who knew how cute and fun baby goats could be. Then, back to the room, into the hot tub, watched a movie, read books, Courtnee slept. We spent the evening exploring part of downtown Victoria--the inner harbor, the Empress Hotel, fun shops, and took a water taxi back to our room for nighttime stuff: dinner, hot tub, exercise, sleep.

Thursday, June 12th--our last day in Victoria was beautiful and sunny!














Joe, Riley and I took a walk along fisherman's wharf for breakfast and some alone with one daughter time. We saw three seals and watched people attempt to feed them--the seagulls would steal the fish right out of their hands.

The whole family packed up and then some of us took a trip to Victoria's second castle, Craigdarroch castle. Both Hatley and Craigdarroch were built by members of the Dunsmuir Family, prominent B.C. citizens in the 1800s and early 1900s.














After our visit to the castle, we went back to the ferry for a long wait, but a beautiful and sunny crossing. Lainey cried for all of us as we left and announced that she was definitely going to live in Victoria when she grows up.



GOODBYE VICTORIA!