Back from nearly 2 weeks visiting stunningly beautiful British Columbia (Victoria and Vancouver) with a stop in Port Townsend, Washington. Vancouver is one of those cities that seems to have done it right: lots of green space, and miles of trails for runners, including my favorite one through Stanley Park along the water. The weather was so stunning, we spent most of our time outdoors (strolling, ferry riding, eating and sampling brews on outside patios), missing, alas, the famed Museum of Anthropology–which just means I need to go back.
Victoria was also beautiful, a smaller city, and we stayed across from the bay again, at the charming Dashwood Manor, so near another stunning running trail along the Straight of Juan de Fuca. We also visited Butchart Gardens and recognized what the flowers in my garden would look like if I lived in such a climate (without deer, and with a full time landscaping staff). Also visited a few wineries and a gin distillery, and we discovered that there are folks out there who do serious gin tastings (it’s delish, btw–we bought a bottle).
Several of our road trip stops were at past (ancient history?) Hollywood locations, including Roslyn, WA (where Northern Exposure was filmed), and the bar (now called Water St. Pub, it has great beer) and the officers’ quarters in Port Townsend, WA, where An Officer and a Gentleman was filmed almost 30 years ago.
(But no, we didn’t do the “Twilight” tour, in case you were wondering.)
So now I’m back: laundry and food shopping are done, pics are downloaded but not sorted, and I have a MA thesis to read, so I’m sitting in my new (and improved) office at work trying to focus and not be distracted by all the bloggings I missed while I was travelling.
There are twelve more summer days until the fall term meetings begin (yes, I know those of you on the semester system are already hard at work, but we on the quarter system, we who teach well into JUNE, get a lovely reprieve in fall).
From the Mixed Up Bloggings of Annie Em 