winter getaway

(A little travel music to go with your read...)

We’re just back from a four day mini-vacation on Vancouver Island. What fun!

Tuesday, the day of our departure saw a continuation of the weird weather we’ve been enjoying on the ‘wet coast.’ We left home to wind and pouring rain. However when we arrived on the Island, we noted that the skies seemed a little less generous. We decided to take a chance on a tour of Chemainus (a mural mecca) before checking into our hotel.




Our gamble paid off. We had only sprinkles of rain interspersed with pale sunshine the two hours we tramped around the yellow footprints of the self-guided mural tour. Now I have lots of great fodder for my mural blog!

The hotel we stayed in was across the street from Victoria's inner harbor. The lit-up B.C. Legislature buildings were just a short walk away.


Wednesday morning after breakfast we map-read our way to Craigdarroch Castle. This is a must-see if you ever visit Victoria. I took photos and a tour of the castle will be coming to the blog soon.

In the evening we map-read our way in the opposite direction to the Colwood Pentecostal Church and the wedding of my friend’s daughter. What a great party. Congratulations Katie and Cesar!

We took advantage of the clear but nippy weather Thursday morning to explore one of Victoria’s walks on the hills behind Uplands and then along a beach promenade (Oak Bay).

The afternoon visit with our friends included a walk along another beach (don’t know the name). The ducks and swans were friendly - no doubt because people come with bags of food.

Yesterday another storm rolled in. Though we’d played with the idea of doing more exploring in Victoria we decided, in the face of rising winds, to head for the mainland.

On our drive home from the ferry terminal in Tsawwassen we heard that the roof of B.C. Place had caved in. (B.C. Place is a covered stadium used for football and trade shows. It has a fabric – Teflon – dome covering which is kept aloft with air pressure inside the building a bit higher than the outside pressure. It had developed a tear.) Later in a news conference the manager said it is repairable. Let’s hope so, as it’s the location for the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics!

Talking about Olympics, I need to concentrate that kind of effort on my house today. All our holidaying means that Christmas decorations are still up. Hopefully by this evening the house will look like it’s ready to enter the new year although, as hubby reminds me, today is Ukrainian Christmas Eve and I should really put it off till Monday.