2018 Vancouver Island - Day 5

Everyone slept fairly late. Eventually, Barb made eggs and bacon for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed to the Nanaimo Hornets Rugby Clubhouse. I was surprised how nice the clubhouse and the field were. More on the rugby club in a future post.

Back at the house, Sharon and I packed up. Our plan for the day was wine tasting. During dinner the first two nights in Victoria, I was surprised at the number of British Columbia wines on the menu. At dinner on Saturday night, Geselbracht said something about Trip Advisor. While we were eating breakfast, I looked up the Trip Advisor list of the top 15 wineries on the island. The top two were on our way to the airport.

We rolled from the house a little before 11:00 am. The first stop was the Averill Creek Winery. Although the tasting room had a marvelous view, this stop was a bust. The person serving the wine was horrible and rushed us through the tasting. Although it was hard to judge some of the wines due to the small size of the pour, I enjoyed the wines more than Sharon did. The winery didn't charge for the tasting.



The next stop was the Enrico Winery. This turned out to be an excellent stop. We sat outside. The staff was very good. Both Sharon and I enjoyed the wines.

Continuing south, we stopped for a late lunch at the Malahat Chalet. The restaurant had a great view. Both Sharon and I had bison burgers.

From there, we continued to the airport. We caught an Alaskan flight from Victoria to Seattle. Scheduled to leave at 5:05 pm, it took off a little more than half an hour late.

At Seattle, we went through immigration and then collected our bags and went through customs. They have introduced a kiosk before immigration that we had never experienced before. We dropped our bags at Southwest. Unlike Wednesday at the Alaskan counter, the Southwest counter was oddly empty... We breezed through security with TSA Pre and CLEAR.

We caught a 8:30 pm flight from Seattle to Sacramento. Boarding with A20, I was able to get the two seat exit row for us. By the time, we caught to baggage claim, our bags were there. Except for the crowd to catch the train to the terminal, I don't know that we have ever gotten to our car that quickly! We were home at 11:00 pm. It was a great trip. I am going to post a couple of general observations later this week.

2018 Vancouver Island - Day 4

We had a light breakfast with Geselbracht and Barb at their house. Afterwards, we headed out to explore the area.

The first stop was a subdivision that Geselbracht built when he first moved to Vancouver Island in the early 2000's. We drove through the subdivision and then walked along the beach in front of the four waterfront lots.

From there, we headed to Rathtrevor Beach Park. We wandered out into the shallow bay. At low tide, the ocean recedes almost a kilometer.

We headed to lunch at Coombs. The market's claim to fame is goats grazing on a sod roof.

Geselbracht built a house in Lanceville about 2005. He sold it two years ago with designs on building a new house on a lot with a view. The development of that neighborhood has lagged, but Geselbracht is hopeful that he will be able to start working on the property late this year. We drove up to the new neighborhood and hiked out to the lot. The view from the new lot is fantastic, but I am still confused about how he is going to build on it. The house will sit on top of a giant rock! I would love to see some pictures of the construction progress. I am motivated to come back and see the house when it is completed.

After a short break back at the house, we headed to the Nanaimo Waterfront. We walked the length of the waterfront and then continued to a late dinner at Beachfires Pacific Grill. Sharon and I split an order of Crispy Fanny Bay Oysters [Tossed in house made cornmeal batter and fried to perfection served with a Cajun cream sauce topped with goat cheese and balsamic reduction] as an appetizer. We both had Pacific Grill Salmon [Seasoned with a soya maple chili glaze and grilled to perfection]. It was NOT grilled to perfection; Sharon was very disappointed that it was overdone...

We finished the night visiting back at their house. It was fairly late by the time we crashed.

2018 Vancouver Island - Day 3

Up early, we packed up the room and checked out. We were in the car and rolling about 7:45 am. The plan for the day was wandering up the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

We had breakfast at the Sooke Harbour House Restaurant. We both had Smoked Coho Salmon Benedict [Pickled Shallot, Winter Greens, Toasted English-style Muffin, Hollandaise, Root Vegetable Hash]. The food was solid. Given the hype for the restaurant, Sharon was disappointed in the meal.

After breakfast, we drove up Highway 14 to Port Renfrew. We made one very quick stop at the mouth of the Jordan River.

Our first goal was the Avatar Grove about 15 minutes north of Port Renfrew. This is a stand of old growth Douglas-fir and western red cedar. We hiked for about an hour through some amazing trees. One of the giant cedars in Avatar Grove has numerous huge burls and has been dubbed "Canada's gnarliest tree."

From there, we headed to Botanical Beach Provincial Park. We hiked the Botanical loop trail. This included short side trips to Botany Bay and Botanical Bay.

At this point, it was about 2:00 pm and we started east towards Nanaimo. The drive from Port Renfrew to Cowichan Lake on the Pacific Marine Road was through some very remote country. We stopped for a drink and some nachos at Jake's on the Lake.

We rolled up to Geselbracht and Barb's house in North Nanaimo about 5:30 pm. When we were in Hawaii in February, the four of us talked about visiting in August! We are spending two nights with them.

They invited over two other couples (Steve and Mel?) from the rugby club for dinner. It was a nice evening. The eight of us had dinner, visited and played cards until late. Sharon and I crashed in the downstairs bedroom.

2018 Vancouver Island - Day 2

We wandered down to the harbor and got a light breakfast at Starbucks. The plan for the morning was visiting Butchart Gardens.

We got there about 8:40 am. The place was empty! I think that we were literally the third car in the parking lot.



I enjoyed the morning. About 10 am, I ran our jackets back to the car. I was amazed how many people were starting to pour into the park.

We had lunch at 11:30 am at The Dining Room. We both had a nice Albacore tuna salad [Fingerling potatoes, sprouted grains, bush beans, watermelon radishes, soft-boiled free-range egg, preserved lemon, crème fraîche].

Heading back to Victoria, our plan for the afternoon was to rent bikes. We rented two bikes at Cycle BC around the corner from the hotel.

This turned into a little bit of a struggle. When we got out to the coast, Sharon was expecting a bike trail off the street. It turned out that we had to ride on the road with the traffic. Sharon was not happy.

Although Sharon was nervous about riding in traffic, I enjoyed the ride along the coast. We turned back towards the downtown at Oak Bay and made a stop for a beer at The Penny Farthing Public House. About half back to the hotel, there was a separate lane for bikes. Sharon relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the ride.

After getting cleaned up, we had a drink in the bar. We finished the day with a very late dinner in the Q at the Empress. After a half dozen oysters, Sharon and I split an heirloom tomato appetizer. For entrees, Sharon had halibut, while I had salmon. Dinner was excellent!

2018 Vancouver Island - Day 1

Up early, Sharon and I left the house at about 5:20 am. Our Southwest flight from Sacramento to Seattle was originally scheduled for 7:05 am, but was delayed about 30 minutes. Boarding with A29, I was able to get the middle and window in the nice exit row of an older 737. I sat in the middle and Sharon sat on the window. The flight was on the ground in Seattle just before 9:30 am.

Unfortunately, when I booked the flights, I made a large tactical error. Our flight from Seattle to Victoria was on Alaskan. As a result, we had to exit the concourse, get our bags and recheck our bags. The bags came very quickly, but the line to check the luggage was a mess! I was not happy...

When we checked our bags at Alaskan, they didn't have our TSA Pre numbers. Walking to the regular security line, I lost my patience. I looked like it was going to take an hour to get through security. I ended up turning us around and signing us up for CLEAR. Sharon was very confused about what we were doing until I explained it to her later.

Originally, we thought that we would have time for a leisurely breakfast. We ended up at the gate about 30 minutes before the flight boarded. We bought a couple of grab and go things to eat.

We caught a 11:45 am Alaskan flight from Seattle to Victoria. It was a short 45 minute flight. After getting the luggage and making our way through immigration, we picked up a Hertz rental and headed into downtown Victoria. We are spending two nights at the Fairmont Empress.

We checked in about 2:00 pm, but the room wasn't ready. We checked our bags and had a glass of wine in the Lobby Bar. Sharon made reservations for Tea at 3:15 pm. It is something that she has wanted to do for years. I was dubious, but the experience exceeded my expectations. The hotel texted me the room number while we were eating.

After getting settled in the room, we walked around exploring the area. We wandered up Wharf Street checking out the Flying Otter, Red Fish Blue Fish and CANOE. Sharon was focused on finding a place to have fish and chips. We ended up having a beer at the Swan Brewery & Pub. One of the waitresses recommended Ten Acres for fish and chips.

Heading back down Government Street, we stopped at the Bodega Bar for a glass of Spanish wine. We finished the night with a late dinner at the Ten Acres Bistro. We both had FISH + CHIPS [Hoyne Dark Matter beer battered - fries - coleslaw - tartar sauce]. Sharon was underwhelmed...