Who needs an alarm clock when you have H?! We had the van parked and were one of the 1st to see the travel agent at the visitor center and booked our room at the Huntingdon Inn just one block from the ferry docks out on the island. We were on the first crossing from Port Angeles to Victoria that day! Our trip over was on the Victoria Express (the red boat in the picture) and the trip back was on the Coho Vehicle and Passenger ferry (the BIG gray boat!). The Huntingdon can be seen in the picture with the seaplane at the dock. It is the immense expanse of white building across the water, just above the gray building pictured on the dock. The Huntingdon is also listed on the historic register along with her sister buildings which are a bed & breakfast and a restaurant. Seaplane tours was a very popular attraction and there was a plane taking off, right out thru the entry channel, every few minutes during the day. The little green boat also at that dock is the Harbor Ferry boat that was both a shuttle and tour boat. There was a big bunch of those little water beetles! Yes, H wants one for Wamplers Lake. The Empress Hotel is one of the oldest buildings in Victoria and is adjoined by the convention center. Yes, it also has a beautiful garden! EVERYWHERE in Victoria there is a beautiful garden. The Parliament building is right around the corner of the harbor from the Empress but unfortunately it was closed on Sunday. We found a cute little café, tucked into the corner of an old square that was a passageway between two buildings and had a delightful breakfast and conversation with the owner/chef, Suzy. Up and down the old streets, in and out of shops, a mini Eaton Center Mall, a Sunday marketplace and up and down the steps of the Empress, the Parliament and around the busy harbor which was lined with native people selling their wares and crafts. H’s feet, legs and back gave out before mine and we rested back at our very comfortable room. Once rested it was off again to walk to the Fisherman’s Wharf that was an odd collection of houses, shacks, fishing boats and tourist shops all floating and moored to creaking docks. Barb’s Fish and Chips served up a tasty basket of fish and fries which we gobbled up while sitting at a picnic table on the dock watching the Harbor water beetles come and go along with a lot of people and their pets. The buildings down at the harbor were lit up at night but our body clocks are still on Toledo time and it’s 3 hours difference here so we never saw them.
The 100-year-old Butchart Gardens is also a National Historic Site and we took the public transit buses to get there Monday morning. The garden is 13 miles from Victoria and covers 55 acres. The Butcharts took a worked out limestone quarry and turned it into a mixture of rare and exotic shrubs, trees and flowers collected during their extensive world travels. There is a sunken garden, a Japanese garden, a rose garden, a dahlia garden, a shade garden, a greenhouse, a Star pond, an Italian Garden, the original residence of the Bucharts, switchback stairs, winding brick pathways, ponds, fountains, scenic overlooks, numerous benches to rest and try to take in the all the views, bronze statues and FLOWERS! All kinds, colors and shades of the rainbow from the palest pinks and yellows to the most vibrant reds, oranges and deep purples! Annuals and perennials! Every shape and size of dahlia (some that even I have at home!) and roses – has to be every named rose in every catalog! Back on the bus and back downtown in time to purchase tickets for our afternoon “cruise” on the Coho - back across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Angeles. As always, H wanted to be down inside where it was warm and out of the wind but I spent most of my time up on the top deck! As usual, H’s eyes caught the sight of the seals and the whales and by the time my eyes found the spot where they were - - they weren’t. Back on shore, in the USA, we moved quickly thru customs and across the street to the patiently waiting van. We had unplugged the small refrigerator that we take with us on trips and had filled it with ice while we were to be gone. It was no surprise that the interior of the van was very warm since it had been a sunny day and no sun visor in the front windshield. It was a very great surprise to find that the refrig, now just a cooler, still had a good-sized chunk of ice in it and our milk was still cold! We returned back to the same Riviera Motel for the night and preparations for the next days journey ahead!
