Victoria BC

I'll need to change my profile. We went on vacation so we wouldn't be home over my big 4 - 0 birthday. It started out with a visit to Jean's cousin at Fort Lewis Washington and then took the ferry across to the island.



Victoria British Columbia is absolutely beautiful!!

Lush and green. It reminds me of the north shore of Lake Superior with bigger mountains in the background. We visited Oak Bay bicycles and rented a couple of Specialized Rubaix and Ruby Elite road bikes. Very smooth.



If you think Boulder is bike friendly, you haven't seen nuthin'. The city of Victoria has bike lanes everywhere. People expect bikes and watch for them. We did 30+ miles on regional trails going north from Victoria up to the Sydney area. Then we got on the country roads. Light traffic, beautiful country, rolling hills, and decent roads. There are no shoulders and only a single yellow stripe down the middle. Cars were so constantly aware of bikes. They would slow down and patiently wait for an opening to pass. Simply amazing.



Its very English influenced. Pubs everywhere. We hit one that had benches at tables, high top tables, low top tables, boothes, etc. If there was room you buddied up with other people to fill up a table. It was really fun!



Old downtown Victoria and the wharf area are extremely tourist friendly. We spent a couple nights down there in an old hotel. Careful you don't get a room on the street though - lights, loud, and hard to sleep.



We took the ferry from Port Angeles. Its shorter and cheaper. But its around a 2 hour drive from Tacoma. On the way there, we didn't have reservations and pulled in to the port as about 75% of the boat was already loaded. We pulled in and they closed the doors behind us. Perfect Timing.



Overall a good trip.