Victoria

The Fairmont Empress Hotel on the esplanade in Victoria.

The second part of the trip was to Victoria, after a 90 minute ferry ride from Port Angeles across the Straits. The Washington State & British Columbia ferry systems are really quite efficient and make for easy (and scenic) trips across Puget Sound and the Strait. Things have gotten a little more complicated lately with the imposition of a requirement to have passports to reenter the US, and the subsequent more detailed screening by customs & immigration during check-in, but it was really no big deal. Guess it's not unusual to see whales, seals, otters and pods of Orcas during the crossings, but things were pretty quiet for our passage.

Victoria itself was quite a pretty little place - sort of a mini-Sydney, Australia - and we enjoyed it very much. The city spreads around a pretty little bay. Lots of boats and many of the buildings are Victorian era, making for a picturesque scene. Took a harbor ferry tour which lasted for about 90 minutes and generally walked our legs off exploring the town.


Along the inner harbor, just in front of the Empress hotel. You can just see the Parliament building behind Rita.



One of the tourist "things to see" is Butchart Gardens just north of the city and, as it turned out, just a 15 minute walk from where we were staying. Wandered about one day and even had "High Tea" in the dining room.


Lots of nice hikes in the area. There are several Provincial Parks in the region that have spectacular walks along the coast and thru the forest - all within a half hour drive from the center of town. This is from our hike along the Coastal Track in East Sooke Regional Park.

We stayed in a converted boathouse that was originally built in the 1920's, and which was converted to use as a B&B about 20 years ago. Really a neat place and a destination in its own right as you can see from the accompanying photos. The views were terrific. Made it extremely relaxing to sit on the sun porch and just watch the water in the changing light of early evening.








All in all a most enjoyable and relaxing interlude.

Took the ferry from Vancouver Island to Whidby Island on the return, thus making a little circle out of the trip as we drove down from Whidby NAS just north of Seattle. Poked our heads in at McChord AFB to have lunch & check out the Exchange before returning to Vancouver on Saturday afternoon.