Victoria, BC-Buchart Gardens

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Sept. 17

Ferry to Victoria

We go up at 5:45AM to catch the Victoria Clipper to Victoria, BC Canada.






It was pretty cloudy with some fog around. This trip took about 2 1/2-3 hours to get to Victoria. On the way the captain slowed and got very close to a small rocky island with lots of Pacific Harbor Seals on it. Look at those cute faces!





Some mountains in the distance along the way.





We were met at the ferry dock by the bus to take us to Butchart Gardens . My parents had been here a few years ago and once I saw the pictures, I wanted to get here sometime myself! The weather was improving and ended up mostly sunny and fairly warm.

The gardens are 13 miles north of Victoria and we had a nice drive with some great narration by our bus driver, a Vancouver Island native. Quite the character he was!

Even before you get completely in this place, you can tell you are in for a treat!





The gardens are actually in a worked out limestone quarry. Jennie Butchart's husband owned the quarry and it supplied his nearby Portland cement plant. The gardens started as an idea by Jennie and by the 1920's, more than 50 thousand people visited each year. In 2004 the gardens, in bloom for 100 years, were designated a National Historic Site of Canada.






We had a short time here so it was a pretty quick jaunt through. I took plenty of pictures and figure that's how I'll enjoy the gardens; when I get to editing them!

What can I say about this beautiful place? I think I'll let my photographs speak for me.




























There was a section along the walk that had thousands of flowers where I had a blast with isolating various blooms.





















My favorite section of any garden is the Japanese Garden. I was not disappointed here in the least!























After visiting the gardens, we made our way back to Victoria where we were dropped off at Victoria's Chinatown. It was at one time the largest on the west coast of North America. Up until the 20th century, 23 factories produced 90,000 pounds of opium a year!


We were dropped off at Fan Tan Alley, which is the narrowest street. Unfortunately, Chinatown has shrunk to a few blocks now.








Entrance to Chinatown; "Gate Of Harmonious Interest"




As we continued walking through town towards the ferry dock, we passed the Empress Hotel. We found 3 geocaches, had a quick dinner and then it was back on the ferry to return to Seattle.


As we arrived back in Seattle, I took this very artistic picture of the Space Needle!


O.K., I confess. It's actually a lousy picture because it was dark and I hand held the camera and it blurred. But, it's still pretty neat looking!

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Comments

[Naomi B]

Oooooohhhhh....
Ahhhhhhh! And, your photography is getting great, Linda!

[Cane]

Very nice Flowers!
Very beautiful flowers and cool night picture of a UFO! ~CaneDNR

[Marc]

Loved the mud maggots! (seals) Vancouver's botanical garden looks outstanding. Amazing autumn colors! The space needle pic was really cool, too!