O, Canada

KK and I traveled to Seattle and British Columbia in June/July 2012 in honor of a big birthday for him. We absolutely loved it. This destination exceeded every expectation!  

Given the special occasion, I did a lot of research and focused on things he particularly loves (baseball, gardens, beer, Chinese food and culture), some of which is evident in the listings below.  But these are all worthy recommendations ... just GO.  


Victoria

Take the ferry to Victoria from Seattle – there are great deals by booking a package from Clipper Vacations, which gives you hotel options at different levels (3 star, 4 star, 5 star).  We stayed at one of the “affordable” options, a Best Western – it was basic but comfortable. Bonus: they had bikes we could borrow – we had intended to rent bikes, this saved us a step.   

We were there on Canada Day, and it worked in our favor to not be on the waterfront as there were vibrant (i.e., loud and late into the night) celebrations for the day, but depending on the occasion you might prefer a place with a view or on the harbor or slightly more upscale. 

Victoria is small, I think any location would be fine and the city is walkable, bikes were a perfect way to visit. 

Our highlight was visiting Butchart Gardens – old school, formal and enormous gardens.

Explore Vancouver Island 

Drive to Pacific Rim National Park Reserve - through Nanaimo (where we stopped for Nanaimo bars)

Along Highway 4 to Ucluelet and Tofino

I really liked the resort we stayed in – we were in room 704, which to me was the best possible location at the resort.  We were on the ground floor (and we did hear people overhead in the mornings), but we could walk out to the ocean and the view was superb. We also loved that they had bikes, kayaks, rain gear, DVDs, all for guests' use.  Each room/suite comes with a full kitchen and an outdoor hot tub… we brought things for breakfast but ate other meals out, next time I would probably cook in a time or two - it is relaxing to just be there.    

We didn’t splurge for this, but the Wickannish Inn in Tofino is consistently rated one of the top in the world. Next time?

We hiked, biked, walked the beach, went tidepooling… would have loved a few more days there!  We didn’t get out on the water…would definitely do that next time.

Days were long – light from 5am to 10:30pm every day.  

Vancouver

Cheryl happened to be home in WA state and was game to meet us for some fun in Vancouver. Thus, we got a 2-BR suite, and we all really liked the Landis Suites where we ended up.  Comfortable, clean, convenient location we literally walked the city from there. Breakfast was included and we met really interesting people in the breakfast room, I loved the views from our room, too!   

Ezee Riders was a good place we found to rent bikes to explore the city - the best way to see Stanley Park.  

Cheryl also bought amazing jewelry from this designer in the market on Granville Island. 

My two regrets in Vancouver were that we did not make it to Bao Bei for dinner, it was recommended by everyone. And Peaceful for an traditional Chinese experience (2 locations).