VIctoria/Vancouver Vacation, Part 2 VIc AND Van

EEK! The last travel post took OVER THREE HOURS! I hope this won't take as long! I am actually at Starbucks hanging out, doing blog and Facebook stuff. I have been here for a few hours already. I would have already left, but my friend texted me (I was already here) asking me if she wanted to meet up with me. We had a nice hour long catch up visit!!! I have been looking at blogs, and doing Facebook...and I did two posts already! I need to do a "normal" post sometime..maybe tomorrow...:)

So..back to our trip (I know you were ITCHING for me to finish/continue, right?)

Oh, but first, let me say congratulates to my blogger friend (I say "friend" loosely, bc she probably didn't know I exsisted until I added her on FB a little while ago) Louise at coming in SECOND in the Vancouver Mom's top 30 Bloggers (yes, there is a link, no, I don't care to hunt it down, mainly bc it has already past)! Go on over to her blog and check her out!!!

Ok..now back to our trip!!!

Sunday

We slept in and had another great breakfast and just lazed around in the morning. Got all packed up and left around 11 or so and went to the Victoria Butterfly Gardens. I was a LITTLE disappointed by it, mainly because there weren't as many butterflies as I would have thought, but we had a fun time, anyway. I took A TON of pictures!

I took these pictures with my phone, which turned out much better IMO.

 These ones I took with my camera.

 The new bird. Sky or Sqwak or whatever his name was.

 I got a few good pictures of the butterflies.

 Not very good, but they are still nice....just look real hard!! LOL

                                                              I love these two.

                                                  These ones are pretty, too.

 I think these were the ones that were ready to hatch.

There were flamingos and birds and fish..and tortoises! Oh and a lizard! And a poisonous frog!

Not sure what this picture is of, but I think it was of the frog.

After the Gardens, we drove towards the ferry, and we stopped for coffee at a cute little Sea Side Cafe. I had their cheddar poutine and a mocha. Sea Horse Cafe is a great little spot. Anker loved their soup.

 After our coffee/snack (and a quick stop at the general store for some candy), we quickly drove to Sidney and wandered around. We were looking for pie. I got a book. It is such a cute little town. Would have loved to have spent some more time there. We rushed to get the 5pm ferry, caught it and had a nice sailing. I just relaxed inside this time, complete with my coffee and the paper.

It was nice to just relax and enjoy the sailing (although I did on the way over, too), and just read and people watch.

Picked up our car on the other side, and went to our B&B. I usually stay at Windsor House B&B (Facebook link only, their site is down, or not working), which I always love, but I was a little late in calling this year, so we ended up staying at Cambie Lodge (again, FB link only, the site was down). I really liked it, but I think I like the Windsor House a bit better :)

We were across the street from The White Spot. It was a shame that we didn't end up eating there. But we had our two suppers already planned, and we have one here (though we have a BP here, too), and our breakfast is included, so we didn't end up eating there this time.

We had supper at Mongollie Grill. We actually have one similar to it here in town, but Anker wanted to take me there It was VERY good! The food was amazing, and ALL FRESH! You also got free soup, rice and wraps. Yum! I almost had their red velvet cake, but I practiced at least a bit of self control. We walked back up to the B&B and watched TV (what is about watching TV in a hotel, or B&B that make it more fun??) and went to bed. Actually, I texted my friend, and hubby watched TV..lol.

Monday (yes, I am almost done..promise).

Woke up and had a LOVELY breakfast!

 Went to my first appointment, which was a breathing test, a walk about test, and an ABG (needle). After that, we wandered around before our next appointment. There's a mall right along the main drag, btwn the hospital and our B&B. It has a few cute little shops, and of course, a Starbucks. There are SO many Starbucks (along with other coffee shops) in Vancouver. One on every street corner. So, we walked the mall, and I grabbed my FREE bday drink from Starbucks, and we spent time just relaxing and reading.

We also got a few fruits and veggies from the market that is in the mall. They had some awesome deals, too good to pass up. Anker walked back to the B&B to drop them off, while I slowly made my way to my appointment. I took a few pics along the way.

 The old Vancouver General Hospital (where I was born). This is used as offices, and procedure rooms.

                                    The street between the two. LOVE it. SO pretty!!!

                               The new VGH, where I was about 4 years ago, when I got sick.
(FYI: the BC Childrens (and Women's) Hospital was finished in the 80's, which was why I wasn't born there. I did have a few surgeries at the BCWCH, though).

My doctor's appointment went well. I was a little low with the lung function test, and he advised me to lose some weight (which I wasn't surprised, I knew he would say that). But my blood test and walking test came back in good order, which makes me happy.

We were all done by 1:45, and we went back to the B&B to relax and have a nap. After some bday phone calls, off we went for supper! BP was about 2 KM (1 Miles). Each way. But it was a beautiful day, so I didn't mind. Even thought have a BP here in town, it was still nice to go to a DIFFERENT one. And we had a gift card, so neither of us complained.

                                                             As we were leaving.

                                                           Hard Iced Tea. Yummy!

                                                           Pizza bread..SO GOOD!

                               Ribs n Fries. And salad. I had to even out the unhealthy part of supper.

                                                           A bite sized brownie!!

                                                  One of the nicest pictures of me, I think.

One our way back, Anker stopped and bought me flowers.

Just had a relaxing evening. I got some more bday phone calls, and we watched TV and went to bed.

Tuesday:

After a nice sleep in, Anker and I grabbed breakfast, got packed, and left around 10. Instead of going back on to the the main highway our normal way, we wanted to avoid paying the toll on the new Port Mann Bridge, we went a different way, which caused us to get lost, and it took a bit longer to get back on to the main road. It was a bit of a stressful time. The GPS wouldn't help us, and Anker gets stressed when he doesn't know where he is going. It also caused a pee in the car incident.

Other than that little blip, we had a great trip, and we are SO glad we went!! We got home around 2:45 pm, which was great. Time to still do some errands, unpack, etc. It was a lovely bday trip/wknd away. We will have lots of memories.