Victoria B.C. Aug. 15-17th, 2008

Since we were not able to go back home this summer for vacation, we decided to take the weekend and go to Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. It took less than 2 hours to drive to Port Angeles to catch the ferry, then 90 minutes to cross the Straight of San Juan de Fuca to Victoria.

The city was perfect for a weekend get-a-way. The city is on a beautiful little harbor and we could walk to our condo in 10 minutes from the ferry dock. We spent Friday evening walking around the harbor area and eating dinner at a sidewalk restaurant at the harbor. Then Tracy stayed with Josh and Erica to watch a magic show by a street performer while Megan and I hunted down someplace to get goodies for breakfast. We had fun walking along the quite neighborhood streets singing "Mama Mia" songs together in the dark.

Saturday morning we took the kids on their first kayaking adventure. We paddled around Victoria harbor, watched some the Dragon Boat races, and just had a beautiful morning in the

sunshine. The kids loved it!

That night Tracy took me to dinner at an old Victorian house called The Gatsby Mansion restaurant. I had Rack of lamb and Tracy had steak. We celebrated our 17th Wedding anniversary(Aug. 23rd) and had a wonderful evening dinning on the porch, looking out at the harbor, and watching the people go by.

Sunday we spent the morning walking around town to get our pictures taken with as many totem poles as we could find. We wandered through Beacon Hill Park and visited the petting zoo. Then we had to get back and catch the 3pm ferry back to Port Angeles.

We had a wonderful weekend and I can't wait to go back again.