van COEVORDEN aka VANCOUVER, BC

TRAVELING DAHLIAS

Okay for the sake of the men in my life, for this portion of my blog I changed the title to "Traveling Dahlias." My husband and my male friends would kill me to call them pansies, so here goes the "Traveling Dahlias."

I usually wouldn't mention just a fam vacation just any where, but I have been going to Vancouver for many years and everyone asks where did you go and what did you do. So here goes. Plus I wanted to highlight my good friends and tour guides, John, Val & Bobby. They love Vancouver as much as we do and they know it like the back of their hands so they treated our friends Kenny and Wonda for their first time and us to a little mini tour of Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

Since I have never been to NYC, but I have been to Philly and LA, I liken Vancouver to a large town with a small town hospitality. It is large in so many ways, but still very accessible and fun without too much hassel. But we didn't start in Vancouver, so follow with me on our trip through Canuckville - eh.

P.S. A little history trivia: Vancouver is named after Captain George Vancouver, a British explorer. The name Vancouver itself originates from the Dutch "van Coevorden", denoting somebody from (in Dutch: "van") Coevorden, an old city in The Netherlands. I knew you wanted to know that.

BIG DAD'S DAY

The beginning of our tour was to go see our friend Jeff that lives up in the Northwest. He had decided to plan a big "asian and wild game feed." I wasn't sure what that meant until I saw an onslaught of men coming over with huge coolers. Out came the most magnificent meal that I think men had ever made for me. Duck, geese, pheasant, elk and much much more and that actually tasted good, really good. The surprise of the night was that Jeff had invited our friends Kathy, Ian and Michael their son. It was great seeing them after so many years. Unfortunately for you and I, I forgot to take any pictures of this event.

The next day was father's day. So since Jeff got his two very cute daughters, we headed out to Deception Pass which is the bridge that joins the mainland of Washington to Whidbey Island. We first stopped off for breakfast at the best Bakery. Bakeries will definitely be a theme in this trip.




Afterwards our friends, Kenny and Wonda met up with us and off to Vancouver to meet up with Val, John and Bobby.

FLOWERS, FLOWERS EVERYWHERE

Up bright and early, definitely early, the alarm clock got unplugged and I was up at 5:00 a.m. We ran off to the ferry and just barely missed it. Thank goodness the ferries come every hour just enough time to do some shopping and not enough time to be bored.

Vancouver ferries are almost like cruise ships, I can definitely tell you the scenery is as good as a cruise ship, they are huge and so it was fun to watch the islands go by and check out something to eat.


BUTCHART GARDENS:
I love going to Butchart Gardens, it is absolutely beautiful.

VICTORIA:
From the beginning of this trip all Val could talk about was wanting to stop at the bakery in Victoria, well when we got there it wasn't open on Monday, so low and behold there was another bakery right next door, so of course we had to buy.

We walked past the harbor up through the Empress, down through the shops and off to dinner we go.

SALTS SPRINGS:
We intentionally decided to stay in the islands for a few days. Gary and I had been married in the San Juan Islands which are connected to the Gulf Islands and so we decided to take the Canadian point of view.

WISTERIA B&B
Shabby chic is what I call it. It is furnished in '60s décor. Not exactly my taste, but I got use to the comfort of it by the time we left. I definitely got use to the gourmet chef/owner of the inn. Her name is Bev and her husband is Lynn. She was a New York chef and he runs New York and Florida Hotels. We had the privilege of meeting him since he usually is not in the area more than 10 months of the year. The food was fabulous.

Val was dying to see the Bachelorette on the t.v., why you might ask, because she had actually met the Bachelorette in person and had been following the program. So after checking in, the girls crowded around the t.v. while the boys made fun of us.

THE ARTIST DENS

Our first breakfast at our shabby chic b&b was a fruit dish with a variety of berries. The second course was a cheese omelet, using the local cheeses, grilled asparagus and tomatoes. Juice and coffee. My dear husband had to be corrected from the chef standing over his shoulder that it is rude to salt and pepper food until you have tasted it first because a good chef would have appropriately seasoned the dish where you wouldn't have to season it yourself. It was perfectly seasoned.
Book:
The night before while sitting around watching t.v. Val handed me a book for my birthday "The Griffin". The author was "Nick Bantock." To find out he was a local author that lived on the island. She thought it would be better to read the book prior to meeting him since our first stop was to his art studio. I absolutely loved his art. Even though it seemed so graphic you could see the imagination that he had. It was great talking to him.

Salts Springs is made up of artists from food to weaving. They provide a road map that shows art studios and what they make. Our full day on the island was running from studio to studio. It was fun. Here are some of the photos from our drive. To say the least we didn't get out of there without spending money.





After drifting in and out of shops all day, we had planned on going through the wineries, picking up some bread, and of course we had pastries in the car from another bakery in town (mind you third bakery on this trip), and head up to the top of the highest mountain overlooking the ocean and enjoy ourselves. First I have a fedious, that is cemeteries, so we had to stop at this very famous church with adjoining cemetery.






Salts Springs Hotel: I had convinced everyone to walk down to the hotel for dinner. It was slightly overcast, but I thought we could get there without a drop on us. It was fun to sander with our friends and enjoy a very good meal.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME ...

I woke up to another beautifully made breakfast and happy birthday wishes from my husband and friends. Breakfast started with rice pudding topped with fruit chutney (I LOVE RICE PUDDING), second course loks and begals. Thanks to everyone my birthday seemed really special.


We said goodbye to our shabby chic b&b owners and off for another day on Salt Springs.

We couldn't get enough of Salts Springs so off again through the rain we went to shop in more studios and then head off to the ferry. One thing about island living is you must gear down and not be in a rush. It is either you or the ferry that is late and so you must stand around and either enjoy a good book or a little shopping while waiting for the next one.








By the time we got back to Delta it was late in the day and time to relax.