Water Lily, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
These were floating in the star pond. Butchart Gardens are amazing. So many different areas to explore, so many beautiful flowers and trees to photograph. Really amazing.
Peony, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
There was such a great variety of peonies at Butchart. I loved these.
The Sunken Garden, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
The sunken garden at Butchart in what used to be a rock quarry. Spectacular.
Madrone, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
This beautiful tree, a Pacific Madrone, is the center piece of the sunken garden at Butchart. It’s red smooth bark is lovely.
Butchart, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Tuesday afternoon we headed to what is probably considered to be one of the main attractions near Victoria, Butchart Gardens. Only Karen had been there before, and she’d not seen it in bloom, so it was sort of a new experience for all of us.
Poppies, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
We strolled along the harbor walk and there were some beautiful poppies. I had to take a photo.
The Bear, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
There’d been signs saying there were black bears in the area along the Juan de Fuca trail and that you should use caution… and, if you happened to encounter one, what you should do. We read them, and hoped we didn’t have to use them. On our hike up from Botanical Beach we noticed a couple of things… one, a very fresh bear paw print, and two, a fairly sizable and newish looking pile of bear poo. These had us slightly concerned and we quickened our pace toward the parking area. Mary, after seeing the paw print, said she preferred not to see a bear along the trail, but wouldn’t mind seeing one while we were driving in the car.
Cut to the drive out of the park and back up along the small two lane highway toward Victoria… Karen in the passenger seat, Weston on her lap, Mary and Martin in the back seat. Suddenly Karen says… Holy crap, there’s a bear. We all looked to the left and then pandemonium broke out in the car. Everyone was yelling… “open the window, take a picture, hurry, get the camera, there he goes, open the window, I can’t open the window I have the dog, take the dog, I can’t get the camera out of the case with the dog on my lap, open the window, take the dog, damn my camera battery is low and the camera is too slow, I just got the reflection in the window, he’s right there on the side of the car now, what’s in his mouth, I think it’s a fish, open the window, there he goes, did you get him, I think my pictures are blurry, my camera battery is going dead, open the window, he’s gone, I can’t believe we just saw a bear, no one is going to believe us because we didn’t get a picture, you should have opened the window, I couldn’t because I had the dog, how did yours turn out, I think that blur is the bear, you should have opened the window, I couldn’t open the window I had the dog, I should have given you the camera, I can’t believe we just saw a bear, that is so cool, I’ve never seen a bear… wow”.
Mary got the best picture, and this is it. The black blur in the center is the bear. Really. We all saw him.
Pools, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
We had to be careful walking around on the rocks… one miss step and you’d end up in a four foot pool. Kind of looked like the moon… with water.
Sunken Pool, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
This is one of the pools at Botanical Beach. It doesn’t really do justice to it. For one, you can’t really tell that this thing was about three or four feet deep.
At Botany Bay, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
A large part of our day was spent hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail and enjoying places like Botany Bay along the trail. This was a splendid spot. Great opportunity for taking photos.
The Unnamed Beach, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Beach on Vancouver Island, B.C.
Driftwood, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Monday, during our drive up and around parts of Vancouver Island North of Victoria, we stopped briefly at a beach who’s name I can’t remember. It was pretty cool actually. Hardly anyone on it. Loads of stakes out attached to what we imaged to be some sort of lobster pots, or shrimp pots, or crab pots… who knows for sure. We never saw the pots, only the stakes and the line. There was also some awesome driftwood lying around and a great selection of rocks on the beach. We took pictures of the driftwood and brought some of the rocks home.
Lake Cowichan, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Lake Cowichan, Vancouver Island, B.C.
Looking at Lake Cowichan, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Mary, Martin, and Weston down on the banks of Lake Cowichan.
Walking The Path, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
We stopped at Cowichan Lake and then walked the forest walk and floating walkway trail. Very cool and an absolutely gorgeous spot.
Malahat Lookout, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Monday we decided to once again head out to the wilderness. Our first stop, Malahat Lookout. From here you get a pretty great view to the east. Far off in the distance is San Juan Island, Washington, U.S.A.
|
Fresh Or Not So Fresh
Top Five
