Victoria Trip: Day Two
Another great day full of great food and great conversation is done. Tomorrow is race day!
This morning there were no alarms set in our hotel room. We all started waking up and rolling out of bed around 7:30 – 8:00 AM and we were ready to head out the door by 9:30 AM. Not bad for four girls in a hotel room with one bathroom.
First stop of the day was John’s Place for breakfast.
Lauren’s friends recommended this restaurant to us and I’m so glad they did. It was one of those hole in the wall type of places that we never would have stumbled upon but ended up being so, so good. I had citrus pancakes (lemon and orange zest) with cream cheese maple syrup, and yes, it was as decadent and delicious as it sounds!
After breakfast we spent some time wandering around Victoria and window shopping as we slowly made our way towards the race expo.
Victoria is SUCH a beautiful city!!
Oh, and here is a photo of ALL of us to prove there actually is four of us on this trip 
There was a cool orca whale in the grass by the Empress!
After a bit of walking around downtown we headed to the race expo to get our packages!
Then we went back to our hotel for a couple of hours to rest our feet after all the walking we’d been doing. It’s nice that our hotel is so central so we could do that! After a bit of a rest we sought out some gluten-free baking and our carb-loading dinner!
I had a lemon macaroon at Bliss Bakery and it was delicious!
Then we headed to Pagliacci’s for dinner. We arrived at 5:00 PM and there was already a line around the block.
But we persisted because it was one of the only Italian restaurants in the city that also had gluten free pasta and we’d heard really good things. We waited in line for 1 hour and 40 minutes before we were seated! I have never waited in line that long for a restaurant.
We passed the time on our iPhones and chatting. It went by fairly fast but I was definitely hungry by the end of our wait.
It was well worth the wait! My pesto pasta was super amazing and I completely cleaned my plate.
Now we are all wrapping up and getting ready to head to bed! Leigh just finished french braiding mine and Lisa’s hair for the race.
Leigh, Lisa and I start our half-marathon at 7:30 AM and Lauren starts her marathon at 8:45 AM (no idea why they did that but at least we will get to see Lauren finish!)
See you tomorrow with a day three report of Victoria. Sub-2 or bust!!!
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Question of the day: What is the longest you’ve ever waited in line at a restaurant?
Victoria Trip: Day One
Hello friends. It’s late here so this will be a really quick post 
This morning Leigh got dropped off at my house and we made the 3-hour trek south to Vancouver. We hit some weird weather that included insane fog where we couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of us.
We made it safely and met Lisa and Lauren at the lululemon factory outlet in Burnaby where I proceeded to spend way too much money. Then we grabbed a quick lunch and headed for the ferry.
We pulled up at around 3:45 PM for the 4:00 PM ferry and proceeded to sprint to make it on time! So I guess I don’t have to worry about missing my run this morning
The ferry ride was gorgeous and went by pretty fast!
After taking a bus into downtown Victoria we arrived at our hotel about 3 hours after leaving Vancouver! I booked our hotel a few months ago and while it looked a little sketch from the outside it actually ended up being quite nice and apartment-like on the inside!
After settling in to our hotel we headed out for dinner – one of my favourites – thai food! I was starving and dinner was so, so, so good! I had the vegetarian pad thai.
After dinner we sought out a grocery store and picked up some banana’s, bagels, peanut butter and a few other snacky things for the weekend and then wandered through downtown Victoria as we made our way to the Empress for some dessert and jazz music.
Victoria is a really pretty city. I’m excited to run through it on Sunday!
We wrapped up our great night in the Bengal Lounge at The Empress where we ate some delicious dessert, listened to jazz music and chatted!
It was a great first night in Victoria! I’m yet to get a photo of all four of us girls together so I’m making that my mission for tomorrow.
Hope everyone’s weekend is off to a great start. See you tomorrow evening for a recap of our second day in Victoria
Blogger Meet-up Safety
I am off to yet another blogger friends meet-up this weekend (my fourth major one in the last year – and I consider major blog meetups ones that consisted of spending a few days/weekend with bloggers) and for the first time I’ve already met all three ladies I’m going to be hanging out with!
Remember when you were a kid and meeting people on the internet was scary and dangerous? So not the case anymore! I’ve met some of my very best friends on the internet. That being said, I think it’s still important to be safe, if only to give your mother peace of mind (hi mom!)
My first big blogger meet-up was last October when I picked Lisa up from the airport to go on a 5-day roadtrip and run a marathon together. Lisa and I had never even spoken to each other before this and our friendship was built solely on emails, g-chatting and blackberry messenger! I had absolutely zero concerns about meeting Lisa, and we met for the first time in the airport, with lots of people around us!
In May I flew to Ottawa for work. I was so excited because it meant I could spend the weekend with one of my very first and best blog friends: Anais! Due to my flight being delayed I didn’t arrive in Ottawa until 4:00 AM! Anais had to work the next day so she gave me her address and left the door to her house unlocked for me. I got a cab to her place and let myself in and went right to bed. I was still asleep when she left for work the next morning so I didn’t even see her until after lunch that day and spent all morning in her house
OK, OK, I realize how *stupid* that might sound to most people – but Anais and I know each other really well – so I once again had zero concern about it. However, to be on the “safe” side I did have Eric on the phone with me when I got to Anais’ house and I’d texted him the address. Mostly because of his insistence Of course, all was fine, but when I tell people who aren’t bloggers about that they look at me like I’m an idiot.
Blogger meet-up #3 was this summer when I headed to Minneapolis to see Lisa and Amber. There were no issues with safety there since I had met Lisa before and talk to her daily and Lisa had met Amber before!
And this weekend brings us to blogger meet-up #4. Leigh is flying to Kamloops and then we are driving down to Vancouver together on Friday where we’ll meet Lisa and Lauren at the ferry terminal. I met Leigh before I went to Europe last year and Lauren when we ran our marathon in Portland last fall. I consider this a weekend away with my girlfriends, not a “blogger meet-up”
HOWEVER, I do think it is important to protect yourself on the internet. I am very open on my blog. My last name is out there, the city I live in is out there, and it’s not too hard to figure out where I work by doing a little googling. I live with a big, strong man and a feisty little dog (that will soon be a feisty 60-pound dog) so I’m not too concerned about it. But I know that some people are and should be. There are freaky people out there.
Ways that I try to stay safe (and give my mother peace of mind) when doing blogger meet-ups are:
- Make sure someone ALWAYS knows where I am and where I’m going. I give Eric lots of information when I’m going to blogger meet-ups. He had both Anais and Lisa’s addresses when I traveled to visit them and their phone numbers as well as an itinerary of the hotels Lisa and I were staying at last fall.
- Trust my gut. I have never once had a bad feeling about meeting bloggers. BUT, if I did, I would listen to it. Gut feeling are huge.
- Know the person you’re meeting. I would NEVER meet up with a blogger alone/in a private or quiet place, who I’d just started reading or didn’t know very well. I have known both Lisa and Anais for years and exchanged countless text messages and emails with them. I honestly do not consider them blog friends but real-life, best friends.
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Questions of the day: Have you done a lot of blogger meet-ups? Do you ever consider/worry about safety when meeting another blogger for the first time? Do your family members and friends who are NOT bloggers worry about it?
And, for fun, would you go to a bloggers house in the middle of the night who you’ve never met? OR would you leave the door to your house unlocked for them??