On August 6th Rick and I left for a six day trip to Victoria BC. We left early Monday, flying out at 6 AM. We arrived in Seattle with time enough to do some sightseeing. We grabbed a taxi from the airport (our driver was from Ethiopia so we had some good conversation:) and was dropped off at the Clipper (Pier 69). We got our bags checked in and then found our way over to Pike's Market. We enjoyed seeing all of the fresh flowers (my favorite) and fruits and seafood (Rick's favorite).
The flowers were uh-mazing!
The fruit was so beautiful and colorful.
The lobster tails were HUGE as were the scallops and shrimp.
After perusing the market we were ready for breakfast and crossed the street over to Post Alley, a good place for eating.
We found a really great sandwich shop that had THE best soup.
We loved our breakfast sandwiches, too:)
We found an awesome bakery with cookies the size of frisbees.....almost.
I bought some flowers for our rental in Victoria.
We walked a couple of blocks through the shopping district, over to the Seattle Monorail and took a quick 5 minute ride over to the Space Needle.
We had to wait in a long line (45 minutes) to get up to the top of the Needle.
It afforded us 360 degree views of Seattle. Very beautiful!
We then got to go Chihuly Garden where giant works of blown glass art created by Dale Chihuly are on display. The pieces were so beautiful and full of amazing color. We didn't have a whole lot of time but we walked quickly through the museum admiring these works of art.
We then headed back on the tram and over through the market and walked back to the pier. We were able to meet up with Kelly and Deanna and Pete and Terri for the Clipper ride over to Victoria.
On the Clipper leaving Seattle.
Once we got to Victoria we were met by our VRBO hosts who promptly took us to our rental. The home we rented was an older home but it served us well during our time there. We each had our own room and bath and there was a nice size kitchen and sitting area for us to visit in. We also rented two cars a mini van and an older land rover. We only ever used the one car because we all just stayed together the whole time. That first night we found Romeo's, an Italian Restaurant. Some of us enjoyed our meals while others did not.
Our group
After a good nights rest we drove over to Buchart Gardens and enjoyed the beauty there. Rick and I have been to Buchart a couple of times but the others had not. We all enjoyed it immensely. Amazing gardens!
After Butchart Gardens we drove over to Craigderroch Castle, an old mansion home in Victoria.
I love the history of this home! It takes you back to a different time entirely.
After touring the home we drove back toward our rental and stopped at the market to gather food for a bbq. While the guys grilled up the steak and chicken the girls put together a salad, chopped fruit and cooked the corn. It was a really nice evening spent out on the deck with some delicious food!
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The next morning we had breakfast on the deck and then headed off to the Fisgard Fort and Lighthouse. We enjoyed looking around the area and touring the lighthouse. Since it is a working lighthouse we were not allowed to walk to the top.
That afternoon we all took a whale watching trip. We got to ride on a Zodiak which is a raft type boat that travels really fast. The company provided floating dry suits for us to keep warm. I was sure grateful for it because it did get cold on the water. I wished that I had some ear muffs to keep the cold wind out of my ears.
We got to see humpback whales not too far out of the harbor. The orca's on the other hand were quite a ways away. We traveled for a good 45 minutes at (seemingly) full speed to get to where they were. But what a sight to see. The orcas were very active and we were able to see them breaching out of the water which was really cool. We actually were able to see two different pods and stayed with them about 40 minutes. Then we traveled back to the first pod of humpbacks and spent a little more time with them. On the way back we passed Race Rocks lighthouse. We saw sea lions and a couple of harbor seals. This excursion was a highlight of our whole trip.
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