Travis Smith: my resume, bio and photos back to the main blog page

Just got back from a weekend in Victoria with Susie. We had a wonderful, if abbreviated, trip—left Saturday morning, back Sunday evening.  While there we:

* ate

That’s about it.  I mean, we did other cool things, I’m sure, but, yeah, eating.

At Ferris’ Grill and Oyster Bar, we had:  Fresh oysters, poutine with pulled pork, special IPA, and muscles in white wine.  Everything was divine, though the patio was a little brisk—it was the first day it was open so far that year.

At Silk Road tea store and spa, we had two kinds of teas, and bought several kinds more. Also some bath salts (NOT FOR EATING).

At Cafe Brio, we had a salumi and cheese plate with some absolutely fantastic meats: sliced picnic ham to die for and superb cervelat, and chicken liver pate that Susie liked. Cheese-wise, there was belle anne raspberry port washed numbness, qualicum blue (eww) and La Baguette de Kerneval, which was like a creamy brie.

On my side of the table, there was a pork chop on risotto and spinach; this was one of the largest and most delicious pork chops my mouth has ever had the honor of masticating. Direct to the dear pig: you gave your life in a noble, honored endeavor indeed.

Breakfast was at the hotel, Abigail’s Hotel, the service at which was stellar.  Everything at the hotel was “free”: wifi, breakfast, DVDs, water in the room, lots of appetizers at 5 p.m. (shall I list them? Ok… cocktail shrimp with lemon aolie, meringue cookies, hummus, brie with dried cherries, chicken salad, and cracklebread.)

But wait, I was describing breakfast: strawberry puff pastry, salmon scones, fresh orange cranberry juice, and some egg thing that was too delicious for me to describe.

As for the rest of our time, we wandered through downtown Victoria, enjoying the sun that shone for two whole days. TWO DAYS! It was really nice to just hang out and connect with each other.

Susie found a yarn store, and I looked, but I couldn’t find an Ultimate frisbee store to browse in and touch all the discs.

We watched a movie and snuggled and spent the ferry ride writing blog posts, and mused about our upcoming anniversary.  On Sunday, we went to the lieutenant governor’s house and hung out in their yard. (It’s a really huge mansion on a huge piece of land with open gardens, we weren’t being creepers.)

And we did what we always do, which is imaging ourselves living wherever we happen to travel. Victoria is a sleepy, sleepy town, it seems, but a really lovely one, with the property values that match its reputation as the Florida of Canada.

And then, too soon, it was time to catch the ferry home. We had tried to squeeze every hour out of our trip, but intermission was over, and it was back to Vancouver.

I can’t believe it was my first trip to Victoria as an adult, even after living in Vancouver for 5 years.  And I can’t wait to return.

Special to Mike and Julie: Next time, we’ll come knock on your door; we really wanted to see you but there just wasn’t time!

Overheard

“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”

...who said it?

“Almost every American I know does trade large portions of his life for entertainment, hour by weeknight hour, binge by Saturday binge, Facebook check by Facebook check. I’m one of them. In the course of writing this I’ve watched all 13 episodes of House of Cards and who knows how many more West Wing episodes, and I’ve spent any number of blurred hours falling down internet rabbit holes. All instead of reading, or writing, or working, or spending real time with people I love.”

...who said it?

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”

...who said it?

“I play with variables constantly.”

...who said it?

“Only the person who has learned Continual Love coming from a heart of Gratitude/Worship can effectively deal with the problem of loneliness.”

...who said it?

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