Travel Tuesday - North to Alaska - Day 2 Vancouver Island

Thanks again to Hailey and Zaphod for letting me share my travel adventures here!

On the second day of our trip, we took a bus tour to Vancouver Island.  It is about 104 km/ 76 miles from Victoria (British Columbia's capital) and Vancouver. I think later on the trip I disappointed travellers who were hoping to go for a bit before catching flights, that you need a minimum of 2 hours to get from one city to the other and it could be longer, depending on ferry service. 

Our day started early, with the bus meeting us at our hotel. While we were waiting for other passengers, we watched more of the opioid crisis - the paramedics checking for life and a guy just doing his drugs on the bench across the road. I admit, it was hard not to stare as it is so outside my normal experience.

Once we were all on board, we drove the 30 minutes to the ferry terminal, and hit the jackpot that there was room on the 9 am ferry (we were scheduled for the 10 am one) and drove right on. We then spent the next 90 minutes enjoying the ferry ride across the Strait of Georgia.

Here are a few shots from the ferry:

Our first stop was Butchart Gardens. This has been a public garden since 1904, is a natural heritage site and attracts over a million visitors a day. There were so many people with dogs walking the paths, it made me miss mine. The most famous garden is likely the sunken garden.  When the quarry went 'dry' so to speak, Mrs. Butchart started a project in 1909 to turn it into garden, which were completed in 1921.

The sunken garden

Another of the famous gardens is the Japanese garden, which was built by Isaburo Kishida, a garden designer from Japan. This was also the garden where the 'phone incident' occurred. As mom was enjoying the gardens from the comfort of a wheelchair,

at one point she unlocked the chair without first securing her phone and her driver set off with a good clip, sending the phone flying, and then the driver drove over the phone.

The phone was cracked to the motherboard and useless. Never fear, a new phone was awaiting mom when she returned home and with her iPad, she didn't really need it on the trip. Life lesson, always secure your belongings before letting me push you in a wheel chair!

The Japanese garden

While I found the Japanese garden lovely and it reminded me of Tokyo (what great shade on a hot day), I missed the koi.

Another of the famous gardens is the former tennis court turned Italian Gardens.

There were so many beautiful gardens and fountains. I will share more of these on Nature Friday, but before we leave the gardens, a few more sights:

After a few hours in the gardens, we headed to Victoria. The city was named after Queen Victoria in 1851 when Victoria became an official British colony. It became the capital of British Columbia when BC officially became part of Canada in 1871.

Here we took another horse drawn carriage, this time a private tour, around the harbour area and Beacon Hill Park. Much smaller than Vancouver's Stanley park at 183 acres, it has been a free city park since 1882. It is named Beacon Hill park because historically the navigation beacons for ships graced its hills. 

BC's capital building

Me thanking my driver, whose name has left my brain. 

After a tour around the park, we enjoyed the harbour area and cool drinks. 

Hotel Grand Pacific is to the righ

This statue looked so much like my dad!

The city was full of beautiful flowers - this was at a street corner

This statue made me smile

On our way out of the city back to the ferry, we say the world's tallest totem pole made out of one tree.

We splurged on the ferry ride home and paid to sit in the 'quiet lounge' that had hot tea and snacks. It was a nice break from all the people. After nearly 14 hours, we arrived back at our hotel, ready to rest for our travel day to Alaska.

Come back Friday for more flowers from Butchart gardens and come back next Tuesday for our arrival in Alaska. 

Mischief Monday - The Hole and the Answer - by Phod (and Lady too)

 Dear pals,

This weeks' mischief prize goes to me, because I have a hole in my fur.  There may be a small cut and it seems a little itchy, but it isn't a big deal. (Editor's note - today is both dogs regular check up with the new vet and we will get this looked at then. It didn't seem to be worth a trip to emerg with this appointment so close. Come back Thursday to find out how it all went).

To solve the mystery from Wordless Wednesday last week, as some people had a hard time finding me (this was also an activity the Man's work group tried too), Lady has circled me.

The Man said this is my best lion of the savannah impression - Phod of the field.

People asked about ticks - there are apparently some but in the 11 years we have been in here, we have seen one. We take our meds monthly to help protect against them.  Lady says at this point in our lives, we are at quality of life and enjoyment, so we take the risk, until we get other informoation. 

Nature Friday - The Sunflower

 Thanks to Rosy and Sunny for hosting this event.

While her sunflowers didn't do as well this year (it appeared some creatures enjoyed eating them), Lady did come home to this - which is enough to make her smile.

We hope it made you smile too! 

Evening Field Walk - Photo Essay

 

Let's go!

The path the neighbour cut.

Phod takes his time.

We walk in a line.

We find some deer poop.

We aren't always on the beaten path.

Thanks M and J, great neighbours who share their field! 

Wordless Wednesday - Find the Phod

 

Travel Tuesday - Go North To Alaska - Vancouver, B.C.

 Hello readers,

I would like to thank Hailey and Zaphod for graciously allowing me to take some space on their blog to share my most recent adventure - a trip to the West Coast for anAlaskan Cruise with my mom.

In or around the year 1968 my mom decided she wanted to go on an Alaskan Cruise. She and my dad had been planning this around the time the 'incident' made travel basically impossible for my dad. I offered to go with her. So this summer was the time to make her dream come true.

Me in Stanley Park

Our trip started on July 28 with a very early morning flight to Vancouver B.C. We arrived around 9:30 PST and after dropping our bags at the hotel and having brunch, we headed out for the hop on and hop off bus around the city. This was my mom's first trip to Vancouver and my third.

One of the first stops we passed through was Chinatown. Allow this traveller a moment for the less pleasant. I feel I am fairly well informed on the Opioid crisis in Canada, and I had seen some of the issue in previous visits to Vancouver (as well as seeing some in Ottawa and Toronto). However, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. For the dignity of those impacted, there are no pictures and words can't describe seeing 'piles' of strung out people, seeing people check others to see if they were dead, the pain, and the suffering, literally laying on the sidewalk for what felt like endless blocks. My heart broke a little and I was near tears (I am not a crier so this is a big deal). While it was a shocking way to start the vacation, I do not regret having a much deeper understanding of this problem and as my jet lagged brain settles, I will be looking into what I could do to help.  

A memorial in Chinatown to those who fought in the war

Famous Gastown clock

The Vancouver Harbour

A statue I liked in the city

The main stop we took on the hop on and off was Stanley Park. This 1001 acre park was named for Governor General Lord Stanley, the man who gave us the cup (the top prize in the NHL). It is a beautiful place and well worth the visit.

The park has some wonderful gardens. 

I loved that nature had found a way to grow!

We took the horse drawn tour around the park, with our horses Jim and Grit. 

Grit kept giving us the stink eye lol!

Many movies and TV shows are filmed in Vancouver and the horses from the stables at the park have been in shows like Once Upon a Time (some were Prince Charming's' horses).

Vancouver, and almost all the area we visited is a temperate rainforest, which means they are areas that get ample rainfall, less severe winter weather and therefore some amazing growth. The trees in Stanley Park are mostly only a few hundred years old thanks to logging and fires, but it was still stunning. 

Never met I tree I didn't want to hug

One of the main attractions in Stanley park is a collection of totem poles, which represent a number of different First Nations in Canada. Totem poles are monuments that the First Nation's People of the West Coast carved to tell stories, to commemorate people and events. (More on them when we get to Alaska).

Another attraction is "Girl in a Wetsuit." This is rumoured to be inspired by the Little Mermaid Statue in Copenhagen, and having been to both, I can seem the similarities. 

I took a picture of the geese because earlier in the day had seen some tourists were trying to hug them and they can be so nasty. 

As a Canadian I sometimes forget how uneducated much of the world is about us. I would like to take a moment to just clarify a few things.

Yes - Canada has towns, we are not just big cities.

Provinces are most easily explained as being similar to States but with more Federal oversight. We also have territories, but will save explaining those for another time.

Our coloured money has nothing to do with the pride movement.

Yes, it is very expensive to live in Canada, especially Vancouver. Who can afford it? Not many.

Thanks for letting me know you think Trudeau is good looking. He is now single if you are interested.

The province is British Columbia. The city is Vancouver, the island is Vancouver Island and the city that is the capital of the province is Victoria (It is not Victoria Island).

I can assure you Ottawa is the capital of Canada. It is not Toronto. I know Toronto thinks it is the capital of the world, but it is only the capital of Ontario. Please stop arguing with me about this.  

Come back next week when we visit Vancouver Island - the bus trip where many of the gems above were gleamed! 

Mischief Monday - Where to Begin

Hi pals,

We are back! We have so much to catch you all up on and so much of to catch up on, we are trying not to feel overwhelmed. 

Brief summary - Lady and Grammie had a very nice trip and we are going to let Lady tell you about it on Travel Tuesdays.

Man took very good care of us. Phod's ear remains infection free and his arthritis shot seemed to help. 

Our baby birds didn't make it. We did what we could, but nature can be cruel. The composite for our deck just arrived (thank so the port strike in Vancouver), and progress is being made slowly.

The mischief winner this week is Callie. Our deck builder keeps his truck doors open to keep the truck cool and because he is getting things out of it all day. Well on Friday, he had left the doors open and left a Subway sub in the truck. Miss Callie wandered over (as she will), got into the truck and ate the sub! 

Lady missed a lot of celebrating while she was away. 

August 1 - we celebrated 11 years in our house.

August 3 - Lady and Man celebrated 87 million years of marriage.

August 6 - the most important celebration - Phod's 11 year Gotcha Day! We celebrated it late on Saturday. 

Looking forward to catching up dear friends. We really missed you!