Vancouver Island Adventure – Part 3

Hello All! I left off Part 2 stuffing my face with ice cream from the Beacon, so the next day I thought it would be a smart idea to work it off with a serious 10 kilometer hike with 2 of my best girlfriends:)

Julie, who amazingly wasn’t sick of me yet, and Susie met up with me bright and early to hike around beautiful Beaver Lake. It did happen to be raining, which was the first rain Victoria had seen in over a month. Quite contrary to the reputation BC has for the wet stuff! The drought was evident by the crispy, brown grass. Locals were happy to see the drops from the sky. Luckily it didn’t damper our spirits. Hiking through the forest gives you lots of cover. We also had to furry friends along to keep us on pace.

Meet Finn and Amy!

Finn is a stunning Larbradoodle and Amy is a classic black lab. They were both such good dogs and they had a blast hiking the trail with us.

Something you don’t see in Ontario? Random horses cruising along like it’s nothing!

We had a great hike, the dogs were tuckered out and being a bit chilly and hungry, Susie and I carried on to Bubby’s Kitchen to grab an bite. I started with a green tea to warm up a bit.

Bubby’s Kitchen is a bustling cafe in the heart of trendy Cook Street Village in Victoria. It was packed with a lineup, but we managed to score a table almost immediately. I liked their concept of using local, natural ingredients in their dishes.

I ordered the Bubby’s Scramble, which was a generous plate of eggs with carmelized onions, bacon and maple smoked cheddar cheese. It.was.awesome.

After we ate, we headed over to Uptown which is a newish outdoor shopping centre which such stores as H&M, Jacob, Melanie Lynne and Joe Fresh. I snagged a couple of great deals at the Joe Fresh. I liked shopping in an actual store as opposed to the grocery store which is where the Joe Fresh is located here in Burlington. There’s something weird about a pair of shorts and my spinach and chicken being in the same basket that freaks me out. Can’t do it…

After shopping, I showered and prettied myself for the big girls night out dinner! I met up with Susie, Julie and her sister Jenny at Jenny’s where we posed for pictures on the deck and had gin and tonics. Jenny and her family had recently moved into this house and it was so nice to see how happy they were in their new space.

We headed off to meet up with our other good friend, Jen at Brasserie L’Ecole, which was our restaurant of choice. This place does not take reservations and is super busy so we put our name on the wait list and headed to a local pub, Swan’s, for cocktails. Well, in my case, more tea;) I rarely drink these days and am quite the lightweight so I decided to pace myself and do my drinking when we were at the restaurant.

Dinner was exquisite. I started with a roquefort and almond stuffed date. Tres french! Then Jen and I shared an endive salad with roasted hazelnuts. We were both planning to order one and our wonderful server let us know that they were very large portions and that splitting one would be plenty. I give her props for that because a lot of servers would be content to pad the bill and increase their tip. Good form! Onto my main course, I had a New York Striploin with the most perfectly cooked frites. There was a bottle of Chateuneuf du pape in there as well;) An indulgent chocolate dessert and peppermint tea followed.

I wish I had snapped more photos but I was just so caught up in the moment I didn’t think about it until I had my tea. It really was a lovely teapot, no?

We had a great night with endless chatter, giggles and heartfelt toasts. These ladies are like my chosen family and even though I see them only once a year, we still remain thick as thieves. There is a great quote that sums up the bond I have with my west coast girls:

“Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they’re always there”

I love that quote so much it’s the cover on one of my pinterest boards.

Even though she may have been feeling the effects of numerous cocktails and vino, Julie pulled it together the next day to host a backyard BBQ at her house for some great friends, some of whom I haven’t seen in years. I got to meet kids I only knew from pictures and learned that Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is actually the same tune as singing your ABC’s! Thanks, Andrea! We also created our own glee club by singing goodbye to each guest as they left. Big thanks to Julie and Brett for once again being the hosts with most.

I have a few more tales to tell so I’ll leave it here and wrap things up tomorrow with with a final installment. This is turning into the Rocky movies! Or the endless Star Wars movies (Andrea!)! It will be the last, I promise:) See you tomorrow!