What do you mean, gas is $5.26 per gallon? . . .

Fred and Ann’s two parties left me with quite a hangover but they were nonetheless a lot of fun—until the morning after, that is!—especially the fireworks (courtesy of the city of Victoria) and Ann and Fred’s renewing their vows with a good friend who happens to also be an appellate judge. Complete with black robes! It was very moving and we’re very glad we were able to participate. Thanks, Ann and Fred!

Now that we know what units in the Worldmark timeshare to ask for, it would be fun to spend a week in the Victoria area. (More fun would be to spend time in the Okanagan wine country area! But more on that later.) Victoria is such a walkable city! Or a ride-able city—as in, horse drawn carriages; so cool! And so many wonderful restaurants! With Ann and Fred (you can tell what good friends they are by the number of times I mention them) we went to Catalano’s last night. THAT was an experience. The food was great but the real draw was (were?) the drinks!

The bartender goes to a lot of bartending conferences (doesn’t that conjure up a lot of very interesting pictures?) and he is trying to put the Catalano restaurant on the map because of its drink menu (http://www.catalanorestaurant.com/cocktails.html). One of the more esoteric drinks: bulliet bourbon, nero d’avola, cacao bitters, vanilla bean syrup. I don’t even know what half those ingredients are. That did not, however, stop Fred and me from trying several very “interesting” drinks. Oh, yes, the food was pretty good, too.

This morning we arose early (OK, OK, we’re old, we ALWAYS get up early!) and headed off to the ferry at, well, the ferry that left from somewhere north of Victoria. Without a printer we were a little at a loss. We knew there was a ferry that went every hour to Vancouver but we weren’t at all sure exactly WHERE it left from. Nonetheless, with the help of our trusty GPS, we found the 8am ferry to Tsawwassen, BC (yes, that is the way it’s spelled) and headed off to the wonderful Okanagan area for (sob!) just one night.

The Okanagan valley is one of the wine wonders of the world. AND one of the cheese wonders of the world. Before we got to the Okanagan valley we had to negotiate the traffic in the Vancouver area. We also had to buy fuel. OMG, if you live in the US, DON’T complain about fuel prices. Not only is it expensive, you (if you are an American) have to convert liters to gallons, American $ to Canadian $, and miles to kilometers. I really like math and my head was hurting by the time I figured out that our fuel cost us US$5.26 per gallon. I didn’t even bother figuring out the exchange rate, it was just too painful! Bottom line? The fill-up cost $82.25. OK, OK, I couldn’t help figuring that out in US$: $78.03. It’s still a shock.

But all that pales in comparison to what we really, REALLY wanted to do in the Okanagan Valley: taste (and buy!) goat cheese at Carmelis http://www.carmelisgoatcheese.com/ and taste (and buy!) wine at any of a number of wineries in the area. For me, the cheese was paramount and Carmelis is sublime. If you have never tasted a goat cheese feta, you are really missing something (and most of the feta in the groceries in Tucson is made from cows’ milk—check the labels!). Not to mention that the goats and little goat-lets (I like that so much better than “kids”) are so photogenic! We bought a couple of soft cheese and a cheddar. Ummm-ummmmm-GOOD!

On to the wineries. Well, winery. We were pooped so we settled for the winery recommended by the Carmelis cheese folks, the Cedar Creek Winery http://www.cedarcreek.bc.ca/. We tasted a 2012 PLATINUM VIOGNIER and bought a bottle. I am NOT a white wine fan, but this white is fantastic, full-bodied, and I would describe it as a white red. Then we tried the reds (which we really like) and bought a couple of very nice, tannic reds: a Merlot and a Merlot Cab. We’re heading to Banff and a timeshare and the weather report is not fantastic so we may be spending a lot of time in the apartment and we’ll need a nice wine to go with the gourmet meals I will concoct in spite of the limitations of no oven, two burners, and a microwave.

Stay tuned!

A minor downer: Randy played tennis with Fred and did something to his knee. He is limping, the knee is swollen, and he’s living on ibuprofen. I don’t think we will be doing any hiking in the Banff area so maybe the rainy weather forecast is a good thing.