Victoria, B.C. - Butchart Gardens

Deception Pass...would you want to drive on this?

For my birthday, Brian planned a little family trip to Victoria, B.C. We took off work last Friday and left on the 8 a.m. clipper. A co-worker of mine and his wife were on there with us and enjoyed holding and playing with Ella Grace. That was nice! Due to high winds, we had to take the weather route, which added another 2 hours to the trip. Other than feeling a little sea sick as we entered the Victoria waters, it was fun. They have food and drinks on the boat and most of the seats have tables so you can entertain yourself playing games, cards, whatever.

Anyway, once we entered the marina, we jumped on a shuttle and headed to the Butchart Gardens. We received a tour of the town on the way and learned all about it. The gardens were really pretty but I would love to go back in the summer or at night once the Christmas lights are up. It was neat watching them set-up everything for Christmas though. Some pictures below. The story behind the Gardens is really cool but I'm not going to share it. Read here if you want to learn more.

Sunken Gardens

Lookout Point - where the family would enjoy the sun and water

A few facts:

• In Victoria, many families who live on a lot of land and produce vegetables, fruit, raise chickens, etc, sell their products to the public. They have kiosks at the foot of their driveways, and set up the products each morning. While they're in the city at work, locals can stop by and purchase items, leaving the amount they owe in a box. If they need to make change, they can open the box and do so. At the end of the day, the farmer comes home, counts inventory, grabs his earnings, and sets up the kiosk all over the next morning. It's called the honour system there and is widely used. We actually used it in our hotel with the wet bar and snacks. When checking out, you just tell the hotel staff what you used and they charge you. Pretty cool!
• Marijuana isn't really legal there yet but not enforced. Everywhere we walked, people were smoking it in public. Haha!
• Gasoline is priced by the liter there. I looked at the price and thought "$1.04 that's cheap." Like I said, it's by the liter, which would be over $4/gallon here. Yikes! No wonder everyone walks there.

Anyone who knows me well knows I love ironwork. These were awesome! Ranging from $3-$8,000.

One of the main houses before it became a public attraction

Japanese Gardens