Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

You just never know what life will bring you on any given day. It started out like any other day where we were deciding what cool things we were going to attempt to do and see today. We decided that we should continue our record of touring the legislative building since we found ourselves in a provincial capital once again. After that we were thinking Miniature World. But first a little blogging and checking of email at the wired internet access at the campground. While I was uploading a blog entry Morgan came running in to the room where I was and breathlessly announced that my cell phone is working again! (Thanks Russell!) So the day was off to a good start.
After our email we headed for the Inner Harbour of beautiful downtown Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. As usual, the legislative building did not disappoint. As for technical details, it took 4 years to build, was finished in 1897, was way over the $500,000 budget coming in at close to $1,000,000. This is way less than the others that we have seen so bravo BC! The architect was a 25-year-old from Leeds, England and it was his first major architecture project. And, of course, it too has cupolas … 33 of them to be exact. And it also has lights … the outside of the building is covered in lights which outline all the edges of the structure providing for an impressive view at night. I was surprised to hear that all these lights were installed when the structure was originally built … all 3300 of them! I guess these guys were even more excited about having electricity than they were in Edmonton where they had 638 lights in their legislative chamber. These western provinces seem to love their energy … some things never change, eh? And another interesting fact is that the coat of arms of British Columbia was carved into stone and erected high above the entrance to the building, however, there was one minor problem, it is not the final version. Oops! And Winnipeg has nothing on Victoria when it comes to “Golden Boys”. Victoria has a very regal looking gold-plated Lord Vancouver high atop their central cupola. So, once we got this tour out of the way, we were off to the Miniature Museum.
Now I have to admit, I was not all that interested in this particular activity but I was trying to keep an open mind. Luckily for me, they showed some pictures of some of the displays just outside the entrance. This allowed Chantal to see that it was not what she thought it was and decided that she did not want to go afterall … YES! So then as we strolled around the inner harbour area we passed by a sun-drenched restaurant patio by the yatch club which was just screaming out our name so we popped in for a cool drink and just relaxed for a change … ahhhhh. After soaking up all the sun and relaxation we desired, we headed off in search of our next adventure. On our way we paused to watch the end of a particularly good busker’s show. As it ended and everyone was getting up to leave, Chantal said, “Hey, isn’t that David?” I took a look and decided that yes, it did look like David, but David is 6 foot 5 and this guy did not look that tall. As I moved closer to get a better look I saw David’s wife, Laura! Unbelievable … Laura with another man who looks just like her husband only shorter! Ok, perhaps I was a little off in judging his height.
This was incredible. Running into friends from Toronto, whom we have not seen in many moons, in a fortuitous meeting in downtown Victoria, a city to which none of us have ever been! (not counting Chantal and Laura when they were teenagers ). But perhaps most amazing is that the only other time any of us have been to the gulf islands west of Vancouver the four of us were together! It was a trip that the four of us took before any of us had kids. Chantal and I had actually just been thinking about them the day before as we took the ferry boat yesterday since the only other time we had taken a ferry from Vancouver was with them on our way to Saltspring Island. It turns out that Laura and David had just flown in to Victoria today and jet lag was taking its toll so we decided to exchange phone numbers and hook up a little later. Strangely enough we had both planned to leave Victoria the same day to head to the same town, Ucluelet, at the same time. What are the odds, eh?

Today’s word:

fortuitous \for-TOO-uh-tuhs; -TYOO-\, adjective:
1. Happening by chance; coming or occurring by accident, or without any known cause.
2. Happening by a fortunate or lucky chance.
3. Fortunate or lucky.