Victoria, B.C.

Dan in front of the famous Empress Hotel

On Labor Day weekend Dan and I used our passports! We got the kids situated at friend's houses (we worried they would be sad, but they couldn't wait for us to leave) and left for 2 1/2 days.  We drove four hours north to the very tip of the Olympic peninsula, Port Angeles, WA.  (Readers of the Twilight series will recognize references to this town.)  We parked our car and took a passenger ferry over to Vancouver Island.

We stepped off the ferry and onto the beautiful, charming city of Victoria. Our hotel, the Grand Pacific, was in the center of the action, right by the waterfront. We walked everywhere for two days, enjoying the lively but not crowded tourist scene. There was a wooden boat festival while we were there, so the harbor was filled with colorful watercraft.  Right next to that was a jazz festival. We got recommendations from the concierge and online and walked to great restaurants.  One night we ate very delicious and unusual Italian food, the next night good Thai curry.

This is my favorite part of the gardens - the sunken gardens. 

We enjoyed everything we visited - the B.C. Museum (with history of the British Columbian people, about which we knew nothing), the Parliament Building (our favorite tour - we had a wonderful tour guide who explained Canadian government to us - another thing we knew nothing about), and Butchart Gardens.  The Gardens are definitely overpriced, but were amazing.  Dan was such a good sport about my garden wanderings. He said, "it was interesting for the first hour and a half. The last hour was more painful."  The gardens were really gorgeous.

Even the garbage cans are decorated at Butchart Gardens!

The dahlias were in full bloom, and they were amazing.

This is an awesome dancing fountain.

The Parliament  Building at night

Horsedrawn carriages are all over the downtown area, but we preferred to walk.

The inside dome of the Parliament Building

There is a funny story behind this picture - we were walking along the waterfront and saw a statue. We were totally clueless that it was a "living statue" - someone dressed up like a statue.  We stood in front of her for a minute or so, wondering why there was a statue of Annie Oakley in Victoria.  Then the woman slowly blinked her eye, and we saw the tip hat in front of her. Once we caught on, we put a tip in the hat and the statue came alive and motioned Dan over to pose for a picture.  So fun!

The day we left, we rode the ferry back to Port Angeles and then drove the long(er) way home, through  Forks. This detour added an hour to our trip, but it was fun to see the tiny little town which has been turned on its head by the Twilight phenomenon. In case you are wondering, there is not much to see there, and, no, we did not see any vampires or werewolves.  The drive from Port Angeles to Forks along the end of the Olympic Peninsula is one of the prettiest I have ever enjoyed.  Mostly, the drive home was fun because we had five blissful hours to just talk, without anyone whining in the back seat.  We made plans for the new school year, discussed each of the kids and what we can do to support and help them, and had a good time visiting.   It was great to spend time together with my best friend, and I look forward to more trips in the future!

Look carefully at the marquee on the hotel sign.  Get it?

Literally the entire town is devoted to Twilight paraphernalia.  Crazy!