Your vacation in the Northwest

[Neil D]

I was wondering if any of you, having gone to Victoria BC, was interested in promoting your favorite activity that you did while you were there...

What did you go see, beside Buchart Gardens?

[Ellen]

I was in Victoria for the first time in February/March. One highlight was Butterfly Garden = pick a sunny day because the butterflies are quiet when it is cloudy. I won the "door prize" for February - a beautiful blue mounted butterfly from South America.

We took a long trip up to Washington Mountain and on the way down a Bald Eagle sat in the shoulder of the road and posed for us while cars stopped and took photos. I got 4 pictures and he was still sitting when we drove on.

There is a lovely snack shop at Steve Fanyo Beach and Mile One of the Trans Canada Highway. Some vegetarian choices. Fanyo crossed Canada on one leg after Terry Fox only got half way across as a charity for cancer. Marilyn Bell monument is also there as she swam across Juan de Fuca straight when I was a teenager.

I was able to really enjoy the swimming pool at a gym right in town.

There is a wonderful breakfast buffet in Duncan, we went on Sunday, and some good sight seeing there.

We enjoyed the marine museum which is on a ship in the harbor, go when they are feeding the octopus (three times a day).

[phkrause]

Have never been there so I can't help.

pk

[Woody]

Go ahead and head on over to Banff . You won't be sorry.

[Dr. Rich]

It is one of my favorite places in the world. We have motor-homed the whole Island but like the still waters on the inside passage side the best. Yes, the gardens are awesome and I also enjoyed the butterflies, but again, pick a sunny day. We took a sea kayak for two and used to fish many places and caught lots of rock cod--and when the salmon are running there are many places that you can just catch them at the mouth of the rivers. Take good spotting scopes or glasses because the eagles and birds are great fun to watch.

Once when we were parked at an overlook, we had the police all over all of us there and were told to stay in our cars. We did not know at the time, but the queen wanted to look at the view and her car was parked right beside ours. She looked older than what the pictures I had seen earlier so I did not know it at the time, but when they left, the cops told us it was her.

But for a great peaceful relaxing vacation, Vancouver Island is hard to beat!

[Neil D]

Been to the Butteryfly gardens, and to Buchart in the remote past...Going to revisit them....but there are other places I wish to do/see.

Am going to try 4:00 tea...I simply MUST become cultured! I am trying to reject my American upbringing [said for all the canadians who are looking in on this thread] who are loud,rude and outlandish...um...said about Americans...The Canadians have been very nice...so far, eh?

Am currently in a timecondo, overlooking the harbor, watching sea planes take off and land, boats sailing out of the harbor. On one side, I have these houses, floating in the water sorta mounted on docks, and on the other side, I have boats moared to thier docking slips...

The managment requests that I don't feed the seagulls...drat! Was going to try to get a shot of one eating my doritos from my hand....

[Jeannieb43]

Neil, you've brought back beautiful memories for me. My DH and I went to Vancouver and Victoria on our honeymoon in 1990. Butchart Gardens was a beautiful inspiration [we were there in April also -- you've picked a great month for the flowers!]. We splurged and had high tea at that wonderful hotel [wish I could remember its name!]. It was elegant! You'll enjoy it too, I know.

--And, speaking of Banff.... It's gorgeous too. We drove a rental car across Canada and spent several days hiking in the mountains above Lake Louise. But that was on a different trip. [You can tell my DH loved Canada!]

[Gail]

High tea at the Empress Hotel is about $25, if I remember correctly...

Neil, there are usually scads of Bald Eagles at Goldstream. I think it is located on the Malahat Hwy. Ask around... When the salmon are running (and there are thousands of them there) you can make a salmon print. But even when the fish are not running it is a great little hike.

If you take a look around Oak Bay, there is a little English style pub which serves English style food. At night there is English pub style entertainment which is quite charming.

Since you are on the harbour, take a walk around the downtown section at nighttime. There is a Chinatown and a Dutch bakery which is quite good.

Also try to take in the BC Royal Museum. You can see native artifacts and lots of cool stuff there.

If you can find yourself an art gallery which features local Island art you will enjoy that.

[Gail]

For a really worthwhile jaunt, take the ferry over to Salt Spring Island for the day. It's a 20-minute sailing. There is so many interesting curiosities there I cannot even begin to tell you!

[phkrause]

Neil I hope you are going to have a great trip. Be safe and than give us a little summary of your trip. How long are you going to be away?

pk

[Jeannieb43]

The Empress! Thank you, Gail.

[Neil D]

Walked to Parliment yesterday. Was tempted to buy a gold plated keyring as a memorial to the trip. Thought better of it.$15 for a keyring with an inscription is a bit spendy in my humble opinion. Wanna talk me out of it? you can...

Drove to Butchart Gardens yesterday. Took over 200 pictures of various flowers, and sights there alone...What an amazing display of growing ecosystems...Attempted to get into the butterfly musem on the way out of Butchart Gardens, but time was of the essence...they were closing....

Looked for honey/beekeeping places...Found one called "Babes Honey"....

Petrol is about $4/gallon here...Ouch! Gail (et al Canadians), how do you do this on such expensive expenditures....???? Stan???

[Jeannieb43]

$4 a gallon? Isn't that really $4 a litre??

That's why small cars are so popular.

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Afterthought: Maybe Canadian dollars are worth more than U.S. dollars.

[Gail]

$4 a gallon? Isn't that really $4 a litre??

That's why small cars are so popular.

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Afterthought: Maybe Canadian dollars are worth more than U.S. dollars.

Well, no. The price right now is about $1.05/litre. It takes 3.75 litres to make a Canadian gallon, which I believe is larger than an American one.

And the Canadian dollar is right around parity right now. I bought some U.S. currency the other day at 1.0041 exchange. My broker, though, IS expecting the Canadian dollar to surpass the U.S. one sometime in the next few weeks. We will see.

I am hoping to see Neil come this weekend at church

[lazarus]

Forgive my ignorance but I have never seen a picture of anywhere in the north west where the sun is shining. Does it get sunny there? Seems a bit gray.

[Gail]

Forgive my ignorance but I have never seen a picture of anywhere in the north west where the sun is shining. Does it get sunny there? Seems a bit gray.

Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head with the weather! Vancouver Island does tend to be a bit drier than the coastal mainland. But we are very used to it (quite duck-like here)and know what to do in rainy weather. I tell people it's all just part of the fun! Nobody said you can't lie on the beach in the rain!

And the grey skies are only an indication of how GREEN our west-coast rainforests are :)

[lazarus]

I was just poking fun but I really haven't seen a sunny picture.

[Gail]

And I totally believe you!

[Neil D]

I was just poking fun but I really haven't seen a sunny picture.

Laz-

Go HERE so see "sunny days that I thought would never end"....

[lazarus]

Sorry, it ended. Click for yourself. Told Ya!

[Gail]

Well, true to form it rained today for Neil's visit. But we fed him and gave him Spooky to play with.

Then he got bored and drove away.

Just kidding, Neil! We enjoyed our visit with you very much! :)

[Liz]

Well, true to form it rained today for Neil's visit. But we fed him and gave him Spooky to play with.

Then he got bored and drove away.

Just kidding, Neil! We enjoyed our visit with you very much!

For a minute, I thought Spooky was the one that got bored and drove away. I thought he must be related to Uncle Woody's driving dog. Anywhoo, where are the pics??

[Neil D]

spooky ate them.....It was kinda spooky.....Also, did any of you know that Gail lives near a cementary? All my photos had this white fuss in the middle of the pictures...[cue Twilight zone music] and then this dog came and ate my camera? or was it that he licked it to death....

Ok, we have the words "spooky", Cementary, death, all in this paragraph....

.....Um, can I go now?