July 23-24

On Friday we drove through the south central part of British Columbia, stopping at the 108 Heritage Site. There are about 20 historic buildings like this one of a house with the Clydesdale barn in the background.

After looking more closely at maps and travel times, we decided that we really couldn’t stay at a Provincial Park so we found a campground in Burnaby which is a 45 minute drive to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.

Saturday we left on the 8 am ferry to Swartz Bay, Victoria--good diversion for me since it would have been Bill's 65th birthday.  It was a beautiful 90 minute ferry ride – we caught a taxi to the Victoria International Airport and picked up a rental car for the day. John and Rae had visited Victoria before and he wanted to show me around the city. Our first stop was at Butchart Gardens which was created over 100 years ago by Jennie and Robert Butchart. He had a limestone quarry and she wanted to see something other than huge holes where rocks had been excavated, thus the development of Butchart Gardens was started and the historical site is still owned by the family, managed by a great granddaughter. This is an image John took in the Sunken Garden, the first development of the project.

The Gardens cover over 55 acres and they employ over 500 gardeners, they must work all night because we saw only one and the fireworks crew which was preparing for a Saturday night display—this sequoia tree was started as a seedling in 1934 and it is the first sequoia I've ever seen, so I had to capture it.

John took these images at the garden:
These Azure Sea roses are lavender color and one of Rae’s favorites

He is becoming an artistic photographer in his own right!

In the Japanese Garden

Through the window of the patio

After spending several hours at the gardens, John drove us into downtown Victoria where we enjoyed a great seafood lunch overlooking the harbor and then went to the Empress Hotel, built in the late 1800s. Wow, it was lovely!

The harbor walk called – it was a great place, entertainment, (this kid was playing with his Dad) an official seaport for airplanes and water taxis.

We took a historic harbor tour and saw this draw bridge, which is operated by counter weights on one end…just radio up to the tower and they will sound the horn and open the bridge for you, free of charge!

This morning we are headed for Washington State.