Wow, our time on the West Coast has flown by! To celebrate, I wanted to go to a place I’d been hearing about ever since we’ve been out here: Sooke Harbour House. Renowned for its gourmet, local, grown-on-site food, its wine cellar, and its art, the hotel has multiple awards and still manages to be comfortable, accommodating, and completely relaxing.
Our room was beautiful, with a coffee bar, decanter of port, desk, steam shower, big bathtub with a view, fireplace, and a deck looking out to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Dave was excited to be able to tend the fireplace, and we went through more than our share of firewood during our stay.
As promised, the meal at dinner was wonderful. Lots of fresh fish and seafood, herbs, winter squash, and lovely sauces went beautifully with local wines and an island mead that was elevated to the level of a Sauternes. Every wall in the place was filled with art (see details on my art site here), and we got in a quick walk by the shore — until we were completely drenched in the rather-more-than-usual rain and wind.
Heading back, we found that the rain was indeed heavy: the road across to Victoria was closed due to flooding! We followed several detours and waited in line to cross yet another flooded road at a deep point. When we got back to Victoria, our return flight was cancelled, also because of the weather. We solved our latest adventure with a rerouted rental car return, a different airline and airport, a train into Seattle, and a cab back to our car — only a couple hours late picking up Bruce!