Valentine's Weekend and Snow! February 13 - 18th

For Valentine's Day, Ray booked us into the Coast Bastion Hotel in Nanaimo for two nights. We're there for Valentines Day and also attending the April Wine Concert on Sunday night. The last time we stayed at the Bastion was Valentines about 25 years ago. 

Friday we left about 10 am so we could get our shopping done, Costco etc. before picking up Amelia from daycare. We're looking after her for the rest of the day and evening as her parents have plans to go for dinner and attend a Ballet in Duncan. We also wanted to leave our purchases at their house, so it wasn't left in the car overnight at the hotel. We'll pick it up on Monday before heading home to the lake.

Amelia's happy to see us and the daycare released her to us after showing our ID. Glad they have security measures. Her daycare is just a short ways from their house. It's a really sunny warm afternoon so, after her snack, we took her to the cul de sac a block away. She rode her bike and Olaf got a bit of a walk. 

Her choice for dinner is to have sushi, even though Jason tells me she had it with him the day before lol  Both Ray and I played a bunch of games with her for the rest of the evening.

Amelia even has her own chopsticks.

Olaf is a big suck, always craving attention, which Ray's happy to give

Jason and Kristi ended up not going to the Ballet.... their friends they were going out with have a sick kid so their babysitter cancelled. The restaurant they booked don't take kids, so they had to change restaurants for food that wasn't so good as baby had to come with. After all this, they were not in the mood to go to the show, so came home. 

Saturday morning they were out the door by 8:30, heading to Victoria for the day, visiting family and friends. We moved a little slower and headed out about 9, hitting a bakery for breakfast before heading to mall to just wander around. We usually go in different directions and meet up in an hour or so.

We decided to stop in at Carlos O'Bryan's Pub on the water for lunch. They were extremely busy as it's Valentine's day and had lots of reservations for the whole day. Dinner time especially. We were lucky that we got there at 11:30 and were able to get a table. Ray had their lobster roll, which was just OK. I had the flatbread margarita pizza which was tasty.

After lunch, we took a chance to see if we could check-in early and were in luck. We have a very nice room on the 14th floor facing the inner boat harbour. Ray hoped we would face north as the view is better, but this isn't too bad at all. The hotel is fully booked this weekend, being Valentines and the Victoria Symphony playing tonight. All 44 members stay in the hotel. Sunday night is the April Wine concert, so more people staying.

Our view.

We can even see Mount Baker.

and the Hullo Ferry.

Ray slipped out to the liquor store just down the road to get me some Carolan's for my coffee tomorrow, at least that was his excuse. lol He came back with flowers, champagne and Purdy's chocolates that he had stashed away without me noticing from the mall. What a guy! Love you too.

The hotel even dropped off a Valentine's gift for us, Nanaimo's famous "Nanaimo Bars".

We had a nice afternoon watching the world go by out our window. Ferries going back and forth and small boats coming into the harbour. I certainly enjoyed my champagne. :) A beautiful sunny and warm afternoon.

Ray managed to get a 7 pm reservation for dinner at a restaurant two blocks away, the Melange. All the restaurants were totally booked as it's Valentine's Day and the Victoria Symphony. Dinner was delicious.  They had a special menu for Valentine's. Ray ordered Confit Duck Leg and I the Cornish Game Hen.

A bit of a sunset and night lights from our hotel.

The Bastion

Sunday, we had coffee in our room, mine with Carolan's :). Ray went to the bakery around the corner that was supposed to be open for 24 hours, but it wasn't open as one of the baker's didn't show up.  He made a second run later in the morning bringing back stuff for us to eat.

Once it warmed up a bit, we headed out to walk the waterfront promenade for an hour. Ray of course took pictures at the beautiful view. This hotel is so close to everything downtown within walking distance. A little more cloud today. but it's not raining or snowing so we'll take it.

The Nanaimo Harbour is where a guy was arrested a few weeks ago breaking into a remodelled tug boat, causing lots of damage. Then arrested again for returning to the same spot. (Ray here, out justice system is such a joke for repeat offenders).

The Coast Mountain Range on the mainland.

Spring has sprung in Nanaimo with the flowers starting to bloom.

Back to the room to warm up.

Lunch today is at the Old City Station Pub. We'd heard they have great Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwiches. (They did!) Again a 2 minute walk from the hotel. They also have daily lunch specials for $10.99. Today's is a BLT and fries. Great deal for us seniors. They have 24 beer on tap, including Ray's Iota N/A, and TV's everywhere. Definitely a sports bar atmosphere. Beautiful decor with brick walls and lots of old looking woodwork.

"The building originally housed the Nanaimo Daily Free Press, a historic newspaper established in the late 19th century and instead of moving all the printing presses when they sold the building in mid-1900's, they just cemented them into the floor in the basement so the basement is now only 4 feet tall."

Lots of old buildings in this area.

After lunch we wandered into a few of the stores on the way back to the hotel. 

Back to the hotel for the afternoon. Dinner tonight is here in the hotel's restaurant Minnoz, at 4:30 as all other times were taken until 8 pm. That's when our concert starts next door at the Port Theatre. I snagged the last reservation yesterday when we arrived.

We shared Chef Allan’s Tableside Seafood Chowder. "A soup with Quebec roots and a showstopping experience! B.C. salmon, Salt Spring mussels, and succulent shrimp in a creamy chowder, flamed tableside with vodka and Pernod for a dramatic finish." Served with garlic bread. Quite the show making it tableside.

First goes in the vegetables and flamed with orange vodka.

Second flameup with Pernod.

Next seafood and cream sauce.

TADA! Ray said it's one of the best seafood chowder he's ever had.

Ray had the Sous Chef Rob’s Braised Short Ribs. "Melt-in-your-mouth Canadian boneless short ribs, braised and glazed with black cherry demi-glace. Served with yam and rosemary gnocchi and market vegetables." He said it's delicious other than he's not fond of any gnocchi.

I had the Crab & Lobster Ravioli. "Served with lemon–tarragon, grainy mustard cream sauce, Parmesan, and garlic bread." Unfortunately the mustard overpowered any seafood flavour and was kind of gummy. Not the best meal for the price.

Eating so early we had a couple of hours to wait in our room before walking next door to the Port Theatre. Our first date 50 years ago was April Wine at a concert in April 1976. 

The show started at 8 pm and the band played straight through for 90 minutes before leaving for the night. No 20 minute intermission as described. lol I would be surprised if there was many people under 50 years of age there. You could tell by the grey/balding hair and how many people had to leave the performance to go to the bathroom :) Apparently it's a sold out concert.

Security is pretty tight about filming with phones and were always circulating telling people to shut their phone down. I took some pictures before it was announced to video lol The Band even said the audience could take pictures of them. but security still went around talking to people anyways. Pretty weird for a rock concert.

Here is a short video of their opening song, Oowattanight, Ray's favourite song of theirs.

Near the end of the concert they had all us old farts up dancing in the aisles. What a great concert.

Back at our room by 9:45. I drank some wine and we watched some TV with the Olympics before turning in at 11. What a great Valentines weekend. Thanks a bunch sweetie. I'd booked this concert mid-July, so definitely didn't expect all of this at the same time.

Monday morning we slept in later than usual and had a quiet morning before packing up and heading to the kids to pick up our Costco stuff before heading back to the lake. It is supposed to snow later today so it will be nice to be home before it starts.

We arrived home by 10:30 am after stopping at Country Grocer for something fresh for dinner.  After unpacking we relaxed for the day. I was dissapointed in some of the food we ate, so decided to make a great rib steak dinner for the two of us for tonight. Rib steak with a mushroom demiglace, roasted tomatoes with some balsamic, mashed potatoes with fresh dill from my aerogarden and sauteed carrots and cauliflower in a curry spiced honey orange sauce. It was delicious!

Ray has finished my greenhouse. The platform is done as well, only problem is that the greenhouse does not fit on top of the platform under the sundeck lol He only had 7" leeway and with the platform it is too tall. This means that we (he lol) will have to unbolt the greenhouse (4 bolts) from the platform to store in the winter time.

Now for spring to come so I can plant. :)

Tuesday we had a skiff of snow a couple of times, nothing substantial. 

Recieved this picture of our Granddaughter Stella from Squamish, enjoying the hover soccer ball we bought her in November when she was over visiting.

The next few days we did inside chores, laundry, exercise class etc. Ray spent a bunch of time doing his puzzle. His shoulder is still pretty sore after wacking it last week.