we return by ferry

So if you have followed this blog for any time you know that you have never yet seen a FULL plate of oysters - LOL- and  again this post you will only see 10 of 12 because I am so excited to see them I forget to take a photo before digging in... so this is just to let you know that this will not be the exception that proves the rule post...LOL

We got up on our final morning of the trip and had a leisurely breakfast at a cute place called - Spoons Diner (photos from their website - I must have still been sleeping- LOL)

 Then we drove north to get on another ferry across the water back to the US- this time we could do our "border" crossing before the ferry left Canada thereby facilitating an "easy off" on the US side of the trip.

much of the time we were in sight of some land (usually islands) and saw some lovely scenery while listening to the "Dances with Wolves" soundtrack playing in the cafeteria area- LOL

when we exited the ferry we headed back to the Chuckanut Drive area which we had started to traverse on our drive into Canada a week earlier-  there we had exited at Bow and here we entered at Bow.  Our destination was a late lunch at the Oyster Bar on Chuckanut Drive.  And my it was a worthy destination.  A fabulous meal - by far the best one of the trip!

we started with oysters!

nice crusty rolls!

we both had soup- asparagus for TB and I think mine was a chowder

a palate cleanser of sorbet and something sparkly (this is the problem with waiting to do the posts LOL)

a seafood salad that was excellent-

TB's fsh entree...

which came with a corn souffle- all hot and bubbly as you can see!

desserts- TB had the sorbet trio and I had the berry pavlova- both disappeared completely!

and that was my last photo of this year's very laid back DART trip.... I would end up being dizzy with vertigo for another week and only slowly return to ambulating with ease... just about the point where I was ready to call the doctor I started hearing from other people I ran into that they had recently had the same thing - and so I toughed it out figuring viral is viral and there isn't a thing to do about it-

so we both left Seattle on early morning flights and I cam home to continue the unpacking of boxes-
eventually our 200+ boxes became this stack in the corner - which shrunk little by little-

and then the kids came for father's day and took away some of the stuff and the stereo went to a non-profit school where disabled kids learn how to repair and/or use things like that and now we are finished unpacking (still having too much stuff) and have begun to actually finish up some parts of the new condo- like we hung lights for the deck- and got some planters and started to grow things - all the stuff that makes a house a home - or in this instance - a condo a home...

today I am waiting for the rug to arrive for the deck - and although I have more planting I would like to do - I am going to wait until later because with our travel schedule I don't want to add more to the watering job when we are away.... so on we go- soon off to "parts known" with a few new places thrown in the mix.... stay tuned- because before that, we have a couple of dinners that should be worth following (remember "sensational Senza") Noah and Cara Sandoval have a new place Oriole that we will try next week and we have many other folks to catch up with on the social calendar....

so to give you a taste of Noah's amazing cuisine capabilities you can refresh your memories here-

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2014/08/sensational-senza.html

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2014/09/another-round-of-senzations.html

that should hold you for the few days until we get there! Stay tuned!

stunning gardens, high tea & scottish polar bears

so we left early in the morning and headed to the ferry line to Vancouver Island - we are taking the one that leaves from Tsawwassen BC and arrives in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.  The trip was uneventful and it was nice to be on the water- you can see the weather was perfect.

when we got off the ferry we headed into - nearby Nanaimo to look for a lunch place- which we found in the highly recommended Gabriel's which was straight out of downtown sprout town... 100% organic sustainable slow food farm to table - the whole shebang! LOL and who knew they even had diet cola in 1891???? LOL - anyway we had a lunch that got mixed reviews- I liked my salmon sandwich but the quinoa and chickpea fritters were tasteless (duh!) and worse had the texture of cardboard - there's a reason people have not made "health food" the number one cuisine in the world... just sayin...

we drove north on Vancouver Island for several hours and then headed back south into Victoria where we had booked rooms for that night and the next one. We went out to dinner at a local Italian place called Il Coho which had passable food but was completely inappropriately cooled - seriously they didn't open any windows and there was one ceiling fan - and the day was over 90* F ..... they could have opened up windows in the high ceiling dining room to let some of the oven like air out but couldn't be bothered so I would say to anyone who asked- they can't be bothered to serve the customers in a comfortable temperature so don't you be bothered to be their customers.

the following morning we met for breakfast and headed out to the spectacular Butchart Gardens north of Victoria.  I know there a lot of photos (there could be double this number the place is so stunning) but I did cull them for posting LOL- trust me...

I love this WALL of Vegetation! grown around the archway trellis where I force TB to pose- when I see these green walls - which are not uncommon in the area - I always think about the guys who come in cherry pickers to trim them and keep them in "wall" shape!

after the gardens we head to the end of Canada's Trans Canada Highway to MILE ZERO where there is also a Terry Fox statue to commemorate the man who "ran across Canada" for a cure for cancer.

and here is Stewart! The Scottish polar bear who marked the entrance to our hotel in Victoria - all dressed up in his kilt and finery and wearing his moustache with the ends curled up --- I never knew they had polar bears in Scotland LOL

Late in the afternoon we had high tea at the Fairmont Empress-

they had a nearly overwhelming choice of teas but we did choose one each eventually LOL

I had #15 the Royal Empress Oolong and TB had #21 - the Tong Mu Phoenix Lapsang Souchong and we were each extremely pleased with our choices LOL

then plates of little food things LOL- scones and finger sandwiches and dessert things - all good - we ate every one of them!

later we took a drive through the environs of Victoria following the route of the HOHO bus but in our own car - many of the HOHO stops were at pickup locations of hotels so we decided we could skip those and do the tour of the neighborhoods on our own - which we did and more... the days were long on light and so we were out quite late.

When we got back to "Stewart's place" we had a drink on the patio just before the bar closed down and made plans for the morning before our ferry back to the US.

so one more post on Canada- our extremely leisurely paced trip for two folks recovering from major life moves in "downsizing" to lock and leave condo lifestyles..... the last one will have our very best meal so don't miss it- highly recommended and in the US of A!