Victoria or Bust

After so much Seattle, we decided that it was time to get out of town for a bit. So we hopped a Victoria Clipper Ferry to Victoria, BC. The trip was uneventful – boring even. A few years ago, I took the Coho Ferry from Port Angeles, and it was much nicer. That is to say, the actual ferry was a lot worse. But it allowed people to go out on deck – a feature badly missing on the Clipper line.

Still, it was a relatively quick and uneventful crossing, taking about 2.5 hours – slightly more than is listed on their web site for the “premium” schedule.

So we arrived in Victoria and promptly checked out the Pacific Undersea Gardens, just down from the ferry docks. While small, the undersea viewing platform is cool. They even have a little octopus. Dive shows are put on in their underwater theater every hour on the hour, but don’t show a whole lot more than you can see just by looking through the windows.

By this time we were getting hungry, so we stopped at La Fiesta Cafe for a sampling of the biggest burritos on the island (tasty). Since we shared one, we still had a hankering for something though, and went next door for a slice of pizza from Pacific Rim Pizza. While the taste here was okay, the slice was not even room temperature, so it wasn’t that great.

Just down the street is the long-running Miniature World display, featuring case after case of panoramas, complete with building and location details to go with the miniature occupants. A quick tour, but a neat one if you’ve never seen it before. Incidentally, the attraction is housed in a corner of the famous Empress Hotel, where you can have high tea in the afternoon if you are so inclined (we were not).

Across the street is the awesome Victoria Bug Zoo, containing an incredible ant farm that covers two walls of the room, a bunch of stick bugs, roaches, spiders, millipedes and scorpions. Make sure you catch a tour so you can hold some of the creatures – we were able to pick up a Preying Mantis and a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (of Fear Factor fame). Don’t forget to stop in the gift shop for some flavored larvae or chocolate covered ants.

A few blocks away is the equally incredible Starfish Glass Works, where artisans craft amazing (and amazingly-priced) works out of raw glass. The super-heated ovens keep the glass pliant while they work to shape new creations out of the raw materials. It can take a while to watch something take shape, but it is definitely a worthwhile stop (and free, unless you purchase something).

Our final stop in Victoria was a small Dim Sum shop in Chinatown, where the food was fresh, and well, hot. Also very interesting, and we didn’t get sick. So we were winners in the Dim Sum Lottery. A short hike back down Government Street had us at the ferry dock again, where we saw a small seal swimming in the bay before we had to board for our trip back to Seattle. All in all, well worth it!