June 15 // Victoria, British Columbia [view photos]

Sorry, I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of any “eh” or “hoser” jokes. You’ll have to look elsewhere on the interwebz. Instead I’ll pass on a little information about Victoria and our experience here so far.

I think after our experiences today, I’ve come to value the idea of having a GPS device in the car for traveling. Local use? Absurd and only valid if your sense of direction is terrible. But so far, we’ve had a few situations where a GPS navigator would have been really useful with proper turn-by-turn instructions.

I like Google Maps a lot, but there are just times that what you see on Google Maps just doesn’t jive with what you’re faced with on the road; and today we nearly got lost in both Seattle and up here in Victoria because of Google’s fine navigational sense… or at least my ability to attempt what Google says is the logical path to consider.

Fortunately, I do have a good sense of direction and was able to keep us from getting too lost, and Natalie was able to assist in helping me find the desired street names, but it was just getting ridiculous at times and I just got a bit frustrated as well.

We arrived in Port Angeles a couple hours before our ferry left for Victoria, enough time to grab some coffee and a doughnut from a little shop called “Cock a Doodle Doughnuts” and then a quick lunch buffet at India Oven, where we had some really good and genuine Indian food, run by a bunch of guys that had VERY thick accents and seemed to know what they were doing. At any rate, it was great food, and if you’re ever in the Port Angeles area near the Olympic Mountain Range, stop in for some great, authentic Indian food. I think they’d appreciate your business.

Our ferry left for Victoria around 12:45 and we rolled into Victoria by about 2:30 or so and got checked in without any hassle. Our hotel’s really nice — Chateau Victoria — a bit too classy for our general fare, but it’s still nice. The staff have been helpful and friendly, and the rooms pretty big and comfortable. It’s definitely better than the ol’ Days Inn in Rapid City.

After getting settled in, we drove up for an afternoon at the Butchart Gardens, which can only be described in photos — it was the most ornate, diverse, and beautiful outdoor gardens I’ve seen for some time. We had what was perhaps the most expensive cafeteria-style dinner I’ve had ever… about $35 for the two of us — and left after dinner to get back to the hotel.

Taking the Gardens’ recommendation to go the “scenic” route back as indicated on their website (PDF file), we wasted about an hour and a half of driving time on this supposed “scenic” route. Most of the time we spent looking at a variety of homes, some gated with manicured lawns and gardens, some ordinary but nice… and eventually hit stretches towards the end where you could actually see the coastline unobstructed on Beach Drive. So don’t even bother with the whole top two-thirds of their scenic route. Just make your way down to Beach Drive, where you’ll be able to see the channel, the Olympic Mountain Range, and plenty of people enjoying the beach (on a nice day).

Tomorrow we go whale watching, and unfortunately it’s going to be a really tight itinerary for tomorrow. I had originally designed it to do the whale stuff today, but they were full and had to “squeeze” us in the morning. Now I get to squeeze in breakfast, checking out of the hotel, and quick squeezing in lunch and customs after the whale watching. Not quite what I had in mind, but oh well. We just go with the flow I guess. Not to mention practically spending our time back-to-back on boats. O.o

As I eluded to yesterday, I am starting to feel the travel wear and tear, checking into a different place almost every night with the exception of Seattle (three nights) and Colorado (two nights). I think when we get to Seashore, Oregon, I’m going to just sit on the beach the entire day in solitude and let Natalie go off and do whatever. I just wanna sit on the beach, and listen to nothing but the sound of the Pacific Ocean crashing in at my feet. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Hard to believe, but one more week left of vacation. It’s definitely been a long one so far, that’s for sure. I’m not looking forward to the last legs of driving — Salt Lake City to Estes Park, Colorado and Estes Park to Iowa City. Those are gonna hurt. I think beer will be required after those drives.

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