Victoria is a beautiful, relaxing city. Getting there this time, however, was anything but pretty. Lots of cursing, sweating, yelling, cursing and fist waving. There are tons of quaint little towns along the alternate route (US 101 around the Hood Canal to Port Angeles), none of which I enjoyed because the speed limit would drop to 30 or 35, and we had a $#@% ferry to catch! More cursing, fist waving and shouting at leisurely drivers who let cars pile up behind them. In three weeks of travel, the ferry is absolutely the only time-sensitive reservation we had and I was not going to miss it because the state of Washington thought it a great idea to renovate a major bridge in late spring. Can’t they do that stuff in January when no one is traveling? Anyway…
…WE MADE IT!! With upwards of moments to spare! I nearly wept and hugged the ferry booth attendant when I heard the glorious words, “Pull through to lane 7.” Crisis averted. Heart rate immediately restored to normal level. Okay, still sweaty and a touch jittery, but still.
Safely arriving to our hotel-slash-brew pub, we immediately dumped our luggage and headed to the brew pub section for a pint of nectar. About three minutes later we were off to dinner at a great tapas place, cleverly named “The Tapa Bar.”Great food, but I think someone forgot to tell them the part about small plates, as the portions were much, much bigger than expected. But, we had the best olives ever, very tender and tasty, and hands down the best garlic shrimp. We started looking around the table for things to drag through the garlic sauce. Then back to the brew pub section of our hotel for a nightcap before returning to the hotel section.
Our full day in Victoria was the best vacation day in recorded history. I’m serious, look it up. Great breakfast in the pub section followed by a walk along Victoria’s inner harbor. This is the really peaceful and beautiful part, not a shred of the previous day’s anxiety in sight. We rented bicycles and toured the residential section of the coastline. The nice rental guy overestimated my athleticism judging by some of the hills on his suggested route, but we powered over them. (Eventually, in 2 cases.) It was a gorgeous & exhilarating ride. The seaside homes could have been in any American beach city. After the bike tour, we headed back to the harbor for a light lunch & a refreshing pint of ale at the outdoor Milestones café.
That afternoon, we boarded a tiny float plane for a stunning aerial tour of Victoria. The pilot was about 15 and had moved back to Victoria just 3 weeks earlier (probably from boarding school). Normally I would have questioned such a thing – a pilot/tour guide who had been in the city literally days longer than I – but I was so excited about getting into the co-pilot seat of a sea plane I forgot to prod. On a previous visit I saw Butchart Gardens (stunningly beautiful), which looked absolutely dinky from the air. How in the world did it take me four hours to get through some rich lady’s garden? Anyway, the float plane tour was just amazing, worth every penny and I would do it again in a second. Maybe with an adult pilot next time.
We skipped (really, we were pretty giddy) back to the hotel section for a quick rest before dinner, which was a horrible meal with service to match. We’ll let part of The Best Day Ever slide. We promised that on our next visit to BC we’re splurging for the whale watching, too. Up early the next morning for a quick breakfast before heading back to the ferry terminal for interrogation by customs agents (so distrusful!) and some sniffing by a customs dog. Returned to the US without incident, and off to Seattle. Right back through those quaint little canal side towns, which I still had a hard time enjoying.
