Delayed post: Spring Break

Ooops, we already are in May and I forgot to do writeups on all of our fun April happenings! 

We had originally intended to go to Yosemite for Spring Break but given we rented a non-heated tent-cabin and there were warnings of snow and floods due to the epic weather California has been having this winter, we canceled our trip. I'm super bummed though because it's been so long since we've been (before kids!) and the weather turned out to be great! The Hanley's trip looked super fun. Maybe we can get to it next year.

So, we stayed local for Spring Break and instead took a few days to explore Victoria. The last time we visited was back in 2012 when Evie was just a little wee thing. Our trip this time ended up being a really nice getaway - the weather mostly cooperated and Scott and I got to visit a few new places we hadn't been to before. 

We took the ferry from Twassewan (Vancouver) over to Shwartz Bay on Vancouver Island, which is a little bit north of Victoria. On the drive down, we stopped by "Glass Beach" in Sidney, had lunch at a cute-but-slow deli, and then explored Butchart Gardens. It was a bit rainy but the Gardens supplied umbrellas so off we went! The Gardens were bursting with hyacinths, daffodils and other bulbs and smelled lovely. The grounds were smaller than I remembered but it was a pleasant day nonetheless. For dinner that night, we went with Evie's choice for Japanese and found a small little places to try out. They were pretty packed so the 4 of us sat at the sushi bar!

So much seaglass at Glass Beach.

Rain didn't stop us from enjoying Butchart Gardens

Lots of smiles and "take this photo"!

Cherry blossoms

Victoria waterfront

Empress in the background

Funny picture of us at the sushi bar.

I'm grateful that both Scott and I work for companies that allow for remote work because that meant we were able to work from the hotel that morning before heading out for "birthday" lunch of high tea at the Empress! While it's not cheap (~$100 Canadian), the price is pretty on par with other fancy tea places in the US but this tea is iconic, so why not try it? My verdict: good, not great food, but the room is gorgeous, the service was stellar and I really enjoyed my very lovely, light Earl Grey tea. So, all in all, a win. I do think, however, that it's probably a zoo in the summertime and may not be as relaxing as when we went. The best part was when the live piano player started to play Downtown Abbey - it was fun to pretend to be posh, drinking tea, and having that melody in the background. 

After a bit more of work (why are there always Friday Firedrills???), we went for a stroll through Beacon Hill Park. It was a great little park - several water features and lovely walking paths and connected to the waterfront where there is also the world's tallest free standing totem pole. Afterwards, we went to an Irish Pub where funny enough, we got seated next to a guy who went to college with Scott! Such a small world! 

In front of the Empress

My tea!

Nora loved all the treats on the kids tea tower

Moss lady at Beacon Hill Park

Herons were nesting way up there. There was a lot of squaking and lots of poop on the ground.

World's tallest free standing totem pole. Nora is in front for size comparison.

Across the way there is Port Angeles

Drinkies at the Irish Pub

The other side of the table

The Government house lit up at night.

On Saturday, we started the day with a trip to Miniature World. There's lots of advertising for this little museum and it looked super cheesy but ended up being a fun little outing because many of the set ups were so intricate. It was just me and the girls going since Scott had no interest, and the 3 of us agreed that it was neat and that the museum is really missing out on an opportunity to have a gift shop hawking miniature kits at the end. I think we should set up a stand right outside their exit and sell them; we'd make a fortune.

Afterwards, we decided to explore Vancouver Island a bit and drove up north to the town of Duncan, the smallest city by area in Canada, home to the Cowichan Tribes and known as the "city of totems" because of the 40+ totems they have around town. Sounds neat, right? In reality, it was only ok. We did, however, enjoy going to the "The Doghouse", a diner that had a lot of reviews and was considered an institution that people said to stop by if you're doing a roadtrip. It was a hoot of a place and we all enjoyed our diner breakfast before heading over to Stoney Hill Regional Park for some hiking. By the time we go to the trailhead, it was raining and the kids wanted nothing to do with it, but we were able to convince them (force them?) to go out and in the end, the sun came out and we had a great little hike.

We took our time driving back to Victoria and stopped by Kinsol Trestle, one of the highest wooden trestles in the world at 144 ft tall. Of course, Scott took advantage of being next to a rushing river by fishing for a few minutes but didn't catch anything. The rain started up again and after a rather wet walk back to the car, the girls were craving something warm for dinner so we stopped by a ramen place for dinner and had a very satisfying meal.

Miniature world

Very large displays

This was easily our favorite. Each of those carnival rides moved on its own so was fun to watch.

This circus diorama also had moving pieces.

Lunch at the Dog House

Never too old to color a mask!

Hiking through the park

Pretty lookouts

Another selfie

The sun is starting to peek out!

so many dense trees!

Kinsol Trestle

Can you spot Scott fishing next to the water?

Sunday was not exciting since it was just driving back home. We all agreed we had a nice time, and next time we'll come when the weather is better so that we can bike around town.