Saturday, July 28, 2007

O Canada!


I decided it was time to do a little traveling so I used my boyish charms to convince M to start making plans. She decided that it would be fun to visit Washington DC on the 4th of July but The Man said "I'd rather go to Victoria". That sounded good to me, but M promptly stuck up her nose and said she thought it out of the budget. I knew she secretly wanted to see the Victoria Girls from the Most Excellent Adventure, so she'd have to have a look-see. Sure enough it was only a little more moolah, so she booked it! Yippee!

We took off at the crack of dawn on the 1st - Oh, how I hate those early morning departures. We arrived in early afternoon to learn that it was Canada Day! Those Canadians really know how to celebrate! They dress up like the flag, wear the flag, stick mini flags in their hair, they have fireworks and lots of live music and dancing - all civilized of course! We party, party, party until the wee hours of the morning. After a long day of travel we're bushed! However we are already booked on a tour of the Butchart Gardens so we have to get up early to catch the bus (no rest for the wicked!).


On the way to the Gardens we stop at a butterfly garden. I thought I'd get a good breakfast of butterflies or caterpillars, but no.....I'm not allowed to snack. Well, no worry - I'll do a little fishing in the ponds at the Butchart Gardens. WRONG! No fishing allowed! I had to make do with Salmon Salad in the tea room. Oh, well. The Gardens were really spectacular as you can see. Check out those fountains! I wasn't sure we were ever going to leave as The Man fancies himself some sort of gardener (NOT) and M couldn't stop taking pictures (you can see them here I had to remind them that we had dinner plans with the Victoria Girls and we'd better not miss that last bus back! That did it.....we were off and just in the nick of time too.

Dinner with the Girls was predictable....lots of hugs and laughs. They promised to pick us up at 9 the next morning for their special Victoria tour. Who better could show us the best parts of their own universe? So up we were at the crack of dawn again. We hopped in the van and off we went. At Government House I got to see a few of my more well-to-do cousins, but they turned tail and ran! What's up with that? Jac & Annie though tea and cookies might be soothing after such a display of snobbery, so we stopped at a local bakery for a proper cup of tea. Yummo! (I know, that's what Rachel Ray says, but hey, it IS a good description.)


Then Johanne said we really must see if the Bald Eagles were home. They live in the tree next to the local fire station. Home they were, feeding the babies. I'm sure glad they didn't catch sight of me (although I'm sure fish is much tastier). At Johanne's favorite marina, we stopped to feed the harbour seals who like fish heads. They don't even care that they're frozen! YUCKKK!!! Then we stopped to see the house boat harbor. I'm not talking boats with beds down below - but real floating houses! Excellent! We should all live like that! The fish and chips here are supposed to be the best, but we stop for ice cream instead as we have dinner reservations at the restaurant overlooking the Victoria Harbor. What a day!


On our last day we took a whale-watching excursion and spotted 3 resident orcas. It was too hot for them, so we didn't see any of the really big fancy stuff they do. Bummer! After that I begged for fish & chips at the house-boat marina. Once again....Yummo! M wanted to take the Harbour Ferry tour so I had to listen to a history lesson. I thought I was through with school! After a walk through China Town we headed for dinner. M and I liked the crab cakes we had on the "Seafood Canoe" at Nautical Nellies on our first night so we headed back there for dinner. Yummo and Yummo again! Before heading for home we had one last visit with the Victoria Girls at breakfast. It was really hard to leave them behind again. I promised to stay in touch.