Canada is raining and Food Update

It was beautiful until we woke up this morning and now it has been pouring rain and super windy all day. We are a bit couped up today, but it's nice to get the fire going on the pot belly stove heater and read a book. We went down to a restaurant called Salmon Point just down the street today and had Fish 'n' Chips made with locally caught halibut. We watched the storm crash against the shore from inside the restaurant.

Food update:
1. Eggs Benedict at the Empress with deliciously different Canadian Back Bacon.
2. High Tea at the Empress twice - tasty. Tiny sandwiches - Curry Chicken Salad, Cucumber, Carrot and Cream Cheese, and smoked salmon. Egg salad crostinis. Amazing scones and desserts.
3. Fish n Chips at a pub in Victoria called the Sticky Wicket
4. Triple Grill at the Blue Crab in Victoria - this was King Crab legs, New York Strip Steak, and a Halibut fillet all on one plate with potatoes and mixed veggies.
5. Shepherd's Pie made by my Uncle Brian who is from England. Best I have EVER had.
6. Bacon Cheeseburger at the White Spot restaurant. A Canada exclusive.
7. Two breakfasts by my "cousin" Judy - strawberry pancakes and scrambled eggs with toast.

Tonight - ROAST BEEF AND YORKSHIRE PUDDING with all the trimmings. I can't wait.

Canada is beautiful

We are enjoying our time on Vancouver Island. We stayed two nights at the Empress and the place was quite fancy. A bit stuffy and serious, but nice. It's old so the bathroom was about 2x2 feet. The Afternoon Tea was actually fun and tasty. We went to a Bug Zoo which Grace loved and Bea hated. We went on a Wildlife Boat ride that was cool. No orcas unfortunately, but we saw porpoises, bald eagles, sea lions, harbor seals, and even a big-horned sheep. We are up in Campbell River area now and the views are gorgeous. The weather is brisk with no rain. See you all back in Cali on Sunday!

Vancouver Island on Monday

We leave on Monday for another vacation. I'm so stoked. It's been so good to have some time away. We are flying to Victoria on Vancouver Island up in the Great White North of Canada. This is the hotel we are staying at. The Empress Hotel.

We hope to see some of these on Wednesday.

Then we are staying with some family up on the north end of the island which looks more like this.

Grace is coming with us on this trip and so are my mom and dad. It should be relaxing, beautiful, and fun!!

Not Ready to Blog Yet

Our vacation was amazing and restful. I'm not ready to blog yet because I'm so mellow and pondering some big life decisions that make it hard to write about trivial things.

Off to Maui

We leave tomorrow morning for Maui and the place we are staying is a surprise to Bea, but I will tell the blogosphere. If you were to see my wife for any reason today, don't tell her that we are staying at the Grand Wailea Hotel.



This is the view from the center of the hotel down the fountains toward the ocean.

It has waterslides and a lazy river. Check them out in the next two pics.


This looks like an awesome place to chill in the evening.

I think the sunsets will be pretty amazing.


Yeah, I guess you could say that I'm pretty excited. We fly out tomorrow morning. All we have left to do is pack. I can already feel the tension coming out of my shoulders.
You probably won't hear from me until next Saturday. As they say, "Aloha!"