Victoria

Brian and I went on another adventure this summer for our anniversary! We love that my mom wants the kids for a week so we make it the same week that our secretary takes off. I love spending one on one time alone with Brian! Its our favourite. 

So we headed to Victoria!

What a short flight! It was great! 

Day 1:

flying from Calgary to Victoria, then exploring! We arrived at 9am local time and couldn't get into our apartment until 3pm, so we found somewhere to store our bags for a fee and set out to see the ocean and eat some fish and chips!

gorgeous house with the most flowers I've ever seen!

On the bus ride from the airport to downtown, I stood beside the driver and talked to him the whole way. He reminded me of my brother! Such a nice guy. He told me all the great places to eat and see. This was one of them- this hole in the wall fish and chips place in Oak Bay (a cove we wanted to check out anyway). The restaurant was Willows Galley. It was off the beaten path, not right in the village, and it was very tasty.

Then we went to our vrbo apartment that we got for a steal! It was a 10 minute walk from Downtown and it was nice to have a kitchen. It was just a tiny studio apartment, that was perfect for us.

Then we got cleaned up and went out for dinner at 10 Acres Farm - a delicious farm to table & seafood restaurant. it was SO stinkin GOOD!!!

Day 2: Whale watching!!!! I was so excited!!! But first we ate lunch at the funniest place - Dog Gone It (their slogan: Wicked Good Hot Dogs). We got the Hawaiian; with crushed pineapple, mozza and ketchup. It was actually really good! And Intergalactic Root Beer! haha!

then, whale watching! hooray!


It was FREEZING!!!!! But it was so cool to see Killer Whales!

From the whale watching tour, they dropped us off at the Bouchart Gardens. We were still chilled to the bone so it was hard to really enjoy it, but it was beautiful. 

We didn't stay long because we were cold and hungry, we caught our shuttle bus back to Downtown. 

Then ate at the harbour at 'Red Fish Blue Fish', its a permanent food truck that always has the crazy longest line - the whole time they are open!

Waiting in line entertaining ourselves with GIANT leaves!

jerk poutine, fried halibut and fish tacos.

Day 3: Renting scooters and going up the island to hike

The Pacific Trail hike- Gorgeous!

that water!

ya, thats Brian out there.....like 20 feet up on the old tree. Perfectly smooth branch that he shimmied out on.

the most giant starfish we've ever seen! We had fun on all the rocks looking for sea creatures. We found 2 orange starfish and lots of mussels and oysters.

Then we scootered to Gold Stream Park to see the waterfall. We got crazy lost because scooters can't go on the highway so we had to take a ton of detour roundabout roads and go in the back way. It was CRAZY! I was nervous I was going to run out of gas! But driving scooters is super fun. I need one.

800 year old tree!

sadly we forgot to get a picture of our scooter on the beautiful drive, this was as we returned it. But man, did we put some miles on those scooters! We drove for at least 3 hours on them.

Day 4: Relaxing and WALKING

Brian read a book in the apartment while I did a hot yoga class (which I LOVED!) that was right across the street from our place. Then we took a LONG walk through Beacon Hill Park to get to Dallas Road (another tidbit from our nice bus driver). It was such a beautiful walk along the coast. We got to Fisherman's wharf and had the FAMOUS Barb's Fish and Chips which were fantastic. We ate right by the water and saw seals! Then grabbed some icecream because it was crazy hot then took the water taxi back to Downtown. That night for dinner we ate at another fabulous place, although I can't remember what. Then cleaned our apartment and went to bed to catch our early flight in the morning. 

We really loved Victoria. Thanks to my awesome parents who love to take my kids so we can celebrate our anniversary and enjoy these trips! Brian and I are always up for an adventure. We love to explore together and we love to spend so much time alone together. Its so fun to just be Brian and Jessica, not mom and dad. Its so good for our relationship to keep us close and connected. And I just love this guy, I love spending all the time I can get with him.

I read a quote I loved recently "find someone who is as obsessed with you as you are with them, then choose to love them every single day. oh, and go on adventures often". I think its my favourite quote for Brian and I. Love you like crazy, babe.