Victoria BC & S. Vancouver Island Vacation By Delinda McCann

Last week we took a four day vacation to Victoria BC. There is more to see on the south edge of Vancouver Island than just Victoria with its architecture and shops. We did visit the shops and admired the buildings.

Hubby commented on the regulations it must take to preserve the original architecture and keep the buildings clean. I picked up a brochure on the topic. Tourism more than pays for the costs of preserving the downtown area.

​If one wants to see strip malls and modern buildings in Victoria they can travel out Douglas street for ten minutes and see all the modern you might want. I do recommend traveling outside the downtown area. Of course, everybody wants to see the Butchart Gardens, but we stayed at a B&B down the coast where we could walk on the beach and watch the Straights of Juan de Fuca.

Shopping! Moccasins make the best slippers in the world. They are made with natural materials and they're warm. The main motivation for this trip was to buy moccasins.

Beacon Hill Park is a short walk from downtown Victoria although we drove. This is from the bluff over looking the Straights of Jaun De Fuca. The Olympic Mountains in Washington State are in the background.

This picture was taken from about the same spot as the one above. I love this row of houses by the park. Wouldn't you love one?

I love all forms of native art. The totem poles have always captured my imagination. This one is in Beacon Hill park.

This totem pole reaching for the sky is near the bluff in Beacon Hill park. This picture was taken from close to the same spot as the houses.

The flower beds at Beacon Hill are something ordinary people could do. This is a water wise border, with an interesting color combination between the gold and magenta. The blues and greens in the bed makes the combo work.

Here is another water wise combo in the park. I was more interested in the Gerry Oak that grow here. They are an pre-ice age species and are relatively rare.

I was impressed with the use of the fuchsia as an understory plant in the park. The perennial fuchsia is inexpensive and prolific. It isn't fussy. this border is a mix of perennials and annuals.

I'm still in Beacon Hill Park. This peacock walked right past me. He didn't care that I was taking pictures of him. A loose peacock in a city park is a rare find.

Now, I've moved on to visit Butchart Gardens. It's really cool to have these world class gardens so close to my own home. This is the sunken garden. The beds here are very different from the ones in Beacon Hill Park. These are planted with mostly annuals with a few trees and shrubs for accent--much more labor intensive that the perennial borders at Beacon Hill. They also require more water.

This knot garden is at the top of the hill before going into the sunken gardens pictured above. Butchart Gardens were built over a rock quarry. Most of the dirt was imported when the gardens were built.

I love water lilies. These are in the sunken garden.

And here is the main fountain at Butchart Gardens. I need a better fountain in my garden at home.

When you get tired of looking at flowers at Butchart Gardens, you can take a 45 minute boat ride. The boat tour was $17 US. The boats leave every 15 minutes and there is never a line up. It was hot the day we were there so this nice cool boat trip allowed us to rest before visiting more of the gardens. We saw bald eagles and harbor seals from the boat, and there were lots of jellyfish in the bay. I found the trip educational as well as refreshing.

Okay, we've left the gardens behind and traveled down the coast to our B&B. The geology of Vancouver Island is different from my island. We saw lots of these outcroppings of basalt with very little top soil. I took this picture to show the lack of topsoil. This is what is under those gardens pictured above. This is why people on Vancouver Island don't get excited when earthquakes in the 4-5 range hit off their coast. The shock waves from an earthquake don't travel well through basalt so they actually shake less that areas with a deeper soil structure.

The view from the Lodge at Weir's Beach where we stayed. It was so quiet and peaceful away from the bustle of the city.

We took a walk on the sandy beach in the morning. Sandy beaches along this bit of coastline occur only in coves. Most of the shoreline is rock right down to the water's edge as seen in the distance.

Okay, who takes a picture of a manure pile? A writer. This manure pile is featured in one of my books. Also, remember what I said about little top soil. Composting is important in this farm area west of Victoria. The picture of the rock outcroppings was taken near here.

Small farms are common outside the city. This area grows mostly produce. I saw some animals. This road is where my heroine in Power and Circumstance lives. I took the photo from in front of Celia's house.