Last stop in Victoria -- Butterfly Gardens

Very close to the Butchart Gardens is the less famous Butterfly Gardens -- which was still very impressive, though not quite as impressive as Butchart, of course. Over 3000 live specimens of butterflies are kept in a tropical conservatory, just flying around, showing off their butterfly-ness. We took so very many pictures of all different kinds of butterflies. But I will only add a few...






This guy, below, was literally as big as my whole hand! I can't remember what its name was, but apparently it can live in its cocoon (sp?) for up to 5 years for protection. Then, when it hatches, it only lives 3-4 days. It's nocturnal. (All this info is according to the sign sitting beside it as it slept.)

Samantha especially loved the flamingos in the pool, but we didn't get a very good picture with them. I thought it was funny she was so fascinated with them, when we brought her to see the butterflies. They're way in the background, behind us in this picture...
And Spencer was really enthused, as you can tell. But who can blame him, when he'd just cruised around Butchart Gardens for several hours?
That's all I'm going to write about our trip. It was lovely, we had a great time, I wish we were still there because things here are a little... dull? right now. Oh well. We'll have more pictures of ... something? sometime? We're looking for a second car right now, so maybe I can put up pictures of our search --- like Spencer eating the THOUSANDS of pebbles at the dealership yesterday. Or Sammie with her Fanta orange mustache from the free soda? (Sigh.) On second thought, maybe not. Bye for now!

A closer look at Butchart Gardens

Thanks for all the comments about Victoria! Since I got so many rave reviews of Butchart Gardens, I thought I'd share some of our collection of close-up flower pictures, of which there are many, many, many...












Ah, lovely blossoms! Brian remarked that one of the possible downsides of having digital camera at a place  like Butchart Gardens is that you may spend more time looking through the lense to capture the perfect specimen, and might actually miss some of the splendor of really being there. True, to some extent. But the camera helps us appreciate the splendor long after the blossoms are gone, right? Well, spring was there, at least for the moment.

lovely gardens

The Butchart Gardens are simply amazing! The tulips were at full bloom while we were there, and so fragrant and colorful. The history behind the garden is that the Butchart family started this private garden back around 1900. It is now Canada's most seen private attraction (according to a sign we read.) The famous sunken garden was originally an old limestone quarry that they dug out and filled with premium top soil, etc. It really was fabulous to see it all. I'm mostly going to let the pictures speak for themselves...

Sam, in the Japanese garden...
The family's private cove, where water planes still land today.
Zoom in below, to see Spencer trying to escape to take a dip in the pool...

Samantha doing her "princess" pose, in her own little gazebo...

Samantha and Spencer played on this little set of steps for probably half an hour. It was fun just watching them while enjoying the calm and lovely surroundings.

Samantha, practicing her "yoga exercises" ....

The famous sunken garden, from the top...





We couldn't stop taking pictures, as you can tell. It was just so beautiful! 

Victoria! Victoria!

When I was in high school, a very talented tenor sang a song called "Vittoria, Vittoria" -- for anyone who happens to know the tune (it's in Italian, I think? about a girl?), it was running through my head a lot while we were in Victoria. A beautiful song, and a beautiful place! 

We took the ferry across from Port Angeles, about an hour-long ferry ride (and a 3 1/2 hour drive to Port Angeles from Seattle because a bridge was out. sigh.) Brian always likes to take lots of pictures on the ferry, while he stands on the top deck in the wind. I've included a few of his shots, feel the excitement we were generating, just WAITING to land...

And then, feel the rain. It wasn't too wet, really. Just a light drizzle the whole first afternoon we were there. We still had fun, walking around the city. We treated ourselves to a fun IMAX movie about the ocean. Sam loved it, Spencer slept.
We also tried taking a tour of the parliament. It was not to be, as our children were waaaaay too loud for the echo-y chambers of that lovely dome. (Imagine the not-so-subtle looks of other tour-goers, as Spencer tested his echo and Sam kept trying to whisper, loudly.) My disappointed, rain-washed face...
And Sam, waiting out the rain...
And, the lovely parliament, (picture taken the next day, when the rain had cleared)...

We visited the Buchart Gardens on our second day, which will have to be a separate post, or two. But I'll end here with some of the other fun pictures we took around the town. Here's Spencer, trying to eat something off the grass... He did that every time we put him down, so he was stroller bound most of the trip, unfortunately.
Sam, posing and thinking she's sooo impressive, with her climbing abilities!
Here's the amazing Empress Hotel -- one of those posh places where I felt like middle-class scum for walking through with my sneakers and jean jacket...

And a couple shots of the inside...
Yeah, we didn't stay there, but were "Empressed" with the opulence!
A lovely shot of the harbor...
And, home again, home again...
One of my favorite ferry shots of Samantha...
Next post (or three) will be the lovely Buchart Gardens and Butterfly Gardens. Feel the suspense!