Holly and I took off for Victoria over the weekend, for a much needed weekend away. We checked the dog into the kennel, (which she thoroughly enjoyed, by the way), stocked up the cat's food, locked the door and ran away for a few days.
One nice thing about this trip was that we flew, as opposed to driving and taking the ferry. Probably would have cost about the same anyway, what with the price of gas these days. I refrained from taking dozens of pictures of the airplanes.
Our first destination is pictured here. It's the English Inn and Resort. It was very scenic, with manicured grounds and Victorian architecture. Instead of one building, there were a collection of smaller buidings, each with several rooms in them. Our biggest complaint was that these are older buildings that suffer from older buiding problems like single pane glass, older grouting in the bathroom tiles (yuck) and little in the way of sound proofing. It sounded like a gang of about eight (half being children) were staying in the room next to us, and we woke up to their loud conversation in the parking lot the next morning. But it is what it is, and I am sure there are people who just love this sort of place.
We did a lot of exploring in Victoria, including a drive along Oak Bay and a stop at Cattle Point Scenic Loop. This is the kind of shoreline that I like, probably because it reminds me of where I am from. We did other tourist activities, like have afternoon tea, but basically spent most of our time exploring the city.
Late that afternoon we headed north to Sidney, where we were booked to spend a night at Miraloma on the Cove. Simply put, this place was fantastic. Freshly renovated, it was luxurious, clean and had all the extras like included high speed internet, a kitchenette, continental breakfast and a DVD player in the room. And we were staying in the smallest room! We were given the chance to upgrade for a minimal fee, but since we were only going to be there one night, we stayed in our originally booked suite. We ended up eating at a local sushi restaurant, which was packed. (always a good sign). We ate light, having had many snacks earlier in the day, plus the hotel we were staying at had free hot chocolate and cookies after 9:00 pm. But what we did have was superb, and the staff were very competent and polite. Eating here reminded us what we were missing back in Vernon. The sushi at home just doesn't compare.
Sunday was basically spent travelling back home, collecting up the dog and settling in early. We had a layover at Vancouver International, so my cousins came over to visit with us for a few hours, which was nice. Another whirlwind vacation completed, another week of work yet to begin. Ugh, makes me want to go on vacation just thinking about it.
2 comments:
Where did you have tea at? The Empress or the Bleuthering Place? Those are both great places.
We were at the James Bay Tea Room. It's about a block behind the parliament building.
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