Thursday, July 23, 2015

First Anniversary Trip - Victoria, BC




Victoria, BC is the perfect weekend getaway! It is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's pacific coast, just 3 hours from Seattle by ferry.

We spent our first day exploring the city. We started at Fisherman's Wharf, where we had lunch and admired the colorful and quirky floating homes. Our path continued along the waterfront, past Parliament, along the Harbor and into downtown Victoria. We strolled though unique and fun shops along the way. Our final stop, Chinatown! Here, Dustin found Canoe Brewpub an awesome spot that overlooked the marina. Refeshing drinks on the patio was in order after a days worth of walking in the sun! For dinner, we found The Local and enjoyed listening to the live music in the square while we ate.

On our second day, we decided to take advantage of our dining voucher and enjoyed breakfast on the hotel patio. Speaking of our hotel, we stayed at Hotel Oswego and had an amazing experience there. Any hotel that serves fruit + herb infused water and chocolate on our pillow is a clear winner in my book. Moving on, french press coffee and smoked salmon eggs benedict were on our menu, need I say more? Delicious. We spent the majority of our morning and early afternoon whale watching. We spent 3 hours on a zodiac tour that cruised along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Here we saw several multiple pods of Orca whales, including their babies! After whale watching, we heading to the food truck park for amazing fish tacos and sat on the lawn as we ate overlooking the harbor.

We ended our final day biking around town! After our breakfast at Jam Cafe, we rented bikes from The Pedaler and cruised along the coast, it was simply stunning. We biked through gorgeous neighborhoods, the golf course (where we saw a deer) and the adorable town of Oak Bay. About 10 miles later, we crossed the bridge at ended up at Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub Brewpub.  A cold beer was much deserved!

It was such a fun trip! The perfect amount of relaxation, while still enjoying everything that Victoria has to offer. I'm already looking forward to our next vacation ;).