Lovely Victoria...

Can our vacation be over already? On TV right now, the local fireworks displays are snap, crackle, popping over the odd soundtrack of Beach Boys and Guns-n-Roses tunes, while all around, neighbors are conspiring to wake a certain sleeping baby by flouting the local firework ordinances. Work is tomorrow! Alas and alack. I could certainly get on board with a permanent four-day weekend mandate.

We got to see some other country's nationalism on display over the weekend, as we found ourselves in Victoria, British Columbia, just in time for "Canada Day." We both sheepishly agreed that it just didn't seem as obnoxious to have your car streaming the maple leaf as you drove about town (self-loathing liberal Americans!). Victoria is a beautiful city, at least it was when we were there- we overheard a lot of jokes to the effect that Victoria has two seasons- winter and July. We pick July! Sunny and gorgeous for us, thanks! (The fireworks display music has gone from Sousa to "Sing, Sing, Sing", to the current ballad, "R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me!" How about not firing missiles at us on our national holiday, North Korea! Sheesh. Oh, oh, and now it's Bohemian Rhapsody. Who was in charge of this playlist?) We had a beautiful ferry ride over to the Canuck side, and the ship's pilot was nice enough to point out the pod of orcas off the port bow. No one on the boat knew what that meant, of course, so we all rushed back and forth until someone actually spotted them. Sillies.

We had some fish and chips, saw the woolly mammoth and the first nation art bonanza at the Royal Museum of British Columbia, sneaked through Fan Tan alley to have dim sum in Canada's oldest Chinatown, and drove out to Oak Bay to have a cheesy, dessert-packed "high tea" at a tea house called The Blethering Place. And of course, there was room service:

Our hotel was located just a block from the Parliament building, where Naomi got the idea to pick clover flowers and put them in our toes:

There was much shopping to be had on Government Street, which is why we had to declare this sweatshirt when we came through customs:

On the last day, we visited the justly famous Butchart Gardens, where Naomi charmed the other tourists with her cute dress and over-tired-toddler shenanigans. Although she appears calm in this picture, note that she was being restrained:

Oh, Canada! Thanks for having us.