Victoria, BC for the Weekend

Who doesn't love mountain biking in a Canadian triathlon immediately after returning home from a 12+ hour flight from Hong Kong, am I right??Just reading that sentence made me tired... If you're thinking it was me who did this, you're crazy. I am a barely functioning zombie after international flights, and I'm grumpy and disoriented and must sleep for a day before even thinking about doing anything active. Adam on the other hand has more energy than anyone I've ever met. I don't know how he does it! So yes, it was Adam who competed in the triathlon, definitely not me.We arrived in Canada on Saturday evening and met up with our triathlon crew at this super sweet Airbnb right on the water in Victoria. Did I take any photos? I don't know if I did. But trust me when I say it was sweet. They had kayaks for us to use, and that night, we were lucky enough to see bio-luminescent algae in the water! That's the glowing/sparkling algae. It was mind-blowing. We kayaked around in the dark and made crazy glowing green streaks in the water. You'd put your hand in the water and bring it back up, and your skin would be sparkling. Trippy... It was impossible to capture with our phones, so again you'll just have to believe me!Adam, Christian, Taaryn, and Frankie competed in the XTERRA - Victoria Sprint & Relay Triathlon on Sunday morning. Christian swam, biked, and ran solo in the sprint, and Adam, Frankie, and Taaryn teamed up to compete in the relay. It was fun cheering them on from the sidelines!After the race, we ate some lunch and then parted ways. Everyone headed back to the ferry to return to Seattle, but Adam and I decided to stay an extra night, so we drove to downtown Victoria and checked into our hotel.

We stayed at the Coast Victoria Hotel & Marina which is located in the heart of Victoria, and situated right on the waterfront. I loved the colorful flags out front, especially the Canadian Pride flag!Our room had the most incredible view of the harbor down below. Adam was beyond exhausted at this point, so the first thing he did was plop down on the big comfy bed to nap for a few hours before dinner.Later on, we ate at Pizzeria Prima Strada and had the yummiest pizza and cocktails. The weather was great, so we spent some time walking around after dinner before calling it a night. From the balcony in our hotel room, we watched the most incredible sunset. Summer skies are so dreamy...In the morning, we ate breakfast at Blue Crab Seafood House, which is the restaurant located in the hotel. Even our view from breakfast was stunning! I loved watching all of the seaplanes take off and land right outside. We saw so many whale watching boats heading out for the day, too. We've done that once (we saw Humpback whales!), but I'd totally do it again!After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and walked down to the marina to take a ride in one of the adorable water taxis we saw scooting around all night from our room. They were so cute and tiny, we couldn't resist!While riding in the water taxi, we saw a seal hanging out with his feet up, enjoying the morning. I've never seen a seal do that before. They're so sweet with their big eyes, I can't handle it! Why can't I have one as a pet??We took the water taxi to the Chinatown stop and walked around there for a while. Victoria's Chinatown happens to be Canada's oldest Chinatown. I loved all of the secret alleyways we found while wandering around. There are little shops and restaurants around each corner and Chinese lanterns in every nook and cranny.The water taxi driver we had on our way back to the hotel told us he lives in a sailboat that's parked right out front of the hotel and pointed it out as we arrived back at the marina. Ahh, what a life... Victoria is so beautiful and I really enjoyed our mini getaway there. I'm glad we were able to get out and sightsee; it was much warmer this time than it was the last time we visited. Canada steals my heart every time... Thanks for reading! xo

We were graciously hosted by the Coast Victoria Hotel & Marina during our stay in Victoria. As always, all opinions are my own.