An essay on Serendipity
I've probably said it before. Serendipity rules my life. I head out in the direction I think I need/want to go, and POOOFF!
oooops. Course correction. Going over there instead.
And you know, it all sorta works out. I'm amazed that most of the time, it works out for the
better. This is the Empress Hotel, named after Queen Victoria. It celebrates its Centennial this year, and has been highlighted in
Victoria Magazine and other magazines. This was one of my big wishes for the trip- to pull our boat up to the Empress and have high tea.
This is where we stayed instead - the Inn at Laurel Point. And I have to say, it's pretty spectacular. That picture above, that's the view from the front of our hotel.
This is the view we had from our room. Can I just say I kinda like it?
Tonight, we're staying at the Brentwood Bay Lodge and Spa, up closer to Sidney. It's a sweet little hotel, but I liked looking at the boats scurrying in and around Laurel Point. There were planes coming in to land, just yards away from kayakers and Sea-doos and cute little harbor ferries. There were buoys to keep everyone in their own lanes, and harbor patrol boats to herd any stragglers.
Both the Roketman and I were a bit cranky today, struggling with Victoria parking (actually, the lack thereof) and traffic. I think we just didn't want to leave the Inn at Laurel Point.
Tomorrow, we take the ferry back to Anacortes. I'm hoping to get dinner at the Microbrewery in Burlington, you remember the one that serves breakfast? Last time around they were closed for dinner on the Fourth.
Then on Friday, we have a doctor's appointment to get the official prognosis for the Achilles tendon. (think good thoughts for me, ok?) We'll drive back to Seattle Friday afternoon, and fly home Saturday morning.
I'm a bit wistful, can you tell?
Life is good
Life is good. Yes, it might be better without the gimpy leg, but I am telling you that
life is good.
Here's where we're staying tonight - the
Laurel Point Inn. I was in the process of taking pictures when the battery went dead in the camera...
Here's the bathtub. I won't be using it, what with the foot in a cast and all. Maybe I could call the front desk and ask for trash bags and some duct tape, whattaya think? ok, maybe not.
We decided to go for a walk, and I really wish that I had the camera with me! We ended up walking all the way to the
Empress Hotel for a very lovely dinner at the Bengal Lounge. Oh, it was so very colonial. There was even a tiger pelt above the fireplace, and fans moving back and forth. With tassels even.
Oh, I should acknowledge that it wasn't "WE walked." It was me in the chair, and Mike pushing. My Knight in Shining Armor... (how come I always typo Knight as Knit?)
Ah, good night. I have a lovely pillow on a lovely bed that's calling my name. I'll probably fall asleep as soon as my head is horizontal... and so will my Knight.
Make that my Good Knight. As in, Good night, Good Knight.
(groan....) Say good night, ruth.
(echo: Good night ruth.)
The highlights of the day
Today was a driving day. We left
Chemainus about noon (hey, it's a VACATION!) and headed for Port Hardy, on the northernmost point of the island. We had no intention of
getting there, mind you, but it was a good destination to input into the Garmin.
Remind me to extoll the virtues of GPS navigation one of these days - it's a giggle to veer off the prescribed route and have this voice say "Offroute. Recalculating." The Roketman has added on the option to get Sirius satellite radio through the Garmin, and it interrupts the music to give directions. Except, at one point, it sounded like the voice gave us a raspberry. I'm sure it was just the music, but still.
We had lunch in Nanaimo, and I found the sweater I've been looking for, a genuine Salish-knitted sweater. The woman who owns the shop was married to one of the tribe, and still has contacts there.
Needless to say, this was the highlight of my day. I did wear it back to the car, because I was
COLD! from the air conditioning in the restaurant. I did get a lot of strange looks from other people. If anyone had asked, I'd have said "We're from Los Angeles" and they'd have nodded their heads. We do have the reputation of being crazy, us Hollywood types.
This was the highlight of Mike's day - looking at the boats in Nanaimo harbor. I could say that he wants the big boat with the shrink-wrapped helicopter on its heli-pad, but he's really rather have that tug behind the harbor sign. (click through to Flickr for a better view)
Who is this graceful woman?
(notice the blue sign)
How do you know a man loves you? When you say "Honey, do you think this would fit me?" and this is what he does.
The stitches in the lips are finally gone, but not all the feeling has
come back. (the stitches were on the inside, thank god! but owww...) I feel much better about going out in public...
The Roketman did a yeoman's job today. We went to Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC (Vancouver Island) -- it is handicapped-accessible, but with lots of hills. Poor guy.
I have to admit that Butchart Gardens puts the Huntington to shame. (I feel pretty disloyal writing this, because the Huntington is local to me!) It's as if the H is a collector's garden, but the Butchart is an artist's garden. I got lots of pictures, stay tuned.
After Butchart, we drove around the bay (missed the ferry by THIS MUCH!! (car car car US.) According to RM, it would take as long to drive as to wait for the next ferry.
In actuality, it took longer to drive, but the view was much, much better. I really had no concept, no real perspective of how big this island is, or how mountainous.
Next year, forget the San Juans. We're coming over to Vancouver Island. There are inland waterways that are just breathtaking.
I'm running out of superlatives. No, Really.
