About 15 minutes later, we arrived at Santo Coffee Co. in the Roosevelt neighborhood near the University District. This was a much better choice. Santo sources a small selection of top-grade Colombian coffees, plus a couple others from around the world. They have a narrow scope/focus, and do it very well. We got two cups of their batch brew, a citrus-y Colombian and a very peach-y Ethiopian. I noticed they also sold local Spinnaker Chocolate bars, about which I’d heard high praise, so I purchased one of those too.

All three drinks were excellent, and I wish we’d tried more of their offerings, especially the pastries. Sadly, we’d not yet realized I left the donuts at the condo, so we only ordered coffee and moved on. From what I’ve read, this place would probably get 3 stars, but because we didn’t try any food I’ll be conservative with my rating.

After waking up at 04:30PST, Dad and I met in the hotel lobby at 05:15 to walk to the offsite parking and get the van. We met everyone else downstairs at 05:30, loaded up all our luggage, and hit the road north, again driving up the Saanich peninsula. The hotel, at our request, had set out some breakfast for Faith and Walker, so they ate in the car during our commute.

Dad and I woke up around 08:00, and decided we’d walk to get some much-needed caffeine. Victoria, like its neighbours Seattle and Vancouver, is one of the world’s best coffee cities, so I was excited to see what we could find. Interestingly enough, a lot of coffee shops don’t open until 09:00 or even later, which I find very strange. We did manage to find one that was open before 09:00, Saint Cecilia Coffee & Brands down near the Victoria Harbour, about a 5 minute walk from our hotel.

Dad and I woke up early at our VRBO in Sequim and decided to drive a few minutes north to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, on the northern shore of the Olympic Peninsula. The Dungeness Spit is a sand spit (think sandbar, but connected to land) that juts five miles out into the bay, providing a bay that houses thousands of birds, seals, shellfish, and fish. At the end of the spit, the New Dungeness Lighhouse has been serving ships since 1857. The lighthouse is only accessible via boat, or by walking the five miles out onto the spit.

Life has been busy, as you might infer from my rounds of very delinquent posts. I’ll summarize…you can click the text links if you haven’t read the previous ones and are inclined to catch up. In October, we took a trip with the McKinneys to Williamsburg and Colonial Virginia. In November, we traveled to Maryland to visit family, passing through Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Then, in December, I went with Dad and Trevor to Alabama for a whirlwind sports-filled weekend.