Holiday Day 1
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| Victoria, British Columbia Christmas Holiday with the Suneson Ladies |
I insisted that Susan take an extended Christmas Break from her job at church once the annual Christmas program was finished and catch a plane to meet me in Seattle. I promised her that if she did, she'd get a nice Christmas present - a holiday trip to Victoria, BC.
I invited our daughter Inga to bring her boyfriend Sean up to join us on our trip to Victoria. We were disappointed that Sean's work schedule did not work for this trip, but Inga was game to come along if we postponed the Christmas travels until the day after Christmas. We worked it out and she bough a train ticket on the Amtrak Cascade Route, leaving Portland and arriving in Stanwood on December 26th.
We three were up early on the 27th for our international adventure in my 4Runner SUV. Sue having arrive by plane, Inga by train and in less than an hour we were boarding the first of our two ferry boat rides in Edmonds to sail to the shores of Kingston on Washington's Olympic peninsula.
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| Washington State Ferry passes our ferry on the Edmonds-Kingston run |
In about an hour we were parked in Port Angeles, ready to walk-on to the Coho Ferry and cross international waters into Victoria's inner harbour. I'd expected that two days after Christmas, the holiday crowds would be less - my expectations were dashed as the Coho was packed with over 300 walk-on passengers with the same idea that I had.
This post-Christmas, Christmas Holiday plan was to not have much of a plan. As some will point out to me, "Mark, you are not really a planner." I did have ferry passage booked along with two suites for two nights in the Royal Scot Hotel. Other than getting there and checking into our rooms - we were footloose in a fun and walkable city with quite the 'European feel'.
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| Suneson Holiday Travelers waiting to debark the Coho and pass through Canadian customs. |
We had a 1 1/2 block march from the Ferry Terminal to our hotel after a 90 minute crossing of the Juan de Fuca Strait. After settling into our rooms for a brief freshening, we were ready to walkabout and look for adventure in Victoria. We were half a block from British Columbia's Parliament Building, which was decorated and lined with holiday lights. We stopped to enjoy the sight and grab a whole lot of photos.
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| Grounds of BC Parliament Building |
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| Parliament Building decked out for Christmas |
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| Fountain lit in Christmas colours featuring British Columbia's Coats of Arms |
We strolled past the Parliament offices and headed down Government Street where we expected to find a place for tonight's dining experiences, but first we passed by many shops, noting opportunities for tomorrow's meals and gift purchases. Cattycorner to Parliament is the Empress Hotel, bring fond memories for Susan and me as the place where we honeymooned back in March, 1986.
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| Roger's English Chocolates & Bon Bons on Government Street |
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| Checking out the candy shoppe. |
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| Tapas restaurant in Trounce Alley for supper |
The first few restaurants where we inquired about a table, told us that they were booked full for the night. So we moseyed on to a quaint tapas place tucked into Trounce Alley. We got a table outside in the alley that was amply heated by overhead gas-fired jets. We drank cocktails and toasted ourselves for a successful Canadian first few hours.
We took our time to saunter around downtown Victoria, running into a small, brightly lit Christmas carnival next to City Hall.
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| Christmas Carnival Forest of Lights |
We were off to a great start. It was decided that we return to the Royal Scot and continue looking for random adventure in the morning. We'd already spied a likely spot for tea and scones once daylight returned. But first, the fudge shoppe was still open and besides - it's Christmas after all, no harm in getting us some sweets. Right?
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| mother and daughter enjoy some sweet moments in the Fudge Shoppe |
We walk past the boats moored in the harbour across from the Empress Hotel and cut across the grounds of Parliament on our way back to our hotel for the night.
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| Boats moored in Victoria's inner harbour |
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| My bride back in front of the Empress Hotel |
Holiday Day 2
We did not find ourselves in a tearing hurry to bound out of bed. But we did agree to rise and meet before we headed toward Bubbly Rose for breakfast and pastries, a spot that we'd noted in our amblings the night before.
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| Breakfast at Bubbly Rose Bakery & Cafe |
We would end up walking by someone's estimation, about 6 miles in this, our one full day in Victoria. There were no Christmas Markets to be found, contrary to my pre-trip readings form the Victoria Visitor's Bureau. But we enjoyed the sights of the town as much as we could take in on foot.
We poked our way into the quite narrow, easy-to-miss, Fan Tan Alley, in the heart of Victoria's China town.
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| Ducking into Fan Tan Alley, Chinatown |
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| Interesting hidden places inside Fan Tan Alley |
We skipped beyond Chinatown and headed toward a bridge that spanned a part of Victoria's Harbour. Again, it was just fun day to take in the sights of the city.
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| Pickle Boats - Victoria's Water Taxis |
Our small foot-touring group of three circled back along the waterfront, stopping by the Empress Hotel to take advantage of the mistletoe hanging under an arch. We asked our daughter to take a photo of her old parents smooching. She obliged without commenting on the awkwardness of the situation. We reminded her that we'd honeymooned at this very spot and that she is lucky to be here (on so many levels), eh?
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| We walk along Victoria's waterfront |
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| Empress Hotel Honeymooners 38 years, 8 months & 29 days hence. |
We found a competitive Gingerbread Sculptures displayed in the lobby of the Hotel Grand Pacific, displayed as a fund raised for Habitat For Humanity. We dropped in to look at the creations, mother and daughter considered doing something similar with their culinary skills some time in Christmas Future. The theme was 'Through A Child's Eye' and entries encompassed everything from gingerbread aliens, to gifts under gingerbread Christmas trees to intricated historic houses with miniature figures seen through the windows.
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| Gingerbread aliens visit for Christmas |
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| Classic gingerbread house |
Wandering on, we came to Fisherman's Wharf, an enclave of colorful houseboats with a harbor seal bobbing cutely in their front yard.
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| Pickle Boat water taxi |
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| An array of colorful houseboats |
We took a mid-day break back in our hotel rooms and talked about the rest of the day. It was an enthusiastic unanimous vote to head back to the Empress Hotel and order some s'mores toasted over the veranda brassieres.
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| At the veranda for s'mores |
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| At the Empress for mid-day dessert treat Ah... but once we got the menu, for a few dollars more (I'm talking dollars Canadian and the $US has a most favorable exchange rate) we could get a deluxe chocolate fondue. As we sat by the open flames with a view of the Inner Harbour, our madeleines, handcrafted marsh mellows, tropical fruits and biscuits were delivered. We dipped into the dark and rich gooey goodness and once again indulged in self-congratulatory chatter on our fine choices and good fortune.  The ladies ordered tea, I opted for a Canadian Old Fashion to polish off the sweetness of my tastebuds.    Ah... Ummm... Ohhh... It all disappeared too quickly. A wonderful experience at the Empress once again. We settled on a restaurant further up Government Street for our supper after we had dessert first. Only, the online menu at our supper place did not come close to matching what was being served that night. We stayed despite not having any crab or oysters available for me, yet we managed to enjoy our meal. Holiday Day 3 We packed and had breakfast in the hotel and were walking back to the Black Ball Ferry Terminal at 9:15 to catch our 10 AM boat back to Port Angels, USA. The passenger manifest was slammed by another 300 foot passengers going the same way we were. Our reservations were honored without a problem and US Immigration and Customs waved us through with only one or two questions. Back at The Pilchuck, it was time to scramble to close the house down for the long term and pack for a road trip return to Texas early in the morrow. We're looking at New Years 2025 somewhere on the road. More later... |
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