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| CET are 8 and a half years old! |
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Headed to Canada for spring break!
On the Ferry to Vancouver Island |
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| We traveled light, just our backpacks and we let our feet do the walking : ) |
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At Beacon Hill children's farm they have the friendliest goats.
We probably spent a good 2 hours hanging out with them! |
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| Eli with one of the many babies running around |
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| Caleb with a slightly older kid, ha! |
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| Look at these hobo's bumming around! |
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| In China town |
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| Fan Tan Alley |
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| Eli by the beach |
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| You can't tell from this picture but those rocks on the beach were so pretty, so many different colors and patterns. We kept a few as souvenirs, shhh don't tell anyone, ha! |
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After checking out some tide pools, Caleb said in his silly extra deep voice,
"I saw lots of oysters, muscles, and some clams."
I'm guessing he probably didn't, maybe a barnacle or two, hahaha! |
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| Thomas, do you see his little otter hanging from his jacket? |
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| Victoria, BC you are so lovely! |
Folks, it's been months since we had a proper vacation! Spring break couldn't come any sooner. On Saturday we drove approximately 4 hours to Port Angeles, WA. We ditched the car there and hopped on a ferry to Vancouver Island. The boat ride, at 17 miles an hour, took a little over an hour before arriving in Victoria, BC. Phil and I have been here many times before but this was the first time for the boys. They just loved riding the ferry and they even saw some seals and otters from the boat. Downtown Victoria is super walk-able and there is lots to see just by foot. Some day it will be nice to bring the car onto the ferry and explore "up island" as they call it there. We stayed 3 nights and the night before we left Eli tells me "I really feel like I don't want to leave." Earlier Phil had said the same thing, ha! I'm afraid that's the sign of a good vacation my friends.
We didn't know what to expect weather wise but Victoria is jam packed full of stuff to do both indoors and out. Thankfully the weather conditions were lovely so we mostly meandered outdoors for those 3 days and had a blast doing it.
Day 1: Highlight of the day was the ferry ride! We arrived downtown around 4pm and walked to our hotel in Chinatown. After resting a bit we wandered around Chinatown until we found a place that looked good for dinner. We were not disappointed, it wasn't traditional Chinese-American (or do they call it Chinese-Canadian here?) but it was super delicious. Don't know what any of it was called, we just pointed at pictures and gawked at what others were eating and picked that way, haha!
Day 2: Ate a yummy breakfast then headed to the Children's Farm at Beacon Hill Park. We got there just in time to watch the goat stampede. Who needs Pamplona's running of the bulls when you can watch 3 dozen adorable dwarf goats and their babies run out of a barn to their play area!? Seriously the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. There are lots of other animals on the farm too but the goats are the main attraction. I should mention the rest of Beacon Hill Park is beautiful and there is a great playground for kids. After spending a good part of the day here we headed off for some Fish n Chips of course. It is said that Victoria is more British than Britain, ha! After lunch we hung around the harbor and watched a street performance where both Phil and Thomas participated in. Thomas even made $5 CAD for it! Besides that, we gave the boys some Canadian money, which they were fascinated by. There was no shortage of gift shops for the boys to spend it at too. Some rest was needed then we found some Vietnamese for dinner. The best vermicelli bowls we've had in a while, or maybe we were just so hungry that it felt that way.
Day 3: Another yummy breakfast, followed by a short bus ride to the beach. We spent hours here just looking at the cool rocks and tide pools. We also walked through the neighborhood and admired the beautiful Victorian and turn-of-the-century houses. Similar to Portland but with their own style. Later we stopped in at a very hip coffee shop where the boys played chess, Phil painted and I admired my family and it filled my heart to be enjoying this trip with them. After some snacking at the coffee shop we wandered our way back to downtown were there may have been some more souvenir shopping while papi sketched and painted. Of course a trip to Victoria is never complete unless we have dinner at Millo's Greek Restaurant! It's been around since the 60's we hear, but it's not surprising because it's sooo good. The boys agreed with us as they gobbled up fried calamari dipped in tzatziki sauce, fresh baked pita bread, hummus and their lamb shank & veggies. We went to bed with full bellies and hearts content : )
Day 4: Home again, home again. At least we have the rest of the week to bum around at home : )
Victoria is a great place for a family vacation and it's a bonus that the US dollar goes a little farther out there! I've gone a total of 5 times now and it has never disappointed me! Phil and I both talked about on how every meal we had there was so delicious. Most of which were found by just walking around and seeing what looked good. There is still so much for the kids to see and do there, we'll have to go again soon!
