Victoria in the Spring

After visiting the Butchart Gardens Chrissy and I took a whirlwind tour of the Victoria area in between my conferencing....try to keep up!

Mile Zero of the TransCanada

The Empress

Hatley Castle and Gardens

Home of Royal Roads University but more importantly the 'manors' of the movie X-men, and TV 'abodes' of Lex Luthor and Oliver Queen.

Cathedral Grove

The rain-forest home of giant redwoods.

Wine and Cider Tours

Fantastic cider tasting at Merridale Estate Cidery. Every cider we tried was phenomenal but probably the best drink was just the plain old apple juice. Sooooo gooood.

Somehow the lavender and rhubarb wine at Damali Winery just worked. There is no reason it should taste good but it does.

Cool Pepsi Machine

Whiffin Spit Park in Sooke

Craigdarroch Castle

Exploring Victoria Harbor

Quick Hits

Watching the marathon from our hotel room

Crashing a Chinatown art opening and holding a rickety ladder

Fisherman's Wharf from a water taxi

Lounging Around

Worlds biggest hockey stick in Duncan BC

Coombs Country Market (aka - Goats on Roofs)

Visiting Victoria in the spring from Edmonton and experiencing a temperate climate, rain-forests, a beautiful harbor, and flowers in full bloom was a little disorientating.  A few times we caught  ourselves discussing our customs allowance for our trip home. It's hard to believe that we were in the same country the whole time.

We liked the whole area so much we even looked around at real estate and want ads. Unfortunately I don't think we could find jobs that would allow us to buy the type of house we have become accustomed to in Edmonton. I guess the trade off is a beautiful surrounding and weather all year or a pretty decent home and disposable income. I almost feel lazy in our choice.  Maybe we'll just have to take another 'overseas' trip to Victoria again.

Victoria: Butchart Gardens

When it was determined that I was going to Victoria for a work trip at the end of April it was pretty much a certainty that Chrissy would travel with me and that we would take a few extra days to play tourist.

With our home province covered in winter road silt heading to Victoria seemed like traveling to a tropical foreign country.  And so, with great zeal we ventured out from the downtown a mere 25 minutes to the world famous Butchart Gardens to welcome in spring.

Not really too much to say other than the spring seasonal flowers looked fantastic.  Below are a sample of the great visuals we experienced. Too bad there is no way to capture the fabulous scents of the place.

Classic Japanese Garden Pose

"Tacca" in the Piazza

The Sunken Garden - My Favorite of all the individual gardens

My favorite girl in all her flowery glory:

Fun with the garden globe:

Butchart Gardens is absolutely beautiful. It is a must visit if you are ever on Vancouver Island. I know that we will be back again many more times.