Travels to the Island

Well, where to start. (See? Told you I'm not that good at this stuff)


On Thursday I took a 1/2 day at work and traveled over to Victoria - this was mainly a pleasure (mini-vacation) trip.  It was perfect, just what I needed.  I arrived in Victoria to find out that Gas is about $0.10 cents cheaper than in Surrey/Delta. So, Filled up Roxy, and continued on with my journeys.
Now for those that may not know, I actually grew-up in Victoria (Age 2-12). So staying at my childhood home for the weekend was a little strange, but not TOO bad.  I was actually going to move back about 6 or 7 years ago, so this trip was to also bring back/organize the stuff I had left there.

Quite the Selection

A Couple Key Points:

• Lets just say, LOTS of clothes to Donation
• Not a whole heck of a lot has changed on the street I grew up on in 17 years
• When I was 7yrs old and chose my Wall Paper? WHAT was I thinking? 
• Victoria is all still pretty laid back, but trying to grow.

Well Victoria was wonderful.  Wasn't quite sure what to do on the Rainy Thursday afternoon, so I went for a drive since I hadn't been down and around town in years.  I drove through Beacon Hill Park, which my dad and I used to ride our bikes through every weekend.  Hasn't changed much, but it was nice to relive some memories.  Had to take a couple pictures along the way.  

I spent a great night catching up with a good friend I met back when I worked for Disney in Florida, Sass.  I hadn't visited with her in about 2 years.  So much to catch up on it was nice. On the Friday, we took Roxy up to Sooke Potholes - Was a fun little adventure.

While I was driving around Victoria I decided to drive up to the top of Mount Tolmie Park, I have so many memories from Running/Walking up it as a kid for Cross Country and Riding/walking my Bike up it with friends on the weekends to Those nights when I was older and we'd drive up to the top when there were Meteor Showers. Now see Mount Tolmie for any of you that do not know Victoria, is not THAT tall, it's just one of those 'landmarks' that we all know, and has a nice view of Victoria.  Also fun to watch all the traffic from since it's not very high up, you can see almost everything.

*Back track* Friday Morning, I met up with a friend from Elementary School who was living on the Mainland (and we had lost touch) but connect again when I visit the Island.  We went for Breakfast to a sweet little Cafe on Fort St.  The Blue Fox Cafe - Was VERY tasty breakfast.  It seemed they were using fresh local ingredients and had a few selections of jams.  Neither of us complained so the food must have been good.  Service was a bit slow but as my friend mentioned, they are ALWAYS busy. 

A little Self Portrait on Mt. Tolmie

2 Thumbs Up - Blue Fox Cafe (919 Fort St, Victoria)


**Side Bar**  PicMix - It's an App I found on my Blackberry - I was always jealous of my friends with iPhones for their Instagram or other Photo Apps in which you could make collage pictures.  PicMix is a decent app - has some nice layout options, but SO slow. As us Blackberry people know - our Photo Albums can be a bit odd, and we may not always have them organised into different folders, so scrolling through all your camera pictures can definitely take some time, and in doing so does drain the battery faster. BUT All-in-All - I Love PicMix and would recommend it to anyone. 

4 Stars - PicMix on Blackberry

Back to your Scheduled Blogging...

Cuddles w/ Jaxx - The Boston Terrier who's
not "Too Cool" for Hugs & Cuddles.

Saturday Morning I traveled up island to Countenay - This was to visit a friend and meet my birth father.  The drive up was lovely.  Sunny & Warm but still a bit chilly to take the roof off Roxy. But there were many points in the drive where the windows were down.  Once I reached the Island Highway, just North of Nanaimo, that's when it HIT - ALL The Bugs when you're travelling at 110km/hr - They don't have a chance against the front of the Jeep & the Windshield.  There were a few fatalities along the route, but thank goodness it was only the 6-legged insects and not the 4-legged wildlife that the caution signs kept warning me about. 
So I got to visit with my friend and her two boys - Man - Boys grow up fast.  I hadn't seen them in 4 yrs or so, and they went from the fun-loving little terrors to the "Almost" Teenagers, "Too Cool" to give Aunty a hug. Sheesh. We went up to Campbell River for a quick visit at a Birthday Party and then Back down to Courtenay. 
I went for dinner to meet my Birth Father - it was a wonderful experience.  There was the nervous/anxious waiting for my Birth Father to arrive, and then he showed up, and it was actually really cool.  It was really neat to have a conversation with someone you've never met, but they are so similar and have similar likes as you.  Apparently I look a little like his sisters.  I also got to find out more about his family and that I have a couple 1/2 siblings and hope to meet them this summer at some point.  


Sunday morning I traveled home from Nanaimo and that brings us to the Work Week.  I have some Coupons to go through and some FPC (Free Product Coupons) to use, so expect some product reviews soon.
What's Up for this week:

• Aquafit
• BellyDance Workshop
• Maybe some Beach Action this weekend (if this rain goes away)

Until Later:

Take Care of Yourself - You Create your own Destiny!