Wish Me Luck

By now, most of my friends know that I'm going to fly to Kansas to pickup my car that I bought about 20 days ago. The shipping companies suck. I wouldn't have minded at all waiting a week to 10 days, but it's been 20 days now.

So yeah, looks like it's going to be about a 26 hour, 1900 mile drive. Lets hope the car and I both make it okay. I wonder how many times I'm gonna have to stop.

Beautiful Victoria, BC

Last weekend, I thought I'd get away for a few nights and go to Victoria with Michelle, her sister and Tin. I wasn't too excited, after all, my experiences in Canada have involved snooty Whistler waiters and waitresses who provided overpriced meals that were average at best. But I was pleased with all aspects of Victoria. It's probably a little boring for most, but I'm glad I was able to do nothing but walk around and eat good food for a few days (the hotels there are close to everything!).

I guess Victoria's an island that's only accessible by ferry. I knew it was an island, but assumed it had a bridge going to Vancouver. But after looking at a map, I realized it would have to be one of the worlds longest bridges because it's still a one-hour ferry ride just to get to Vancouver (and 90 minutes from Victoria to Port Angeles).

But being there, you wouldn't think it's an island. It's got all the malls, auto dealerships, construction projects, hotels, schools, and everything else to make you forget you're on an island.

Four things you should try... high tea at the Empress Hotel. They served tea, bite sized sandwiches, cookies, little cakes, and all sorts of goodies. I didn't expect to be full, but was. However, this was expensive. About $40 per person.

Another thing I enjoy in Canada is ice wine. It doesn't seem to matter which vineyard it's from, it's always good. Too sweet for some people, but I love it (FYI, it's a dessert wine so maybe not a good thing to order with your steak). And third, we didn't get a chance to do this, but this one place was renting scooters, bikes, and motorcycles for $16 a day! I would have loved to scoot around town while I was there.

Lastly, I wish I had my dog with me there because they have an unfenced off-leash dog park along the coast! I don't think I'll EVER see that in Seattle. Too many dogs would be in danger with all the clutter, traffic, and so on. But with the smaller amount of traffic, and wider spaces, there were tons of dogs running around without a leash; on grass, on the beaches, everywhere (and no fences in sight, not even near the cliffs... just warning signs). Brian and Buster would have had a lot of fun.

Anyway... I wish I was still there now. But beware, I hooked my laptop up to the hotel's network and got a virus. I spent all Monday and Tuesday reinstalling things onto my laptop. Besides that though, it was fun and worth the couple hundred dollars that I spent overall.