August 18 - 23 Victoria BC

Dede visits the Butchard Gardens

Fancy Houseboat

Took the car ferry across from Port Angeles to Victoria.  The day started out a bit overcast but cleared as we crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  A bit stressful for me pulling the trailer into the confined space in the ferry, they put me right next to a large bulkhead and when I finally looked, the trailer was only about 6" off the wall. On the other side of us was a huge 5th wheel tailer hugged up next to us as well.  Getting off the ferry was just as exciting as we made a 90 degree turn inside the ferry to go out a side hatch on to the dock.  Getting through downtown Victoria was not a hard as I thought it might be, as we drove right through the tourist center past the Empress Hotel no less.  No time for High Tea.  Our RV park is right on the water in West Bay.  The seaplanes takeoff and land right off the shore.  We can watch the boat traffic in the harbor.
The marina has some very impressive boats as well as the most upscale and attractive houseboats I have ever seen.

We went to the Butchart Gardens this morning.  These gardens were built out of an old limestone quarry next to a cement factory Talk about green land reclamation!  These gardens are tended like no other I've seen.  55 acres of blooming flowers and lawns and not a weed in sight. Over a million visitors a year, the Butcharts are probably doing better now than when they were in the cement business. 

We went on to Sidney by the Sea to see their Maritime Museum.  Apparently it got moved from its harborside location as there is a hotel there now and no one could tell us where it went.  Somehow they lost their museum which unfortunately is advertised in their tourist brochure  as an attraction not to miss while in Sidney.