A Place For the Rich and Famous

About halfway to Victoria, from our house, tucked into the mountain high above the Malahat Summit Lookout, sits the Aerie Resort and Spa, voted the #1 Hotel in North America by Travel & Leisure magazine readers. The Aerie offers terrific 180-degree views of the ocean, Gulf Islands, and the snow-capped mountains of both the B.C. mainland and Washington St. On the way home from an appointment in Victoria yesterday morning, I decided to take a look at the Aerie as I hadn't been up there in over 10 years. It was a perfect day and a great spot to take a few pictures!

Victoria lies beyond the hills with Washington St. off in the distance


The Aeire is a luxury resort hotel catering to the rich and famous and it's guest list regularly includes Hollywood's top celebrities. Locals in Mill Bay are often astounded, and speechless, to see the likes of Brad Pitt or George Clooney standing in front of them at a local grocery checkout line. Maybe all that rich food and five-star chef's cooking isn't as great as we're led to believe - but, how would I know??

The Aeire opened it's first resort building in 1990


So, what does it cost to stay in a joint like this? A regular room for two will run you somewhere between $300CDN to $600CDN a night. That's the range most of us RV'ers expect to pay for a whole month! However, it does, as we say, have full hook-ups, and you can expect a spacious and well appointed room, with wide-screen LCD TVs, sumptuously comfortable beds and pillows, cozy duvets, fluffy terry robes - and complimentary slippers. Many also have Jacuzzi or soaker tubs, fireplaces and private balconies. These people have obviously never boondocked and just don't know what they're missing!

A shot from my personal helicopter(LOL!) - this pic is from the Aeire's website


So, you want to try the restaurant? Good choice! The Aeire's dining room has garnered awards from around the world, including “Best food in the Americas” by Condé Nast Traveler magazine, and Zagat’s “One of the best places to dine”. It's also one of the best restaurants Paulette and I have never been to! Maybe one day, when we have $300 to $500 that we just feel like splurging on dinner, we'll give the Aeire a go - or maybe not!!

A lot has changed in the 10 years since I last visited. In addition to the many new resort facilities and Villa's the Aeire has added, there is another new hotel just down the road - The Prancing Horse Luxury Inn. The owners, a business couple from Victoria, say they wanted to offer their guests "a romantic, affordable retreat with Ferrari standards". This B&B has the same type of tremendous views as the Aeire, but it is much more modest in scale. After reading that guests can use the Aeire's helicopter landing pad, if required, I decided that this place too was probably just a bit out of reach for us.

The Prancing Horse Luxury Inn - the same tremendous views


After spending 30 minutes or so walking around the Aeire and the Prancing Horse taking pictures, I decided it was time to head home to the real world. After a couple of welcome, rainy days, yesterday turned out just beautiful - sunny and warm. It was a perfect time to get a few chores done outside. I had 2 choices - mow the lawns, or get up on the roof and clean out the gutters. I picked the easy job - mowing the lawns.

Well, I thought it was going to be easy, but I soon discovered that the battery on my John Deere ride-em mower was dead. So, I hooked up my trickle charger and while it was charging the battery, I decided to cut the lawn using my gas-powered push mower. Half-way through that job, I remembered well why I bought the John Deere years ago - a half acre of lawns is a lot to cut by hand - at least it seems so to me! But, it was good exercise so I guess I shouldn't complain.

If today turns out to be a good day, I just might tackle the gutters - if there's no blog tomorrow morning, then you'll know it didn't end well for me!