July 12, 2024. Day 5 of trip.
Heidi:
Today started earlier than we wanted it to since Dexter had his first online piano of lesson of the trip at 8 a.m. At about 7 a.m. Tim and I walked to the laundry facility at our RV park lugging several large bags stuffed with our dirty clothes. We took over all of the machines at the laundry facility and did five loads of laundry and in the meantime headed back to the RV while things were washing to get ready for the day.
We brought a full-sized 88-Key Yamaha digital piano with weighted keys so Dexter can keep up his keyboard skills. The thing is kind of a monster, weighing almost 50 lbs, and is probably one of the most atypical objects to bring for full-time RV living. After Dexter’s piano lesson and after all the laundry was folded and largely put away, we drove to brunch or (elevensies as Dexter was calling it) at a cute little pastry and coffee shop called Tonolli’s Deli. We dined al fresco on venetian cremes, cappuccinos, chai tea lattes, hot chocolate, crepes, French toast, and a breakfast sandwich. It was a delicious meal.
While driving back from the deli, we stopped at Michell’s, a cute local farm store, to buy some produce as their sign for fresh raspberries had been enticing us each time we drove by since arriving in Canada. We ended up buying raspberries and cherries, all which were grown locally. They were amazing! I hate to say that they tasted better than anything I’ve had in Oregon in recent history.
On the way back from Michell’s, the boys decided to ride their e-bikes on the bike trail around here to allow Annalise some time to practice cello in peace. While everyone else was busy with their activities, I enjoyed lounging outside with Ranger and taking a minute to relax and have some peace and quiet.
Tim:
Dexter and I hiked down to the beach where we played “The Floor is Lava” and tried to see how far we could make it down the beach only stepping on driftwood and no sand. There was tons of driftwood, so it wasn’t too challenging, but of course we had to make big leaps onto little logs, and sooner or later the little log rolled away and we ended up touching the sand. We decided it was like a real-live Mario level and kept track of how many “Lives” we lost. When time ran out, we hiked back to our RV.
A brief detour about birds (Tim):
On the way back, we saw an extremely large bird and I told Dexter, “I think that’s a heron.”
My dad is an extremely extremely avid bird-watcher, so I took a picture and texted him. He confirmed my suspicions, “Great Blue Heron for sure.”
I do not consider myself to be a bird watcher after too many childhood “vacations” spent searching for various types of birds. Did you know that if you get up at 4AM on an extremely cold spring morning and drive out to the eastern Oregon desert, you might get the chance to see the prairie chickens do their mating dance? Ask me how I know.
Did you know that each December, bird watchers gather on a specific day to count as many birds as possible? Bird watchers are clever folks, so they call this the “Christmas Bird Count.” I recall one morning as a small child, getting up early to “help” my dad perform the Christmas Bird Count near Bend, Oregon, and we were assigned a particular location. We drove over washboard gravel roads for a couple of hours and pulled up to a field where we saw a flock of little brown birds. My dad and his buddies started counting, and all of a sudden one of them gasped in excitement. What had he seen? One of the little brown birds looked slightly different than the rest of the other ones and so they got the chance to tally an entirely different species of little brown birds.
My dad spent his childhood in the Philippines where his parents served as Christian missionaries. My Grandpa Hill had a degree in horticulture and my Grandma hill was a registered nurse, and the two of them were part of the founding of a college which is still active to this day, Mountain view College. My dad didn’t live in the USA for any significant amount of time until he was in high school and found the transition to be quite challenging. I don’t think he ever has felt completely comfortable with living in the USA, and to this day he spends as much time as possible in far off places. If you ever check in with my dad, he’s just as likely to be in Belize, Ecuador, Madagascar, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Columbia or Antarctica, as he is to be in his home in Tillamook, on the Oregon Coast.
My dad says he loves bird-watching, but what he actually loves is traveling, and bird-watching is a great excuse to travel off the beaten path. Very few travelers visit places that require a 2-day boat ride up an Amazonian river, but to a serious bird watcher, the adventure doesn’t even begin until you are at least a 2-day journey away from the places that other people visit. I did not inherit my father’s love of ornithology, but I did inherit his love of travel.
That’s not to say that I don’t admire birds when I happen upon them, and I was quite pleased to watch the great blue heron today. It’s just that when I travel, I don’t intentionally try to visit the landfill just to look for birds. (There is a popular bird-watching site in Argentina called The Ushuaia Landfill where you intentionally travel to the dump to look for specific local birds. In case you were wondering, of course my dad has been to The Ushuaia Landfill.)
Dexter and I saw a beautiful blue heron today, properly identified it, admired it for a bit, and then moved on with our day.
Heidi:
Once everyone was back together and the cellist was done practicing, we headed into Victoria as we had a reservation for high tea at the Empress Hotel at 4pm. We enjoyed roaming the shops on our way to the hotel and bought some chocolates at Roger’s to enjoy later. We also booked a tour with the Prince of Whales for a zodiac whale watching tour for tomorrow afternoon. They gave us free IMAX tickets to see 3D Blue Whales as well.
Taking the family to high tea at the Empress was high on my priority list for our trip to Victoria as I have fond memories of having tea there as a little girl back in 1986. Our high tea at The Empress was a lovely experience. I enjoyed Princess Diana’s favorite tea, Rose Congou. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their selections as well. Surprisingly Dexter took to the high tea experience and thought it was pretty incredible. He is our super picky eater and enjoyed pretty much every bite he took. It was so nice to not have to hear him whine and complain throughout the experience! We feasted on the famous Empress raisin scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, and delicious finger sandwiches and an amazing selection of pastries. My favorite was a lemon curd and rose water tart. Delicious!
After high tea, we headed to the Royal BC Museum to redeem our IMAX tickets. We really enjoyed watching the movie about blue whales in 3D! It got us excited for our whaling adventure that awaits us tomorrow.
Upon exiting the IMAX movie, we walked to the Netherlands Centennial Carillon to hear its hourly performance of different songs on the hour. We were lucky to hear the bells play “You are My Sunshine” which I used to sing to Annalise every night when she was a baby. What a treat to be there for that particular song!
SAOTD: Annalise who became upset during Tea at the Empress for mysterious reasons.