Big Blue Watery Road

Vancouver Island is generally reserved for the old, decrepit people who want to retire in a Canadian paradise. It’s this very reputation (the paradise, not the geris) which attracts tourists in droves, without fail, every summer. While generally traveling there is too rich for my blood (thanks, BC Ferries), Marty’s parents wanted to make the trip and so we joined them for the long-weekend journey over land and sea. Do you remember last years’ island adventure? Prepare yourselves people – Darth Vader will play again.



Taking the car over was a much more pleasurable experience, with not having to trek a few miles to get to the terminal, lugging one measly bag which doubled as a purse. No siree – this time I packed a rollie-bag and lots of reading material, a computer, and anything else a reasonable person might need for a three-day getaway.







As you can see, the ride was very beautiful. Geris, here we come!

As we took an earlier ferry than anticipated and it was still hours before we could check in to the hotel, we decided to hit up Butchart Gardens to stop and smell the roses in the meanwhile.



I’d been to Butchart Gardens in, like, 2002 with my parents, so I was fully aware that I was about to be ambushed with an inordinate variety of flowers. What’s that? You don’t care to read a blog about flowers? Okay then. I’d suggest you shut your browser now then. Thanks for making it this far with us.









AW FLOWERS. CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW BEAUTIFUL THEY ARE.
ps. I love my Leica.



The sunken garden is a favourite of the geris. I can see why…it’s kind of nice!








A rare spot of solitude in this tourist-jammed mecca.







I’d like to introduce you to a variety of flower I dubbed the “gangster flower”. I mean, it has gold teeth – how much more pimp does it get:


Can you see it? It has a white goatee and gold teeth. It’s obvious.




These are totally like Lego flowers, aren’t they? WHO KNEW FLOWERS COULD BE SO COOL.




This is the newest addition to the gardens – an additional-cost carousel. You know, after paying $35 bucks to get in to view flowers, you might want to spend more money for a carousel ride. It could happen, but obviously hasn’t since it was nearly empty in there.









Ahh….and now, a photo break.

sigh

Okay, so one my favourite gardens is, of course, the Japanese garden. I like the sparse, spacious trees.













And finally, the star fountain and the French garden.









AND FINISHED! Yikes. That was almost too many flower pictures for me, and I took 3x this amount. Well, I’m all Butchart-ed enough for life now.

So we hopped back into the car for the backwoods way (thanks, GPS) into Victoria’s downtown. We arrived at our Priceline-booked hotel, the Coast Harbourside, and checked-in.





Oh yeah, ps, the room was massive. And we had a Juliet balcony! But the TV was a big clunkery one…TV’s are how I gauge hotel rooms. I’m snotty.

We all congregated and took the seaside walk into the hub-bub of excitement. Brace yourselves!




Seaplanes coming in for landing!









We strolled around for a bit and spotted Darth, mopping up his sweat. Mask off, he sure looked bad. Like, a greaser. My fantasy illusion is gone. And the violin was such a classy instrument.

For dinner, we headed down to the pier to feast on Djds’s recommendation, ‘Red Fish Blue Fish’.





UM……..I have no words that could give meaning to my feelings when eating this. It was that good. If I had to sum it up, I would use the words “perfect” and “blissful”. And it was fish. Which I hate. UGH! I want it in my belly now.


We ate on the ledge. You don’t get much closer to your food source than that.

We hiked the city a bit more before our legs began their revolt.






This is my twin! I love youuuu~

We grabbed the shuttle for the ride back and collapsed into our rooms. I did a bit of snacking and staring before the sleeping. Tomorrow we’ll do more stuff, but I’m going to break it up so you don’t feel like poking your eyes out. Enjoy the view!