V for Victoria

Tonight we returned from a fun 36-hour trip to Victoria, via the Victoria Clipper. Our first stop was for afternoon tea at The Empress (pricey but worth it), where we also swam in the pool, watched cable, spent the night, and found this seagull perched on our windowsill in the morning...

Other than stepping inside Sasquatch Trading Ltd. (pictured at the very top) and eating (at Milestones, John's Place, and Wannawaffel), most of our time was spent combing through downtown thrift stores. No major scores, though I picked up a few of those ubiquitous Don Cherry Rock'em Sock'em Hockey videos. I tend to obsess over hockey whenever I'm in Canada, and though the Salmon Kings weren't playing while we were there, I picked up this pocket schedule for my collection. Did you know? The Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup in 1925.

Also checked out Royal Athletic Park (home of the defunct Victoria Seals baseball team) and watched a bit of a kids' bonspiel at the busy Victoria Curling Club. Eliza poses outside...

Our last stop before heading home was at the perennially awesome Royal British Columbia Museum, with its cool totem poles, dioramas, nature scenes and other stuff. Did you know? British Columbia is larger than Washington, Oregon and California put together.

Nice beaver...

They had it stuffed.

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