The Gardens

Thursday, August 9:

Jeff had a difficult time shaking me awake this morning.  I had a tummy ache in the night and it seemed like I just got to sleep when he called my name.  But a hot shower and a cup of "in room" coffee got me started and a stop at Tim Horton's (Canadian fast food) finished the job of getting me up and at 'em.

Our goal for the day was to drive to Butchart Gardens and tour the whole place without missing a single plant!  Ok, that was a little ambitious.  But we did want to see as much as we could before exhaustion, heat or crowds stopped us.  The drive through the countryside was lovely and soon we were at the gates.  I have to say it was one of the best organized entrances.  They had kids in orange vests taking your money or credit card while you were still in your car in line.  Then they had other kids directing you to parking.  It was great!  The gardens are divided into several areas.  I wanted to see the rose garden before it got too hot so I could sample scents.  So that's where we went first.  Following are some of the pictures we took:

The Hanging Garden

The Sunken Garden

Auriole and Earl--fellow gardeners

Jeff and I sat down to rest beside a nice looking couple.  We started talking and it turned out they were avid gardeners who lived nearby and had season passes to the garden.  After a long and interesting conversation about plants and planting, they invited us to their house to see their garden.  We were surprised, but pleased, and accepted their invitation to visit them tomorrow on our way to the west side of the island. 

There are so many more pictures that we took of the garden, but they don't really show the vastness of the spaces or the genius of the combinations of plants.  I had such a good time, and I think Jeff did too.  We left at about 1 and headed back to Victoria for lunch and then home to the Harborside for a rest. When we got to our room we were happy to see that the maid had been in, but were surprised by a package on the desk.  This is what we found;

Happy Honeymoon treats from the Harborside

We went down to the pool for awhile, but it was in the shade and was cool with the breeze from the harbor.  Then Jeff hung out in the hot tub and we napped.  For dinner, we braved Portugese chicken with East African spices.  I chose the mildest while Jeff picked medium which turned out to be plenty hot.  Then we walked around town a little and came home for some balcony time.

Tomorrow (Friday) we are going to go north to visit our new friends and see their garden, drive over the mountains to the west side and spend a night at a B and B in the town of Ucluelet.  If we don't have internet there, we will update again when we can.