Vancouver, et al.: Day 4: Travel to Vancouver Island and Sooke Harbour House

One nice thing about staying in someone's house instead of a hotel is that, at least in this case, it's in a residential part of town and therefore a nicer area in which to run. Thus, this morning we got up and went running.

Then we checked out, briefly stopped by a mall so I could buy a memory card for my brand new camera, tried to go to a particular dim sum joint which turned out to be closed, and ended up having brunch at #9 Restaurant. We'd eaten there before and I stand by my conclusion from last time: it really is a diner.

Speaking of pictures, the smattering of pictures I took this day are from my new camera. Di Yin took a few pictures too. The latter link goes to her first picture from this day (pictures #85). When you see a picture of a painted rock doorstop (picture #105), you're done with her pictures for the day. I'll link to the next day's pictures in the following post.

After lunch, we drove aboard the ferry to Vancouver Island. On the way, we stopped by the quay adjacent to the ferry landing. There's a gelato stand inside with some artistically sculpted tins of gelato. (See Di Yin's pictures when I link to them.)

The day was sunny and pretty and thus the ferry ride, first passing through open water then dodging islands as we neared Vancouver Island, was pleasant. We had a picnic lunch on-board.

When we drove off the ferry, after passing many ugly, tacky billboards, we got to see Vancouver Island proper. It's very green, with lots of tall trees and tons of wildflowers. We checked in the home where we were staying for the next few nights. Then we went to the University of Victoria so Di Yin could check into her conference, and I wrote in my notes beneath "very green" that "UVic even more so." When she returned, she told me stories about the bunnies on campus and showed me some great pictures. I hadn't seen any bunnies on campus, but I went looking for them the next day and didn't have to look far to get some pictures of my own.

Finally, we drove to our dinner destination. We missed the final turn into the restaurant/hotel and ended up at a very nice park on the water. As with all the rest of the day's commentary, refer to the pictures.

For dinner, I took Di Yin to Sooke Harbour House, a famous restaurant that emphasizes fresh, local, sustainable ingredients. They grow many of their own herbs in their garden. The setting was stunning, and, although the first few dishes didn't stand out, the meal got better as it went along and ended fairly well overall.

My dessert, a huge chocolate and cream sculpture, combined with the chocolate after-dinner treats was enough chocolate to keep me awake the whole ride home. Indeed, it was too much chocolate; even the next morning, I simply didn't want to think about eating chocolate for at least a week.

On the ride home, we passed many hitchhikers. I guess that's one way teenagers get into town (Victoria, the only reasonably large town anywhere nearby) for a night out.