Winter at home has been brutally cold and the snow just wants to stay. No a chinook in sight. Amy has been wanting us to come out and so we all planned on coming but between winter and animals, our plans got changed from all to me going.
I jumped on a plane at Lethbridge (which was SO convienant !!) (and cheaper than leaving from Calgary). The flight to Calgary was uneventful and I was so glad Dusty convinced me to download a few shows on my phone!! Landed in Calagary for a wee layover. The waiting room was pretty sweet. Comfy chairs, good wifi, lots of room. After that I jumped on another plane to Nanaimo! And my best luck- no one sat beside me!!
Check out that view heading over the Rockies 👆🏻
And flying over the channel 😍
I love the ocean. Some people over open spaces and dancing wheat fields or hay or forests or mountains.... I will take the ocean!
I landed in good time. Walked through the longest outdoor walkway- and marveled at the warmth! Turned the corner into the building and bam 💥 there she was! It was so good to see her (and to not be busy bearding bodies that I could actually just enjoy that moment).
We took off for her house and it’s adorable and perfect. My room and is huge and comfy. We dropped my stuff and went out grocery shopping. Ate a Costco hotdog for lunch and then headed to go out for a walk.... and I got blisters. Dang boots and flat lander feet! But look at how amazing the walk was (not wonder why I just kept pushing past the point of no return)
We headed home where Amy tried to torture me by taking off my boots - they finally came off 😬
We chilled out for a bit and then went hunting for quirkle and dinner. We went to the Firehouse and I had garlic butter prawns on Cesar salad and it was Delish!!! I could barely keep my eyes open when we got home and I passed out at 8pm!!
I was up at 5am and spent a lovely morning puttering around my room. I only changed 4 times before we left for Victoria. I really needed to take more pictures. The drive was beautiful, filled with rock walks and moss and running water.
We got into Victoria and it was stunning with all the old buildings. We parked right by a harbour and took off walking! First few blocks were China town- and it was vibrant and colourful
And the alleys were all decorated and most had these tiny stores in them! We headed for lunch but not before passing the most amazing smelling Italian bakery and so many colourful buildings.
We finally found our lunch destination- Ferris’ Oyster Bar
I ordered 3 baked oysters and a bowl of Cioppino (filled to the brim with clams, oysters, prawns, salmon, and other delicious bits. Super good. Amy had the show set which she said was amazing and Kyle got something I can’t pernounce.
All good!
We took off for more sights and found ourselves down by the water. The cherry trees and dafdosills are all out in full force! We walked by the Empress Hotel and meandered back up the street. We passed a few tiny 7-11’s and a McDonald’s that had full time security on it! A huge homeless population. We also stopped into the oldest church in Canada. It was a prespraterian church and the guy was a lovely chatty old Scottish fellow and he talked out ears off but the build fb was amazing. I love the smell of old churches. We escaped and headed back for the car, passing that tiny Italian bakery...... only this time we had to go in!
It was this little place called La Tana and it was amazing. They had sweet and savoury delights and the baker spoke Italian. Amy ordered a ton of things- a birocci (orange pastry filled with Nutella- it looked like an icing powder bun), and small cookies, and big flat cookies and then I got the most delicious super chewy almond flour cookie and it was amazing. We happily returned to the car and took a scenic drive around a park and the ocean route and checked out all the amazing houses!
We got home and I made Hawaiian haystacks and then had a little downtime. I came out and Amy and Kyle were ordering burritos and we watched some Father Brown and Called it a night!
