Several weeks ago (and yes, I'm just now getting around to blogging about it), Vic surprised me with a weekend trip to Victoria, BC, for my birthday. Although I've lived in the Seattle area most of my life, I'd never gone the few hours north to see Victoria, so this was an especially fun and thoughtful gift.
We took the Victoria Clipper from downtown Seattle, which was a great way to take the trip -- smooth, quick, and easy. Our hotel in Victoria was beautiful and had a fantastic view across the harbor to the main part of the city. The lights of the city sparkled on the water at night, the mini ferry boats crisscrossed it all day, and the birds bobbed along the shoreline. Taking a bus to Butchart Gardens was simple, and we spent a couple of hours wandering through the grounds, oohing and ahhing over the amazing colors, textures, and beauty of the flowers. We enjoyed a yummy dinner in Chinatown, semi-crashing a 93-year-old Chinese woman's funeral dinner in the process (thankfully none of the guests even seemed to notice that the restaurant had seated two white diners in the corner of the room). We stumbled onto a pizza place that serves gluten-free pizza, and there we heard about the national Canadian gluten-free convention in town for the weekend (which we visited the next day to sample various products -- yum). We discovered delicious coffee (for Vic) and dark hot chocolate (for me). There was people-watching, Italian gelato, a dip in the hotel pool, and a nap on the lawn overlooking the water. And there was a beautiful birthday rose delivered to our room.
What a lovely weekend.
Melinda
We took the Victoria Clipper from downtown Seattle, which was a great way to take the trip -- smooth, quick, and easy. Our hotel in Victoria was beautiful and had a fantastic view across the harbor to the main part of the city. The lights of the city sparkled on the water at night, the mini ferry boats crisscrossed it all day, and the birds bobbed along the shoreline. Taking a bus to Butchart Gardens was simple, and we spent a couple of hours wandering through the grounds, oohing and ahhing over the amazing colors, textures, and beauty of the flowers. We enjoyed a yummy dinner in Chinatown, semi-crashing a 93-year-old Chinese woman's funeral dinner in the process (thankfully none of the guests even seemed to notice that the restaurant had seated two white diners in the corner of the room). We stumbled onto a pizza place that serves gluten-free pizza, and there we heard about the national Canadian gluten-free convention in town for the weekend (which we visited the next day to sample various products -- yum). We discovered delicious coffee (for Vic) and dark hot chocolate (for me). There was people-watching, Italian gelato, a dip in the hotel pool, and a nap on the lawn overlooking the water. And there was a beautiful birthday rose delivered to our room.
What a lovely weekend.
Melinda
At Butchart Gardens
Victoria Harbour Ferry
eating pizza
delicious Chinese food (aka crashing the funeral dinner)
Victoria at night
