Monday, July 31, 2017

Follow-up

 

We were expecting Butchart Gardens to be nice, but we weren’t expecting THAT!

 

The first picture is of the sunken gardens.

 

It’s an old limestone quarry (the source of the Butchart fortune).  They took an entire old spent limestone quarry and turned it into a garden!

 

And that’s just one of the gardens.  There is a rose garden, a Japanese garden, an Italian garden, a bog garden, and many other minor gardens, like entire sections of just dahlia blooms, or just hanging fuschia baskets.

 

The ambiance perfectly matches the visuals.  The Ross fountain

…is constantly changing dancing waters, kind of like the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas, but without the music and noise.  It is peacefully naturally majestic.

 

There is an enclosed carousel with barely whispering music that doesn’t travel beyond the building.

 

The gardens abut a cove.

…and those green canopied ten-person tour boats (electrically powered), take you out of the cove into the surrounding bays with deer on the banks, harbor seals, and river otters.

 

This is a well-established garden.

There are giant coastal redwoods that were planted as seeds!

 

Every flower bed is at the peak of bloom; nothing looks like it is just about to, or just has, and there is no visible workforce keeping it that way.  They work a Disneylandesque magic, with an army of staff that has from dawn to opening at 9am each day to perform their miracles.

 

Yes. Butchart Gardens is impressive.

 

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Sensory

 

 

Overload!

 

We went to Butchart Gardens today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Low tide

 

A meandering stream.

 

High tide.  A lagoon.

 

Niece Christy and Andy came by for a visit today.

 

 

They came entirely from another country to have lunch with us.  That could be a record!

 

It was a pretty cool place

 

There in the forest.  But we didn’t stay.  We moved on to our camp at Oceanside RV Park in Saanichton, just north of Victoria, BC.

 

2017 trip map

 

 

 

 

We got a very nice spot.  We’re out of the shade and back to the beach.

 

 

We’ll stay here a while.

 

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Nanaimo

 

We took the Nanaimo Ferry from Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, to Vancouver Island.

 

2017 summer trip map

 

 

 

There was plenty of room for the bus,

 

but we had to drive it close to several walls.

 

 

 

It was a good ride.

 

Now we’re at the Living Forest Oceanside RV Park.

 

 

 

 

It’s a pretty cool place.

 

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Life on the road

 

You just never know.

 

This RV Park, which looked to be terrible to begin with, has turned out to be a great experience.  The sites are still narrow; I’ve never had to sit on the neighbor’s picnic table to hook up our sewer hose before, and the surrounding neighborhood is a little seedy.  But the office is helpful, and the neighbors are wonderful.  We’re having a great time here.

 

We’re in West Vancouver, and of course, the surrounding scenery is spectacular.