finally home....
well finally home, and only the last couple days of mountain and prairie pics to load up. sitting here watching tv, with maggie curled up on my lap and getting a plethora of kisses every 5 minutes. i really missed my furbaby this time around.
it was a pretty awesome vacation, not quite as awesome as the Scotland Trip, but pretty damn close. the highlight was definitely seeing the orca's, but the rest was still fun.
it started out great when on the first day we saw a moose. unfortunately no pic as we were past and long gone before it really registered lol.
the first week was spent in Victoria. thankfully my mother was staying with her boyfriend and let us have her apartment. it saved us at least $800 in hotel fees. but, bless her heart, her bed fucking sucked. it was about 5'10" long, and hard as a fucking rock. i had to put 3 blankets down then the sheet for us to lay on so we could sleep somewhat normally. then to top it off, it was raised on those big grey bricks, but it was a wheeled frame, with one wheel broken. so it was slanted, short, and hard. lol but it was free and it was wonderful of mom to let us stay as she waited until literally 2 days after we left, to show it and get rid of it. :)
we both really loved Victoria, and if money allowed would be moving there. i loved how it seems like a bunch of tiny quaint villages strung together, each complete with pubs, marina's, and wee shops. but as a city still contained the necessities of life like a Best Buy, Chapters, and major shopping. ;) the pace of Victoria is laid back, quiet, morning spent sipping coffee at the marina, evenings sipping a brew at the local pub. of course thats vacation time, but is definitely doable some days in real time hehe.
this trip was actually a scouting mission. we checked out Victoria, as well the surrounding towns. we checked out Nanaimo further up the east coast of the island. it was nice, but not as much as we found Victoria.
the rest of the trip was spent on the mainland. starting out in Vancouver and area. we luckily had wonderful weather except for one crappy day. that day was spent in Stevenston with some friends. although pissing rain we stopped at the harbour and checked out what the boats had to offer. right then and there i decided that Stevenston would be an awesome spot to live. nice residential, cute unique stores, and fresh fish. there was tuna, octopus, and salmon. fresh sockeye, coho, and spring. as in $10 a fish. for a 10lb fish. hubby and i just about had a conniption fit. for the same size, frozen, at home we pay at least $40. it was insane.
next year we might head back to Nanaimo as a friend has offered to take us salmon fishing. we are definitely coming prepared with heavy duty coolers, ice, and whatever it takes to get those puppies home. as many as we can shove into the SUV. :D
Vancouver was a bit of an adventure. we found the all you can eat sushi for $15 and the late night cafe's nice, but the outrageous HST (16%!!), the just overwhelming amount of people, and hectic pace a bit much. and paying for parking EVERYWHERE. and not normal prices. we made the mistake of parking downtown. it was $24 FOR 4 HOURS!! specially after the quiet village-like tempo of Victoria.
our first night we stayed at a rather cheaply priced hotel. when we punched in the address in the GPS, it took us to the building next door. the abandoned rundown building next door. one look when we drove up and noticing the creepy windows, no cars in the lot, and i started a mantra of nervous, "WE ARE NOT STAYING HERE! WE ARE NOT STAYING HERE!"
luckily we realized it wasn't the right building and got to the proper motel. it was old and small, but clean at least. but the area we were in, i felt extremely uncomfortable and unsafe. so we moved off to another hotel in the neighboring Richmond.
after seeing a few of the outlying areas, we both firmly decided we would never want to live (or could afford to) in Vancouver proper. outlying areas are still rather expensive, but we wouldn't consider moving for at least a couple years and who knows what their economy would be like by then.
the last day was spent in Whistler, a skiing town. which was nice with the whole chalet and small shops feel, but damn, you have to have the cash to stay any length of time. besides the hotel price, they had the HST, some kinda other BS levy, another $13 for parking at the damn place, and of course internet wasn't free either.
the next couple days were spent traveling with another stop in Kamloops on the way. after being there a couple times, looking at their weather, checking out the town, its actually a distant possible "move to" spot. not quite as green as i'd like though. its very dry and hot with rather mild winters. but not as nice as one of the coast choices.
then today we headed home. after a stop at the mall of course. which reminds me i totally have to load up my pics. the mall is half outlet, half regular types of shops (got a sweet fossil watch for $35), but the best was the Bass Pro Shops. omg. its like the shangrila for any hunter, fisher, paintballer, archer, camo wearing nutjob out there. it was also full of amazing taxidermy, a tank full of giant trout, pike, and the such, goodies for smoking fish/meat, camping gear, and 2 stories of any supplies for outdoors fun.
then finally home, with a stop to get Maggie and a few groceries. felt great to finally cook after almost 3 weeks of being on the road. tonights supper was a baked sockeye salmon with a cream dill sauce, beans and salad. mmmmmmmm
even though i love to travel, its wonderful to be home.
it was a pretty awesome vacation, not quite as awesome as the Scotland Trip, but pretty damn close. the highlight was definitely seeing the orca's, but the rest was still fun.
it started out great when on the first day we saw a moose. unfortunately no pic as we were past and long gone before it really registered lol.
the first week was spent in Victoria. thankfully my mother was staying with her boyfriend and let us have her apartment. it saved us at least $800 in hotel fees. but, bless her heart, her bed fucking sucked. it was about 5'10" long, and hard as a fucking rock. i had to put 3 blankets down then the sheet for us to lay on so we could sleep somewhat normally. then to top it off, it was raised on those big grey bricks, but it was a wheeled frame, with one wheel broken. so it was slanted, short, and hard. lol but it was free and it was wonderful of mom to let us stay as she waited until literally 2 days after we left, to show it and get rid of it. :)
we both really loved Victoria, and if money allowed would be moving there. i loved how it seems like a bunch of tiny quaint villages strung together, each complete with pubs, marina's, and wee shops. but as a city still contained the necessities of life like a Best Buy, Chapters, and major shopping. ;) the pace of Victoria is laid back, quiet, morning spent sipping coffee at the marina, evenings sipping a brew at the local pub. of course thats vacation time, but is definitely doable some days in real time hehe.
this trip was actually a scouting mission. we checked out Victoria, as well the surrounding towns. we checked out Nanaimo further up the east coast of the island. it was nice, but not as much as we found Victoria.
the rest of the trip was spent on the mainland. starting out in Vancouver and area. we luckily had wonderful weather except for one crappy day. that day was spent in Stevenston with some friends. although pissing rain we stopped at the harbour and checked out what the boats had to offer. right then and there i decided that Stevenston would be an awesome spot to live. nice residential, cute unique stores, and fresh fish. there was tuna, octopus, and salmon. fresh sockeye, coho, and spring. as in $10 a fish. for a 10lb fish. hubby and i just about had a conniption fit. for the same size, frozen, at home we pay at least $40. it was insane.
next year we might head back to Nanaimo as a friend has offered to take us salmon fishing. we are definitely coming prepared with heavy duty coolers, ice, and whatever it takes to get those puppies home. as many as we can shove into the SUV. :D
Vancouver was a bit of an adventure. we found the all you can eat sushi for $15 and the late night cafe's nice, but the outrageous HST (16%!!), the just overwhelming amount of people, and hectic pace a bit much. and paying for parking EVERYWHERE. and not normal prices. we made the mistake of parking downtown. it was $24 FOR 4 HOURS!! specially after the quiet village-like tempo of Victoria.
our first night we stayed at a rather cheaply priced hotel. when we punched in the address in the GPS, it took us to the building next door. the abandoned rundown building next door. one look when we drove up and noticing the creepy windows, no cars in the lot, and i started a mantra of nervous, "WE ARE NOT STAYING HERE! WE ARE NOT STAYING HERE!"
luckily we realized it wasn't the right building and got to the proper motel. it was old and small, but clean at least. but the area we were in, i felt extremely uncomfortable and unsafe. so we moved off to another hotel in the neighboring Richmond.
after seeing a few of the outlying areas, we both firmly decided we would never want to live (or could afford to) in Vancouver proper. outlying areas are still rather expensive, but we wouldn't consider moving for at least a couple years and who knows what their economy would be like by then.
the last day was spent in Whistler, a skiing town. which was nice with the whole chalet and small shops feel, but damn, you have to have the cash to stay any length of time. besides the hotel price, they had the HST, some kinda other BS levy, another $13 for parking at the damn place, and of course internet wasn't free either.
the next couple days were spent traveling with another stop in Kamloops on the way. after being there a couple times, looking at their weather, checking out the town, its actually a distant possible "move to" spot. not quite as green as i'd like though. its very dry and hot with rather mild winters. but not as nice as one of the coast choices.
then today we headed home. after a stop at the mall of course. which reminds me i totally have to load up my pics. the mall is half outlet, half regular types of shops (got a sweet fossil watch for $35), but the best was the Bass Pro Shops. omg. its like the shangrila for any hunter, fisher, paintballer, archer, camo wearing nutjob out there. it was also full of amazing taxidermy, a tank full of giant trout, pike, and the such, goodies for smoking fish/meat, camping gear, and 2 stories of any supplies for outdoors fun.
then finally home, with a stop to get Maggie and a few groceries. felt great to finally cook after almost 3 weeks of being on the road. tonights supper was a baked sockeye salmon with a cream dill sauce, beans and salad. mmmmmmmm
even though i love to travel, its wonderful to be home.