This was a very early morning heading from Olympic NP to Victoria BC. Today was going to be a long (but fun) one, nonetheless we were prepared to tackle it. The first challenge of the day was to make sure we made the ferry to Victoria from Port Angeles. This required an hour drive from our campsite in order to make it to the ‘first come first serve’ ticket line. We could not miss this ferry, as we had plans to rejoin our new found friends (the Kaspers) in Victoria as their cruise ported for the evening. Today also happened to be me and Ashley’s first year anniversary since we had met.
We made it to the port in plenty of time. I had driven along the majority of the north rim of the park while Ashley slept (around 5am). This was a calming and serene drive through glacial lakes, and incredible mountains. Though it was dark still, it was majestic, as the sun was beginning to show its rays above the mountains.
Once we arrived, I parked in line and went to get us coffee and a muffin as Ashley sat in the car half asleep. We made some friends as we discussed whether or not we would be able to get on the boat, as the first come first serve line for car transport was already almost full being an hour early from departure. Nonetheless, after our wait, we made it and enjoyed the crossing of the channel into the Capital of BC, Victoria.
This was a great and surreal feeling to be on a ferry for the first time having our car transported over water, and knowing how many miles we had driven, while going to an entirely new country! This was our first time in Canada, and we took a quick liking to the city.
After we went through customs, and they let us into the country, we decided to utilize the morning by walking around. So we searched out a parking lot, and walked south near the famous capitol building and Empress hotel. This city, is absolutely breathtaking, and the flowers along the corners of streets, add another level of beauty to the already ornate architecture.
The capitol building and the Empress hotel (Fairmont) is a very famous design, but at night time they both light up with thousands of inlaid Christmas lights (though it is lit up year round).
Now our friends were not scheduled to arrive until 6pm that night. Thus, we had a long day ahead to kill time. We explored the Fairmont hotel, which is easily on of the nicest hotels in the world, then we headed over to the Capital building, and local markets. The port area, and boat docks, have out door vendors, and food trucks everywhere, so we took advantage and ate while in the area.
This was a nice area to sit and enjoy the people at work on the docks. Once finished, we walked south past the Gatsby House, and then to the coast line to enjoy the scenic channel. You can still see the mountains of Olympic in the distance across the channel, and they tower over the coast.
We still had about 3 hours to kill at this point, so we walked by a barber shop, and I received a desperately needed haircut! This was awesome, as the barber had an incredible sense of humor, and was reviewed online as an entire experience just being able to talk to him.
We love talking to people on this trip, and he couldn’t believe we were from Florida.
After my haircut, we walked back to the car so we could drive northbound, to an AirBNB we had booked that night. It was time to check in there, thus we wanted to get there early. It was about a 20 minute drive out of the city northbound to reach the area where the house was.
We decided to get a quick bite at another area of food trucks, which was on our way to the car park. This area was behind a building and had multiple car with vendors there just for the day. Once we had our lunch we headed to the house where we were to stay.
This was an interesting experience, as it was a house of a very old couple, who seemed a little odd, but nonetheless overall were nice. The bedroom we stayed in was quaint and comfortable, but the shower there was very odd, as they had converted a small closet, with hardly room to rotate in one spot, into a makeshift shower. It was by far the smallest shower I had ever seen! We decided to cleanup before heading back into town for the night. It took only 20 minutes to get ready, and we received instructions on entering the house when we came back. We left, and hit minor traffic, but we were able to find a parking spot on the street near the restaurant we wanted to eat at.
As I mentioned earlier, it was our first year anniversary from the time we had met each other on a blind date. We ended up exactly a year later on the complete opposite side of the country, eating at a restaurant called Il Terrazo, where when we met we went to a restaurant called La Terraza in Tampa! I find this absolutely mind blowing the situations we get in and how things work out!
The restaurant itself was great,and the truffle steak and seafood dinner we had was exceptional. As we enjoyed our meal we received a text from our friends that they were 30 minutes away, thus we closed our tab, and headed to find a unique bar for them to meet us. we started at Churchills, and me and Ashley had a drink while we waited for them.
After about a half hour wait, they arrived and we sat down and enjoyed a couple more local drafts. We decided upon leaving this bar to head south towards the capital buildings and show them the areas we had explored earlier that day. Before we reached the Capital area we found ourselves at a cigar shop, and me and John bought a cuban cigar, and enjoyed them outside as we continued to walk.
As I mentioned we were bar hopping but this did not mean we couldn’t enjoy the scenery, especially at dusk since there was still a little bit of daylight. The building had lit up, and for the first time we all saw them in their full splendor during the evening sunset. This was amazing, and we continued to show them the area around the hotel at this point.
The outside area of the Fairmont, as an enormous flower display, but within this is a bee farm cased in glass available to see to everyone. As I mentioned earlier, the flowers in Victoria, really stand out against the buildings and we all were in awe of what they were able to grow and design with the foliage.
After showing them the outside of the hotel, we went inside to the bar area, but due to how busy it was, and in reality, underdressed I was, we decided to leave before getting a drink, and head up to a bar called Bard and Banker. This proved to be one of the best bars of the trip and by far our favorite in Victoria. I highly recommend going their. What was funny about this, is there was a line to get in, and Vicki (wife of John) just walked us right in without caring for the line, and no one said anything! John graciously paid for our drinks, which was very nice, and we wrapped up our conversations for the evening. It was time for them to make it back to their cruise ship, so it did not leave without them, and it was then time for us to say goodbye to the beautiful city, and head to our hotel for the night. As we drove we knew it was an epic day, and we were ready for bed.
Expenses
7 coffee muffins port angeles
82.50 ferry ticket
7.75 ferry food
2.25 bagels
28.10 breakfast
9.35 pierogi
11 burrito
102 hotel in victoria
103.25 dinner Il Terrazo
14.55 moscow mule
43 churchills bar
Total in American for the day – 99.50 $
Total in Canadian for the day – 311.25 C
Miles driven- 36 miles + 36 KM