Delightful, Decompressing, De Dutch
Douglas and I spent a really wonderful long weekend in Victoria this past weekend.
We both took Friday off work, I have a couple of vacation days to take before the end of the year, or I lose them, and Douglas has more vacation than he can spend at this point.
We got up semi-early to pack and start our journey over to Port Angeles to catch the ferry to Victoria. I keep forgetting how close we are to the Edmonds ferry, and it's a short ride over to Kingston. Which is good, because I always get turned around trying to get to 101. Fortunately we didn't go too far down the wrong road, and with help from a local we found our way to the Hood Canal bridge.
I always forget that you can make reservations for the Victoria ferry, and this time of year they only have two runs a day, so if we didn't get on the 2pm one we'd have to wait for the next day 8:30am run. Fortunately they do know how to pack the cars in like sardines and we got on near the back of the boat.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and we kept braving the chilly breeze to go outside and take pictures. You could see Mt. Baker crisp and clear, and the Olympics rising up. When we got near Victoria one of the sea planes charged our boat, that was kind of cool, we were far enough apart that they got airborne before smacking into us.
The hotel we'd picked to stay at turned out to be right across the street from the ferry, so we got off the boat and were pretty much immediately at our hotel. Douglas finally got to take advantage of his travel agent discount and got us water view rooms at the Hotel Grand Pacific. I don't think I've stayed at such a fancy hotel before, I felt a little out of my element, but it was really nice so I figured I could force myself to enjoy it. Especially with a view of the Empress from our window, glance outside, oh yeah, there it is.
We figured out some places we wanted to eat for dinner, and then went outside to wander about. The first place, a tapas bar, was really noisy and crowded with a long wait, so we wandered to a greek place instead. It had pretty good food, I enjoyed what I had, but I think what made it was the belly dancer that came mid-meal and did a few dances. It was kind of odd, I don't tend to think of Greek and belly dancing as being related, but she was pretty good. Douglas said she only had eyes for the women in the room, and was looking at me a lot. I said that was because I made eye contact and wasn't staring gape-mouthed at her other... assets.
Saturday we got to sleep in, which was really nice, I don't get to do much of that these days. The only scheduled plan was for reservations for tea at the Empress for noon. So we lazed about until it was time to go for tea.
Tea was really nice, the food was very tasty, and our server was a tea ninja, any time our cups emptied he'd swoop back in to fill them up. We read about the history of tea, and the pattern they use for their tea china. I kind of liked it, so afterwards I bought myself a cup and saucer. I know this is something my grandmothers used to do, and normally I'm not in to collecting tea cups and saucers but something about the royal pattern, and the complexity, appealed to me.
After tea we wandered over to the Bug museum. Douglas really wanted to see it, and though I think it's more meant for kids, he seemed delighted at the idea of me holding bugs. I got to hold some really cool praying mantises, and a millipede which felt funny, lots of little prickly feet. A katydid who, thankfully, didn't do a little dance on my hands so I guess they were clean. I passed on holding one of the tarantulas and the scorpion, I don't really care how unlikely they are to bite or sting. I did hold a nymph that, at 1/4lb, is supposed to be one of the heaviest insects, but I was more interested in how spiky it was that I didn't think about its weight.
Then we wandered over to Chinatown and Fantan alley. At this point there were about a million zombies on the streets, and we didn't know why. There certainly were a lot of goth zombies, and one Jack Skellington zombie.
We ducked into a pub to take a walking break and had some poutine. After filling up on that starchy snack we decided to go back to the hotel and relax, it was late afternoon and most of the stores were closed, but we also didn't want dinner either. We watched the news and found out why all the zombies were out, and debated having room service for dinner, or going somewhere else.
While debating we took some time to dash outside and take some pictures of the government building at dusk where we had some chance of getting it all lit up, but not blurry since Douglas didn't have his tripod with him. My little point and shoot does great at dusk, but doesn't do that well with nighttime shots.
We opted for one of the seafood restaurants, and had a very tasty meal. I wimped out of having a whole meal of crab, but Douglas got himself some crab legs, which he gave me a taste of. I'm still thinking crab might be my gateway to someday liking fish. I don't hate the taste of crab, unlike pretty much every other kind of seafood out there, and the texture isn't the kind that makes me shudder either.
The next day we got up early-ish to be able to do a couple of things beofre getting in the ferry line. We were assured that we wouldn't need reservations on the way back, even though it was a Sunday, because it's just not that busy this time of year. As long as we got in line by 2pm we'd be fine.
We wandered over to a pancake house (oh, I'm sorry, pannekoek house) called De Dutch that we'd seen in a guide book. Mainly because of the name and because it's fun to say 'pannekoek'. The took the 'de' thing to de new de heights. De everything had a 'de' in front of it, de sugar, de salt, de bacon (which wasn't bacon, but sausage). The food was, thankfully, good, though it turned out that this was a chain restaurant in the Best Western. I was suddenly even happier with where we stayed in that it was in a bit better part of town where the lobby restrooms didn't require a keycard to get in them.
Afterwards we went to another tourist trap themed place to do a halloween haunted house experience. They said theirs was different, because rather than walking through a haunted house with people in costume jumping out at you, you get to pick from a few experiences where you go into a room and everything happens in there. We got there shortly after opening, and the chatty woman behind the counter said she was waiting on her actors to arrive.
We chose the seance, we were the only two going in to that one, she told us to sit near the fireplace since we'd have the best view there. We were greeted by two animatronic skeletons who recited the rules and then we were let in the room. Douglas and I were both convinced that one of the figures seated in the room was an actor, and spent the whole time waiting on him to jump up and do something scary. The whole thing was a bit of a sensory overload, a lot of shaking things, and blinking lights. I was certain during any of the times the room was dark that the guy who was seated would walk up near us and the next time the lights turned on he'd be inches from one of our faces. Douglas had a better view of him and figured out the guy was just another dummy, I didn't have that good a view of him, so it was only when the whole thing ended that I knew I wasn't going to get jumped. It was cheesy, but it was fun. Then we were wondering why she was waiting on the actors... the whole thing had been animatronics.
We went back to my car and moved it in to the ferry line, we were early, it was about 1:15pm, but I figured we were safe, there weren't a lot of cars. We were told to be back by 2:30pm for US customs. So we wandered into the wax museum, figuring we'd just stick to the cheesy touristy stuff. That was kind of interesting, and some of the wax figures did look eerily lifelike, but most didn't. What was most interesting, and most disturbing, were the representations of things people used to do to torture and kill other people.
We got back to our car, and heard people in the line who'd arrived later than us saying they were on standby. Douglas and I were glad we'd got there earlier than 2pm, and were commenting to remember not to trust the ferry people that you don't need a reservation, even in the off season. We did get on, near the back of the boat again, but thanks to their sardine packing skills I think all but two of the cars that were waiting got on. Even the guy whose battery died in line and needed a jump, and the guy who was unclear on the ticket buying procedure and hadn't bought one, or been inspected by customs yet.
The day was overcast, so we didn't have the crisp, clear view of the mountains we had on the way back, but the clouds made for a more dramatic backdrop anyway. We sailed out with another seaplane following along behind. We watched it take off, then went in to have a snack on the boat.
We took our time driving home, stopping at the 101 diner in Sequim for dinner, and got back between 10-10:30pm. The cats were happy to see us, running around and pesting for attention. They had managed to gobble up almost two big bowls of food in the two days were were gone, they are such little pigs.
It was a nice break away from our computers, and daily life, for a few days, just to spend it with Douglas. We need to do that more than once every three years. ;-) I just wish it had been longer, it's good to relax outside of normal life.
We both took Friday off work, I have a couple of vacation days to take before the end of the year, or I lose them, and Douglas has more vacation than he can spend at this point.
We got up semi-early to pack and start our journey over to Port Angeles to catch the ferry to Victoria. I keep forgetting how close we are to the Edmonds ferry, and it's a short ride over to Kingston. Which is good, because I always get turned around trying to get to 101. Fortunately we didn't go too far down the wrong road, and with help from a local we found our way to the Hood Canal bridge.
I always forget that you can make reservations for the Victoria ferry, and this time of year they only have two runs a day, so if we didn't get on the 2pm one we'd have to wait for the next day 8:30am run. Fortunately they do know how to pack the cars in like sardines and we got on near the back of the boat.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and we kept braving the chilly breeze to go outside and take pictures. You could see Mt. Baker crisp and clear, and the Olympics rising up. When we got near Victoria one of the sea planes charged our boat, that was kind of cool, we were far enough apart that they got airborne before smacking into us.
The hotel we'd picked to stay at turned out to be right across the street from the ferry, so we got off the boat and were pretty much immediately at our hotel. Douglas finally got to take advantage of his travel agent discount and got us water view rooms at the Hotel Grand Pacific. I don't think I've stayed at such a fancy hotel before, I felt a little out of my element, but it was really nice so I figured I could force myself to enjoy it. Especially with a view of the Empress from our window, glance outside, oh yeah, there it is.
We figured out some places we wanted to eat for dinner, and then went outside to wander about. The first place, a tapas bar, was really noisy and crowded with a long wait, so we wandered to a greek place instead. It had pretty good food, I enjoyed what I had, but I think what made it was the belly dancer that came mid-meal and did a few dances. It was kind of odd, I don't tend to think of Greek and belly dancing as being related, but she was pretty good. Douglas said she only had eyes for the women in the room, and was looking at me a lot. I said that was because I made eye contact and wasn't staring gape-mouthed at her other... assets.
Saturday we got to sleep in, which was really nice, I don't get to do much of that these days. The only scheduled plan was for reservations for tea at the Empress for noon. So we lazed about until it was time to go for tea.
Tea was really nice, the food was very tasty, and our server was a tea ninja, any time our cups emptied he'd swoop back in to fill them up. We read about the history of tea, and the pattern they use for their tea china. I kind of liked it, so afterwards I bought myself a cup and saucer. I know this is something my grandmothers used to do, and normally I'm not in to collecting tea cups and saucers but something about the royal pattern, and the complexity, appealed to me.
After tea we wandered over to the Bug museum. Douglas really wanted to see it, and though I think it's more meant for kids, he seemed delighted at the idea of me holding bugs. I got to hold some really cool praying mantises, and a millipede which felt funny, lots of little prickly feet. A katydid who, thankfully, didn't do a little dance on my hands so I guess they were clean. I passed on holding one of the tarantulas and the scorpion, I don't really care how unlikely they are to bite or sting. I did hold a nymph that, at 1/4lb, is supposed to be one of the heaviest insects, but I was more interested in how spiky it was that I didn't think about its weight.
Then we wandered over to Chinatown and Fantan alley. At this point there were about a million zombies on the streets, and we didn't know why. There certainly were a lot of goth zombies, and one Jack Skellington zombie.
We ducked into a pub to take a walking break and had some poutine. After filling up on that starchy snack we decided to go back to the hotel and relax, it was late afternoon and most of the stores were closed, but we also didn't want dinner either. We watched the news and found out why all the zombies were out, and debated having room service for dinner, or going somewhere else.
While debating we took some time to dash outside and take some pictures of the government building at dusk where we had some chance of getting it all lit up, but not blurry since Douglas didn't have his tripod with him. My little point and shoot does great at dusk, but doesn't do that well with nighttime shots.
We opted for one of the seafood restaurants, and had a very tasty meal. I wimped out of having a whole meal of crab, but Douglas got himself some crab legs, which he gave me a taste of. I'm still thinking crab might be my gateway to someday liking fish. I don't hate the taste of crab, unlike pretty much every other kind of seafood out there, and the texture isn't the kind that makes me shudder either.
The next day we got up early-ish to be able to do a couple of things beofre getting in the ferry line. We were assured that we wouldn't need reservations on the way back, even though it was a Sunday, because it's just not that busy this time of year. As long as we got in line by 2pm we'd be fine.
We wandered over to a pancake house (oh, I'm sorry, pannekoek house) called De Dutch that we'd seen in a guide book. Mainly because of the name and because it's fun to say 'pannekoek'. The took the 'de' thing to de new de heights. De everything had a 'de' in front of it, de sugar, de salt, de bacon (which wasn't bacon, but sausage). The food was, thankfully, good, though it turned out that this was a chain restaurant in the Best Western. I was suddenly even happier with where we stayed in that it was in a bit better part of town where the lobby restrooms didn't require a keycard to get in them.
Afterwards we went to another tourist trap themed place to do a halloween haunted house experience. They said theirs was different, because rather than walking through a haunted house with people in costume jumping out at you, you get to pick from a few experiences where you go into a room and everything happens in there. We got there shortly after opening, and the chatty woman behind the counter said she was waiting on her actors to arrive.
We chose the seance, we were the only two going in to that one, she told us to sit near the fireplace since we'd have the best view there. We were greeted by two animatronic skeletons who recited the rules and then we were let in the room. Douglas and I were both convinced that one of the figures seated in the room was an actor, and spent the whole time waiting on him to jump up and do something scary. The whole thing was a bit of a sensory overload, a lot of shaking things, and blinking lights. I was certain during any of the times the room was dark that the guy who was seated would walk up near us and the next time the lights turned on he'd be inches from one of our faces. Douglas had a better view of him and figured out the guy was just another dummy, I didn't have that good a view of him, so it was only when the whole thing ended that I knew I wasn't going to get jumped. It was cheesy, but it was fun. Then we were wondering why she was waiting on the actors... the whole thing had been animatronics.
We went back to my car and moved it in to the ferry line, we were early, it was about 1:15pm, but I figured we were safe, there weren't a lot of cars. We were told to be back by 2:30pm for US customs. So we wandered into the wax museum, figuring we'd just stick to the cheesy touristy stuff. That was kind of interesting, and some of the wax figures did look eerily lifelike, but most didn't. What was most interesting, and most disturbing, were the representations of things people used to do to torture and kill other people.
We got back to our car, and heard people in the line who'd arrived later than us saying they were on standby. Douglas and I were glad we'd got there earlier than 2pm, and were commenting to remember not to trust the ferry people that you don't need a reservation, even in the off season. We did get on, near the back of the boat again, but thanks to their sardine packing skills I think all but two of the cars that were waiting got on. Even the guy whose battery died in line and needed a jump, and the guy who was unclear on the ticket buying procedure and hadn't bought one, or been inspected by customs yet.
The day was overcast, so we didn't have the crisp, clear view of the mountains we had on the way back, but the clouds made for a more dramatic backdrop anyway. We sailed out with another seaplane following along behind. We watched it take off, then went in to have a snack on the boat.
We took our time driving home, stopping at the 101 diner in Sequim for dinner, and got back between 10-10:30pm. The cats were happy to see us, running around and pesting for attention. They had managed to gobble up almost two big bowls of food in the two days were were gone, they are such little pigs.
It was a nice break away from our computers, and daily life, for a few days, just to spend it with Douglas. We need to do that more than once every three years. ;-) I just wish it had been longer, it's good to relax outside of normal life.