A little vacation with Hannah...

I thought a post about a little trip Hannah and I took to Victoria, Canada would be perfect for kicking-off my entrance back into the blogging world. :)

Hannah treated the both of us to an overnight stay in Victoria this past week. We headed up to Port Angeles on Thursday to catch the 2pm ferry. As we drove in to Port Angeles we decided to stop at Wendy's to get some lunch. While we were in line a little old man came up to Hannah and asked what her Gold Star pin meant on her coat. He eventually asked if he could eat with us. He was a very sweet man and he told us all about his wife who passed away this last December. He cried every time he talked about her and he would cry every time Hannah would talk about Gabe. He wore two rings around his neck on a chain and I am guessing those were his and his wife's wedding rings. He showed us some pictures he had of his wife that he kept in his wallet. He was in his 80's. He and his wife had been married over 50 years. He was very sweet and I am glad we ate lunch with him.

The ferry ride over took a little over an hour. We went up to the the top of the boat and sat outside under a covered area. The ride got pretty rocky as we got farther out into the Straight of Juan de Fuca. It was sunny though and we enjoyed the ride. Once we reached the harbor we went out to the front of the boat and enjoyed the view as we came in to the harbor. Once we got off the boat we had to go through customs.

We walked past the Parliament building as we made our way to our hotel. We also passed the elegant Empress Hotel. All of the fall colors were so beautiful! Hannah picked a very good time of year to visit Victoria. We found our hotel, we checked in and dropped our bags off in our room. We were on the 15th floor and we had a great view of the harbor and the Parliament building. There was also lots of construction going on for the 2010 Olympics that are going to be held in Vancouver.

Hannah and I only packed one bag each since we knew we were going to have to carry our bags with us the next day when we checked out of the hotel. It was a fun challenge trying to downsize everything we would usually take on a trip like this. I wore a pair of jeans and brought an extra shirt for the next day and some pj's. I packed some small toiletries and of course some make-up. Hannah and I agreed it was really nice to have everything in one bag. The next day we literally had no packing to do when we left.

After we dropped our bags off we headed out to do a little shopping. We bought a couple souvenirs and went back to the hotel to drop them off. We asked the lady at the desk where the Spaghetti Factory was. It was only about a block away so we headed down there and had dinner. After dinner we walked over to the waterfront so I could get a picture of the Parliament building all lit up. On our way back we went in to the Empress Hotel to see what time High Tea would be the next day. We found out you had to make reservations though and the office was already closed.

That night in our hotel we ordered room service and two delicious pieces of chocolate cheese cake were delivered to our room on a platter.

The next morning we ate a continental breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We enjoyed Belgian Waffles, sausage, french toast, fruit and eggs. We were pretty stuffed after breakfast and new we wouldn't be eating lunch any time soon. We checked out of the hotel around 11am and we headed out to do some more shopping and sight seeing. We went to a Starbucks and I was very happy to find out I would still get my employee
discount even though we were in a different country.

We walked quite a few blocks to find a castle. We had to carry our bags and after several blocks they started to feel pretty heavy. But we made it and it was so worth it. The castle was located in the middle of a neighborhood which reminded us of North Tacoma neighborhoods. We really enjoyed walking the halls and the beautiful staircase. We both agreed it made us in the mood to watch a good Jane Austin movie.

After we enjoyed our self-guided tour we headed back down to the waterfront to catch the ferry home. We had enough time to go and get a quick lunch at a restaurant called Milestones on the waterfront. We had a perfect view of the ferry dock so we could see when the ferry came in. We asked for the check as soon as we ordered so we could pay, eat and leave as soon as possible. We ate pretty quickly and as we were eating the ferry came in. We walked pretty fast over the ferry dock and we made it just as they started letting people through customs and onto the boat. It is a good thing we made it as it was the last ferry leaving for the day!

On the ferry ride home we sat outside on the upper deck out in the open. It was pretty chilly but it was a beautiful day. In the middle of the trip home they stopped the ferry because of a pod of Orca whales that was swimming close by. They never came to close. They would come up about every 30 seconds and a big spray of water could be seen. This was the first time I had seen Orcas.

We had such a fun time. It was so much fun having girl time and getting to goof off. I am so blessed to have a such a wonderful friendship!