Our hotel, The Fairmont Empress We had our first family vacation this weekend! The three of us spent a couple of days in beautiful, historic Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. A three-hour ferry ride from Seattle, Victoria proved to be the perfect spot for us. We had a great time walking around the city, catching up with one of Derek's high school friends who now lives there, and just enjoying some time together.
We even took part in high tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel (Derek's a saint, I know) - a famous tradition in the city. I was a bit nervous about taking a boisterous eight-month-old to high tea, but Sadie was fantastic! She got quite a lot of attention as the only baby in the place and, ham that she is, she completely ate it up. And I actually think she liked getting dressed up. Fancy girl!
While we did have a great time in Victoria, getting there was another story . . . For starters, Derek discovered two days before we were scheduled to leave - and two weeks after we'd made our non-refundable reservations on the Victoria Clipper and at the hotel. While we found a loophole that would get him into Canada, it was tenuous as to whether or not he'd make it back into the States. So, of course, we decided to proceed with our original plans.
The night before our early morning ferry ride, we spent the night in a Seattle hotel. The plan was to grab an early, relaxed dinner in the city, then get a good night's sleep so we could all wake up early, feeling refreshed and ready for our big trip. Dinner, while fun to catch up with our friend, turned out to be anything but relaxed - and early. We waited almost an hour for a table and dinner itself (at a casual brewpub, mind you) ended up taking well over an hour. Poor Sadie was a bit of a mess by the time we made it back to our hotel. She fell asleep fairly quickly, but woke up after two hours, and inexplicably stayed awake for another three.
She finally fell back asleep and, two hours later, we got our wake-up call. We got ready and re-packed with as much energy as one can muster on three hours of sleep and headed to the ferry terminal. We easily made it through check-in and customs, and boarded the boat only to find a few seats left. We snatched the last two adjacent seats, exhausted but happy to be on our way.
About two hours into our trip, I started to feel . . . iffy. Whether it was due to the lack of sleep, lack of breakfast, or the fact that my only sailing experience thus far had been speedboating the high seas of Lake Tippy, I'll never know. I made my way to the back to get some air. And sort of blacked out. Needless to say, it was miserable. We docked in Victoria shortly thereafter and eagerly headed to our hotel . . . completely forgetting, until we were halfway there, our checked luggage which had been waiting for us in the terminal. We made our way back to the terminal, grabbed our bag and walked, again, to the hotel. We were thrilled to get an early check-in and settled in for a family nap . . . only to be awakened a short time later by some overzealous housekeepers who were dropping off bathrobes.
Not exactly the best start to vacation. We definitely wondered - particularly in the first 24 hours - if it was worth it, but in the end I think it was. While we've realized vacationing with kids isn't really a vacation - at least by our previous definitition, which typically included lots of sleeping in and lounging, preferably by a beach - it's valuable, even enjoyable, in its own right. It was fun to experience and learn about a new city, for one, but it was also a much-needed break from all the sorting, organizing, and list-making we've been doing for our move in a few months. And we'll definitely have some stories to tell Sadie one day. "Remember when you were a baby and we thought it was a great idea to travel to Canada . . . "
Anyway, here are a few pics of some of our fondest moments of the trip. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, Derek did make it back into the States. We loved Victoria, but are definitely happy he didn't get stuck there!
High tea at the Empress, a famous tradition in Victoria
Sadie got her first taste of a scone . . .
. . . and clearly enjoyed it!
Thai dinner with Derek's high school friend, Brian . . .
. . . and his lovely wife, Katelyn. Sadie loves her new friends!
Beautiful walk along the waterfront.
One of several float home villages. These adorable, eclectic homes literally float on the water.
Sammy the Seal. He hangs out by the wharf, waiting to be fed by the locals and tourists. From the looks of things, he never has to wait too long.
Chowder at the wharf. A delightful lunch, with the exception of some aggressive seagulls who kept buzzing our table for food - and had me ducking for cover many a time. 
