Victori-as Part 2: Day of the totem

I woke up on our first morning in Victoria and headed out for a run. I was originally planning on using the hotel fitness room because of the rain, but I woke up to clear skies, so I headed outside. I am kicking myself all up and down for not bringing my camera with me. It was one of the best runs I've ever been on. Aside from the near perfect weather, the run I took was so beautiful! I ran from the hotel down to the bay and over to Fisherman's Wharf, where I got to see houseboat after houseboat - bright colors, some homes, some restaurants, some shops. I followed the seawall around the coast through James Bay - the oldest residential neighborhood on the West Coast of North America, and along the water until I came to an open grassy area with a trail. Seriously, best.run.ever.

About a half mile from the hotel on my way back, it started raining again, so I was glad I was almost back. And when I got back, the delicious lobby water had limes and strawberries floating in it, the perfect way to end a run.

I got back in time to shower and head to breakfast at Mo:Le.

Mo:Le has a sweet deal with the coffee shop beside them, put your name in at Mo:Le and head to Habit to wait, read, and drink coffee. When your table is ready, they'll come get you! Which is exactly what we did. And Thatfamily thinks it might be the best coffee they've ever had.

Mo:Le is one of my favorite kind of restaurants - sourcing their food from local farms. Which in my humble opinion always means great tasting food. We were not disappointed. Thatboy thinks his meal was the best - The Mo:Le Benny had two poached eggs, avocado and thyme roasted tomato on a buttermilk biscuit with smokey paprika cream sauce. The eggs were perfectly cooked and Thatboy loved not having a traditional hollandaise sauce. But both of us think the biscuit was what really sealed the deal.

Thatmom had "The Basic" with eggwhites from free run eggs and fresh multigrain toast. Except the plate came with the sourdough toast. Our server was quick to rectify the situation. She described the toast as "exactly how multigrain toast should be." Half the table chose the option of a fruit side after seeing it on others' plates.

One of the reasons we knew that the biscuits were the scene stealer in Thatboy's benny was because they were equally as delicious in my Mo's Biscuit. This time the biscuit was topped with scrambled eggs, bacon, basil, roasted red pepper, havarti cheese, and aioli. SO FREAKING GOOD. The pesto hashbrowns were also fabulous and made their rounds around the table as they were bartered for pieces of fruit.

UDubb has the mushroom and back bacon scramble with egg whites. She also got the multigrain toast which came as sourdough also.

Thatbrother actually managed to get the multigrain toast with creamy sausage omelet. Stuffed with sausage, sauteed red onions, mushrooms, and greens.

After breakfast we headed on our tour of Victoria totem poles! One of the things I love about British Columbia is that they didn't tear down all traces of the Native Peoples. I mean, think about it - there were hundreds of thousands of tribes across North America, but finding historical traces is much harder in the United States.

These totem poles were in the Royal B.C. Museum - which is one of the best museums I've ever been in. I love museums and I don't care how nerdy that makes me. They're just so - full, whether full of art, facts, giant airplanes, I'm not picky. I love them all. The Royal B.C. Museum is full of history. Let's start WAAAAAAYYYY back in history.

Whoops - too far? The first floor of the Royal B.C. Museum is filled with dioramas of animals. Including this prehistoric guy. Pretty sure his name was Bubba. He looks like a Bubba right?

The dioramas are so well done, everything seems so real!

Moving a bit along in British Columbia history brings us to the Native People, the "First People" as they are called in British Columbia. This is the "man who fell from the sky" one of the legends of the First People.

And a recreation of one of the homes of the native tribes.

And of course, totem poles!

And just like the United States, the Europeans came, bringing disease which nearly extinguished the First Peoples. So the next area of the museum is dedicated to them! Well, all the colonists and turn of the century British Columbia. This area was Thatmom's favorite - lifesize dioramas we could actually walk through! It was like Disneyland, being right in the middle of a set.

This section also included other historical dioramas, like one about the fishing and whaling industry, and this one which showed that the Gold Rush wasn't exclusive to California.

Thatmom especially enjoyed the section on the explorers who first discovered the area, and a lifesize ship exhibit to walk through.

Outside, there are even more exhibits. Most dealing with the Hudson Bay Company, the commercial company that once serves as governing body of British Columbia. Like Wawadit'la/Mungo Martin House, modeled after houses at Fort Rupert, home of the Hudson Bay Company in 1849.

And Helmcken House, the oldest building in British Columbia to still stand on it's original site. The house was built by the Hudson Bay Company in 1852.

And St. Ann's Schoolhouse which was built in 1843 in the Hudson Bay Company style.

And of course - an entire park devoted to totem poles representing First Nations communities across British Columbia.

Next up: Thatmom finds a kinship in a castle.