a long weekend in victoria, bc

victoria, british columbia has been on our pnw must-visit list for as long as we've lived here, so we were super excited to travel there over the weekend. the cost for 4 of us always deterred us in the past, but we found a reasonable package for clipper tickets + 2 nights hotel and decided to book for veteran's weekend because thatcher and the kids had monday off. 

the clipper ferry is walk-on only (no cars) and leaves from downtown seattle. saturday morning was an early one - the clipper departs at 8 am. we were in the upstairs level of the ferry, which had more leg room, nicer seats, and bigger tables. it's a 2 hour and 45 minute ride and it was so comfortable! the kids played on their tablets and thatcher and i read. we checked out the back deck for a few minutes, but it was cold and raining, so we didn't last long. 

we arrived in victoria at 10:45, went through customs, and were actually able to check into our hotel room early - which was really nice. we stayed at the hotel grand pacific and it was the perfect location. 

the view from our balcony

after dropping off our bags, we set out to find lunch. thatcher had wanted to try a place downtown called "mole" but when we got there, they said it was close to an hour wait for a table :( so we walked a few blocks to another place called "pink bicycle" and we were able to get in there right away. we all got burgers and fries (poutine for me - so good!). after lunch, thatcher took the kids to a museum called "miniature world" and told me to go browse the shops in peace. seriously, so nice! i didn't buy anything, but it was lovely to have an hour to myself. when they finished, we went to some stores together and then decided to get gelato at moli. it was delicious. we weren't super hungry for dinner, so we just picked up a couple small pizzas to take back to the hotel room. it was so fun to see the city all lit up, especially the parliament building. 

after pizza, we hit the hotel pool (which was in an attached athletic club). it was a really nice pool and hot tub, but very loud and crowded. 

sunday morning we got breakfast at a place called "coras". it's vanessa's favorite canadian breakfast spot, so it was fun to go.

next we walked over to fisherman's wharf (which is pretty dead in the winter) 

and then checked out ogden breakwater point, which was cool. we even saw a sea otter right below us in the water.  

we grabbed some lunch at a grocery store and ate it back at the hotel. we visited a book store and an arcade in the afternoon. 

then we walked across this cool illuminated bridge. 

for dinner, we went to a nice thai restaurant downtown. there were no other kids there, but the kids were well behaved and we got lots of smiles from other patrons :) we went back to the hotel for one more dip in the pool but we were all tired, so it was short-lived. 

monday morning we all slept in until 7:30 - wahoo! we went to a diner for breakfast called "floyd's" then we checked out the royal bc museum. it had a mix of natural history and human history, with a special exhibit on the mayans. azalea loved it, she read almost every plaque. ashford was not as impressed, so thatcher hung back with him quite a bit. 

monday was "remembrance day" in canada so there was a big ceremony 

then we went back to "mole" which we tried to go to the first day. it was a long wait again for lunch, but we decided to do it anyway. we hung outside the restaurant for almost an hour until a table was ready for us. whew! the food was really good and it was kid-friendly so i'm glad we made it there. 

soon it was time to head back to the hotel to check out! the clipper did not leave victoria until 5 pm, so we prepared for a long evening. but everything went smoothly.

i'm so glad we finally made it to victoria and i'd love to go back again!