A Visit With Emerson the Elephant Seal

 Victoria, BC

This is Donna, not Emerson.

Coastal Road Trip

Today we got in the car and drove around the edge of Victoria to visit various spots along the coast.  There are many beautiful beaches on Vancouver Island and we saw a few of them today and even got to meet a celerity!  We ran into Emerson, the elephant seal, while he was molting in the sun.  Emerson has decided that Oak Bay is his place to molt every year and no matter what Fishery officials do, he comes back to this spot to molt.  They have moved him to different spots on the island to give him a chance to molt in a less populated area, but he returns to his spot in Oak Bay.  Volunteers have set up signs and keep watch to ensure visitors don't get too close to him.

Signs are posted

And walkways are blocked for Emerson.

Is this driftwood!

Yes!  But it's also Emerson!

Victoria has these chairs that are made here in the city and set up around the area.

We saw Harlequin ducks along with Emerson.

Donna investigates the tide pools.

There was a sailboat race at one of our stops.

and a rock with a hole in it.

Spring has arrived here and there are these pretty purple flowers all over the place.

It was a nice way to spend part of the day and we got to meet a celebrity!  If you missed, Neon Ranch Pinball, check it out.  I played in another tournament in Canada!

Neon Ranch Pinball

Victoria, BC

Purr-fect!

Neon Ranch Pinball Tournament

The other day I drove 15 minutes north to visit The Neon Ranch, a private pinball club in North Victoria.  You can get a day membership for $5 so I went for the day and played.  All of the machines were in great condition and the members were extremely friendly.  It was a really fun, well run tournament.  I didn't do as well as I would have wanted to but I am improving.

The club is in a modern barn type building on an actual ranch.

These machines are in jail waiting to be repaired / restored.

I also bought a hoodie.  I am now the proud owner of 3 pinball hoodies.

Me in the Scared Stiff mirror

They should have used "Your", that would have been funny.

That's it for today.  If you missed, You Clue Let, check it out.  We had a very fancy meal in a small surf town on the west coast of Victoria Island.

Bartender Error in Your Favor!

 Victoria, BC

Collect 12 Ounces of Local Spirit

Last week we were feeling a bit shut in by the size of our accommodation so we decided to head back over to a local bar that we enjoyed visiting.  They have great local beers on tap and they have a few local spirit flights.  Donna wanted to try a few local spirits so she ordered the Premium Flight and comedy ensued.

The Premium flight is $19.50 CAD and consists of Three 3/4oz pours.

Our bartender was new and we knew this because they were being trained a few days ago when we were there last.  They gave me a beer that wasn't quite full and their trainer corrected them and had them top off my beer.  Well this visit they made up for the error by misreading the menu.  We assume that people don't often order the spirit flight so this might have been their first attempt at one.  It's supposed to be Three 3/4oz pours but what we got was Three 4oz pours.  You can kind of see how the error came about but an experienced bartender or even an experienced bar attender would realize that 12oz of spirit for 20 bucks isn't a profit making proposition.  We took a few sips and then I got up and quietly pointed out their error.  They said something like, "yea I thought that seemed like a lot for $20, thank you."  Needless to say, we didn't finish the full flight.  We wished we could have teleported another few friends there to help us finish it.

We got to try the Seaside Gin which was refreshing, as they describe, but we didn't need 4oz of refreshment.

We also tried the Mia Amata Amaro.  This was an Amaro so it wasn't as alcoholic as the Gin or the Aquavit, but still.  

We needed a bit of food in our belly to help with the alcohol so we bought a few beef sticks which were all very good.  

On the way to the bar we stopped by Cherry Bomb to play a couple pinball machines.  Cherry Bomb is a toy store with three pinball machines.

It was a fun time and makes for a great story.  If you missed, Kinsol Trestle, check it out.  It's one of the tallest free standing timber structures in the world!

2 Years On The Road!

 North America

Back to Tora Tiki to celebrate

Our 2 Year Anniversary

On this day in 2022, we were saying goodbye to Washington and heading south to start our great adventure.  Little did we know that we were going to have our first and only snowfall while camping the next morning.  We have been very fortunate and haven't had any major issues.  We had our van in the shop for a week but we were in Baltimore and had good public transit.  We have both gotten sick (nothing serious) but we were able to deal with these issues away from our normal healthcare provider thanks to Kaiser having a traveler program across their network.  We have had various issues with our Airbnbs but nothing major. We have had booked the wrong nights camping but were accommodated and didn't have to sleep in a Walmart or Cracker Barrel parking lot.  We have had credit cards lost as well as compromised due to number theft but replacements were overnighted to us with no major issues.  We have had important mail arrive at our "legal" address but our great friend that is lending us the address has been a HUGE help with sending and sorting out our small amount of important mail.  We have had an Airbnb cancel on us but we found a replacement right away with no issues.  We have had a hurricane destroy campsites we were going to stay in while in Florida but Florida Parks was very helpful with making alternate reservations.  We have had 2 tornado warnings, one in New Orleans and one in St. Louis, and multiple tornado watches (we now know the difference).  We have had one attempted break in on our van but they didn't get in and there was very little damage to the van.  We have heard gunshots in multiple cities we have been in but we haven't been victims of any violence despite staying in many cities that are considered dangerous by the media.    We have also had really great visitors in many of our stays.  It's been a great 2 years.

By the Numbers

Here is just a count of some of the experiences we have collected during the past 2 years.

We have been to 129 new Breweries

We have played pinball at 85 new venues

We have been to 10 Sporting Events at various arenas

We have been to 30 new Tiki Bars

We have been to 41 States, Provinces, and Washington DC

We have visited all counties in 3 states (8 in total)

We have camped in 27 different states

We have visited 13 State capitol buildings

We have ridden transit in 20 States, Provinces, and Washington DC including Ferries, Heavy Rail Trains, Subways,  Busses, Trolleys, Street Cars, Funiculars, Automated Peoplemovers, Commuter Rail, Elevated Rail, Gondolas, Hybrid Rail, and A one of a kind system in the Gateway Arch.

We have added 559 New Counties to our county count

Dark Blue = 2022 Dark Purple = 2023

We are currently at 965 counties.  We will cross 1000 this year.

We have spent the night all over North America

Tent = Camping  House = Airbnb or a House of some sort  Bed = Hotel

I have played in 43 pinball tournaments and won 2 trophies.

We have driven from the Pacific to the Atlantic and back.

We have stayed in 19 Airbnbs for a month or longer.

We have spent a month in 18 different cities across 15 different states and provinces.   

Some of My Favorites

Here are some (quite a few to be more accurate) of my favorite photos from the past 2 years.  Many are selfies.

My 36 inch Fried Shrimp Po'boy

Tabasco! 

Cold camping

Kitty!

Petting the Budweiser Clydesdales 

City Museum in St. Louis is insane!

Budget Cuts

A Cincinnati must.

No Dana.

2nd Place!

Toof

Is this the Bellagio Fountain?

No Dogs Allowed Inside

Tiny Pie, Big Flavor

That's it for today.  I guess it's quite a lot.  We have 2 more weeks in Victoria with a couple of big things on the list to do and then we road trip to Calgary and spend a month there.  If you missed, Pinball, Tiki, A Free T-Shirt, and Corn Dogs, check it out.