Tofu-Family VICTORIA Vacation: Day 5 - Headed Home!

Yes, our final day in this beautiful city. We had so much fun!! And except for a few purchases cleverly disguised as "back-to-school-shopping" we stayed well within our budget. Which makes it more fun for stingy ol' me!

The girls woke up early, excited about t

he prospect of ordering room service. I think they were slightly disappointed the bellhop didn't dramatically sweep a white cloth off the cart and present us with champagne or something... not to worry, it was still delicious!

There were several vegan options on the room-service menu, but nothing noted specifically for breakfast. I called and asked if there was anything and the kitchen staff told me their potato pancakes just happened to be vegan (just fried mashed potatoes and onions) as well as the English muffins, home-fried potatoes, oatmeal and fruit (obviously). I ordered the potato pancakes and fresh mixed berries (yum!). My kids chose waffles, french toast, and vegetarian eggs Benedict (with mushrooms instead of ham). And breakfast included orange juice! You can't beat that!

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My 'pancakes' arrived as this 1 HUGE pancake/fried-mashed-potato-patty... I was a little surprised but it was wonderful, crisp on the outside and actually tasted like real potatoes! Needless to say, we were absolutely stuffed, but it was a good way to start our last day...

After checking out - (and playing with the luggage cart and hugging the bear), we made our final drive thru the city of Victoria, stopping a few places for pictures and finally making our final sidetrip to Beacon Hill Drive In.

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The place is evidently a landmark and I'd promised the Sprouts they could try some of their famous Soft-Serve Ice Cream (not vegan, so I skipped it, I'm not a huge soft-serve fan anyway).

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We'd heard from several people that we couldn't leave town without trying it - 100% natural, no funky ingredients, supposedly the "best ice cream in the city" and on and on.... Ordinarily we try to stick to soy based ice-creams, and all of us like those just fine - but this was something the Sprouts really wanted to try. Yes, I make lots of "exceptions" on vacation - and the Drive-In is such a cute little retro sorta place, it's worth it for the atmosphere alone!

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Was it "the best"? I don't know, after some discussion we determined that we weren't really sure we remembered what dairy ice-cream tasted like any more. That said, the kids did think it was very good - far richer and creamier than they remembered most ice cream being. "At least it didn't smell like a cow, like real milk does" was my youngest Sprout's final assessment.

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We wandered back roads out of Victoria and made it to the Custom's check-in and

Ferry Terminal well ahead of schedule. More snacking (is that all we do?) more watching

the boats and the birds, more brain stimulating DVD's, more Kodak moments and more crosswords...

The weather was perfect for a ferry trip once again.

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9:00 PM we arrived home safe and sound. Time to get ready for school and work and all those responsibilities we've been avoiding for the last week. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat.

Thanks for re-living our memories with us.