Back To Seattle

We took the Victoria Clipper back to Seattle and took an über to our apartment in Belltown.  It's a lively neighborhood with lots of restaurants and bars.  The apartment is nice with a great view.   We settled in and walked around the neighborhood.  We are closer to Pike Place than I thought we would be.

Jim's old work friend, Jim Moore, picked us up after he got off of work and took us to dinner at Chinook's.  It was by a marina and had a nice view.  The food was tasty and most of all it was nice to visit with him.  

We are free tomorrow until we have dinner with Jessica.  What to do?

Last Day In Victoria

This morning it took us awhile to get going.  We took a tour of the Parliament building, then headed to Chinatown for some dim sum.  We went to Don Mee, which had been recommended.  It was good.  The pieces were the size we are used to.  Not big like in Seattle.  We didn't have too many things.  The strangest thing was the pot stickers.  They were fried, not browned on the bottom and then steamed.  

We spent the rest of the day at the Royal BC Museum.  It was very interesting.  They had a special exhibit about the gold rush in BC that occurred after the gold rush in California.  On their timeline of events it said gold in California was discovered in Sutter's Creek.  I made a comment that it was discovered in Coloma on the American River.  That started a discussion with a woman who was listening to me.  I think she thought I didn't know what I was talking about.  But in the next section they had it right, and it corroborated what I had said.  She suggested I tell the museum so they would correct it.  I didn't.  It was a big museum and I wish we had gotten there earlier.  They closed before we could see it all.

We went home, had leftovers for dinner, and finished off our beer/wine.  We packed up our suitcases and are ready to leave in the morning.  It's been a great week here, but I'm ready for Seattle now.

Craigdarroch Castle And More

This morning we stopped by the store for lunch provisions and walked to Beacon Hill Park.  

We walked along the coastline and sat facing the water to eat our lunch, watching the boats go by.  We ended up not even going into the park. 

 We decided we would go to the castle today instead.  So back to the store we went.  We needed a few things to get us through the rest of our time in Victoria.  After we had a chance to change, we took a taxi to Craigdarroch Castle.  It was really interesting.  I especially loved the stained glass windows, the beautiful woodwork and the antique furniture.  

We walked back downtown to have dinner at the Bengal Lounge, in The Empress Hotel.  We decided to have the buffet, which was Indian food.  It was good, but not as good as the afternoon tea!  We walked back home, enjoying the lights on the Parliament building.

Tomorrow is our last day here.  It's supposed to rain, so we will tour the Parliament building, go to the Royal BC Museum, and last but not least have dim sum for lunch.

Butchart Gardens

We chose today to go to Butchart Gardens because the weather was supposed to be good.  It didn't disappoint.  We took the public bus and arrived close to 10:00 a.m.  The flowers were gorgeous and it was a beautiful day.  

We got back to downtown Victoria around 4:00 and strolled around the waterfront until it was time for our dinner reservation at Il Terrazzo.  This place was recommended by some people on the Rick Steves travel forum and also was mentioned in the guidebook we got for Victoria.  It totally lived up to its reputation.  Jim and I both enjoyed our dinners and brought our leftovers home for Thursday nights dinner.  Tomorrow night we have a reservation in The Bengal Room at The Empress.  Yummy.....

30th Anniversary

What a special day, spent with my special husband.  I wouldn't trade him for anything.  We spent the first part of the day downtown, just enjoying the beautiful weather.  We went into a hat store that we first saw a couple of days ago.  There was a particular hat Jim liked, and he wanted to see it again.  It was still there, but he also found another one he really liked.  He liked it, but was unsure of how much he would wear it.  It was definitely not like his other hats.  He can think about it for a few days, or even order it from home if he chooses.  In the meantime he bought the one he went in for.  He looks very handsome in it.  😍

While he was trying on hats I decided to try on a couple myself, just for the fun of it.  I don't like wearing hats.  One was really cute.  Jim has always liked me in hats, and he really liked this one.  He convinced me to get it.  It's going to take some getting used to, but I do like it.

At 3:00 we went to the Fairmont Empress for afternoon tea.  This has been something on my bucket list for much of my adult life.  It was everything I could have hoped for.  The ambiance, the tea, the food.  It was all perfect.  I will always cherish this memory as the special way we spent our anniversary.  Afterwards we wandered around the marina looking at the boats, daydreaming about how nice it would be to sail the seas.

After returning home to relax for a bit we went next door to the Blue Crab for a small dinner.  I wasn't hungry, but we knew if we didn't eat a little something we would wake up hungry in the middle of the night.  We enjoyed the chowder last night, so we got it again.  It wasn't as good tonight.  We split a crab cake appetizer too.  It consisted of two very small crab cakes.  They were meh, and definitely not worth the $17 they cost.  We went home for a beer/glass of wine and enjoyed the rest of the evening just being together.

More adventure awaits tomorrow...

Busy Saturday, Mellow Sunday

On Saturday we walked to the downtown area, got information about doing a DIY trip to Butchart Gardens, and walked around the downtown area.  We did a little shopping, had a delicious wor won ton soup lunch at Fan Tan in Chinatown, and generally got the lay of the land.  We walked, walked, and walked some more.  We grabbed dinner at a food truck and then went grocery shopping before walking home.  I think we walked over 8 miles.  The weather was pretty nice.

Otters

Ugly fish at Fan Tan

It's Sunday, and the forecast is for rain.  Jim had a headache, the weather was bad, and football was on TV.  It looked like a relaxing day at home for us.  Mid-afternoon the weather looked like it was clearing up.  We talked about walking downtown to get dinner, but then it started raining again.  We went next door to the Blue Crab.  We both had seafood chowder, which included 3 clams still in the shell.  I've never had it like that before.  It was delicious.  We shared a small plate of crab risotto and a creme brulee.  Yummy and just the right amount of food.  We went home for wine and beer.  

I can't wait for tomorrow!

Anniversary Trip!!

On September 21, 1985 I married the love of my life, my best friend, my soulmate.  This trip is to celebrate 30 years of wedded bliss.  We started early with a party at home on 9/12 with 50 of our closest family and friends.  We were so disappointed that Nikki and Manna were both too sick to fly up from L.A.  We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone.  Mother-in-Law Marion was visiting for 2 weeks, and went camping with us over Labor Day Weekend.  Now it's time for just the two of us.

We flew to Seattle on 9/16 and spent 2 nights at the Quality Inn & Suites.  It was a fairly last minute reservation, as our plans changed a few days before we departed.  The location was good, near the Seattle Center.  The hotel was neither Quality or Sweet.  It was inexpensive (by Seattle standards) and only for 2 nights.  We sucked it up and dealt with it.

On arrival day we ended up down by the waterfront and went to Ivar's for dinner.  We walked a lot!

On Day 2 we went to the EMP museum, then to Chinatown.  We went to Harbor City restaurant for dim sum.  The pieces were huge!  After that we went to Pioneer Square.  It was a bit disappointing, but it was raining and we seemingly walked in circles.  I'm told we should do an underground tour there.  We might get a chance after we go back to Seattle.  To get out of the rain we went to a movie in the evening.  We saw Learning To Drive.  We walked about 8 miles.

Today is Day 3.  The hotel shuttle took us to Pier 69, from where the Victoria Clipper departs.  We checked our bags, got our boarding passes, then had about 4 hours to kill.  We walked to Pike Place Market and the surrounding area.  We returned to Pier 69 and waited to board.  We met a couple from Santa Rosa, then coincidentally sat with them during the trip.  Sharon and I had a lot in common.  Who knows, we may establish a new friendship.

After our arrival in Victoria we walked to our timeshare, WorldMark Victoria.  We have a nice 2 bdrm, 2 bath unit with a great view.  It's too bad they don't have smaller units here.  We went to a small nearby market to get a few things for breakfast, then went next door to Fishermans Wharf for dinner.  Then it was time to get settled into our place to spend the next week.