Butterfly Gardens

On our way to Butchart Gardens, we drove past the Victoria Butterfly Gardens, so on Sunday, we decided to head back and check it out. For breakfast, we decided to try out John's Place, a popular breakfast joint. However, the TC10k running race had just completed, and many runners were out searching for real food. When we got to John's place, they told us it would be a 45 minute wait. Rather than wait the 45 minutes, we wandered back towards the city center and happened across another breakfast place called Cabin 12. There were people inside eating, but the place was maybe only half full, so we decided to give it a chance.

The food came quickly enough, and we were all very satisfied. Well cooked eggs, potatoes, toast, etc. And for a better price than most in the area. We were near the Chinatown area, and there is a weekly market there on Sundays, so before we headed out, we walked through the booths to check things out. Misty and Aarthi picked up some lovely jewelry from a local artist.

The butterfly gardens boasts 12,000 square feet of enclosure, full of butterflies. Their marquee boasts, "more than you'd expect" and I couldn't help but laugh at that. The place was well worth the visit, it is much like other butterfly gardens, but had a few key additions that I don't think we'd seen anywhere else. There were a couple of pink flamingos wandering the place, both in good color. There was a duck who we saw feeding fish, quite amazing. He plopped in the water on one side of the small pond, and headed toward the food outpost on the other side. As soon as he got in, he had fish tailing him. When he reached the food area, he stood on the food bowl and started eating, but also flinging the food out into the water, which drove the fish wild. Many of the fish were quite large, and they were all competing for space. Very interesting to see.

Another strange animal they had is a Peruvian Puna Ibis called Spike. Spike is about 15 years old, and for all her life, she has been obsessed with people's shoes. Until we knew what she would do, we were a bit afraid that she would puncture us with her long beak, but once we saw an employee talking with a visitor about her, we saw what she does. She'll just walk over to your feet and start bouncing her beak all over your shoes, like she's trying to tickle your feet. It's really quite strange.

They have a good variety of butterflies, lots of different kinds, colors, etc. The have a large enclosure of Atlas moth caterpillars, and a box where the wait for them to emerge. A couple of Atlas moths were out sleeping on a branch, wings out for all to see. They sleep during the day and are only active at night. They have no mouths, don't eat, and live only 3-5 days after emerging into their final stage. Very amazing to see in person.

After returning from the butterfly garden, we decided to stop in at True North Gelato. What a mistake that was! Apart from being slow, expensive, and not that great, it was just a negative experience to watch the staff work. With only 4 out of 25 tables occupied, the lone cook was having a fit. Maybe he didn't get any sleep last night, or who knows what, but he was slamming doors, cursing, burning himself, and just generally screwing things up left and right. He screwed up several of our items, and the waitress knocked off one of them and then gave 10% off of another, but still the bill made our eyes wide. We definitely won't go back there.

Misty and I had to catch the clipper heading back at 5pm, but our friends were staying on the island for a few more days. They had a 4-5 hour drive ahead of them, so we bid them adieu, and wandered the shops on our way to the pier.

The return clipper ride was again, completely packed, but went pretty smoothly. Customs was extremely slow, and we were stuck with the same school groups that we went to Victoria with on Friday morning. Lisa and Nick were gracious enough to meet us at the port and we all went for fries and sundaes at Dick's.

Thanks to all for an excellent trip!

Butchart Gardens

On our second day in Victoria, we went to the famous Butchart Gardens.  First off, our friends rented a car, went to breakfast at the Blue Fox (not that great), then we picked up some groceries for a picnic at the gardens, stopped at a local cupcakery, and then headed off.  There are picnic tables outside the gardens near the parking area where you can eat.

The cupcake place was called Pink Sugar Cupcakery. The cupcakes are dairy and egg free. They tasted like chemicals. Not so great tasting but the place was decorated very well and the frosting looked pretty.

The weather was light rain, on and off, alternating with bright sunlight.  Earlier on, it was rainier, and that made it difficult to take pictures.  The garden had umbrellas free for use that we borrowed to supplement our supply.  By the time we decided to break for lunch, it was raining again, and getting windy and cold, so we actually decided to just eat our lunch in the rental car.  We had gone through most of the Sunken Garden by that point, so afterward, we had the Italian Garden and Japanese Garden.  The Rose Garden was not in bloom at this point, so there wasn't too much to see there.

The sunken gardens are very cool.  The whole area used to be rock quarry, and there are mounds of limestone remaining that were inferior grades.  These are all covered over in flowers, bright and colorful.  At the far end of the sunken garden is the Ross Fountain in a large lake.  We all split up and roamed the sunken gardens on our own and then periodically met up to walk together.

The garden had mostly tulips and other early bloomers but the most interesting find was the blue poppy. This plant is not easy to grow but it is very pretty. The color is so unique. One visitor commented that she heard the trick is to have circulating water when you water them but I don't know if that is true.

The Italian Garden is a smaller garden, more architected rather than flowing with the underlying landscape.  Again, lots of bright, colorful flowers, but with at lot more straight lines and traditional fountains.

The Japanese Gardens are traditional, but quite compact and small, at least compared to the Japanese Garden in Portland, which we both prefer.  Still, it is well manicured and there is lots to look at.  At the far end of the Japanese Garden is Butchart Cove, where several small boats were anchored.  We stayed in the gardens all the way to closing time, and then some.  It was nice to do the final walk through with almost no one around, however the gift shop was closed by the time we made it back and we were hoping to get one or two things there. Oh well.

The previous night, while wandering the town, we had made a reservation at a very nice looking Italian restaurant, Il Terrazo, that we happened across in an alley.  They kept our reservation and seated us quickly.  The food was excellent and we were all satisfied, but the place was really expensive.  We all shared a single dessert, the triple creme brulee, three different creme brulees; one vanilla, one orange, one chocolate. Tasty!

High Tea at the Empress

We've headed up to Canada for the weekend, taking the clipper from Seattle to Victoria with some friends.  The clipper itself was pretty smooth, considering its small size.  It boarded at 7:15am, so we had a minimal breakfast before embarking and ordered breakfast food baskets while on board.  Once we arrived, we had to wait in a good sized line to pick up our luggage and clear customs/immigration.  We were free to go around 11:30 or so and we went directly to our hotel, within walking distance, checked in, and dropped of our luggage.  Then we took our cameras and went to the Fairmont Empress to take photos and await our scheduled time for afternoon tea.

For those who have never experienced high tea at the Empress or something similar, it's quite the arrangement.  Small sandwiches, scones, and all manner of desserts are brought on small cakestands and endless tea is poured by an ever vigilant waiter.  A really cool and fun experience, but also very expensive.

Misty recognized the waiter from the first time she had tea at the Empress.  We mention this to him, Sam, and he told us he'd been there since 1976!

We spent the rest of the afternoon just walking around Victoria and then ate dinner at an Irish pub.  Wow, we ate a lot of food in one day!  At tea, we all had our favorite pieces and kept asking for more and more of them, and more and more came!

Tomorrow, Butchart Gardens!

Another trip north

A couple weekends past we got a chance to hang with Jen on Sunday and have a little belated birthday party for her. We drove to Silverton and grabbed a quick lunch at O'Briens. Mmm. Biscuits and gravy there are good. A half order is plenty!

Then we went to her house while I put together the fruit tart I made for her. Her and Alan dyed eggs while I layered the fruit. It was fun!

Then we packed up and drove to a little winery called Cubanisimo. A charming place with wonderful views. They have some award winning wines that are worth checking out. The nice woman let us stay a bit past closing as it was clear we were having a great time. We brought quite a spread of cheese, crackers, bread, and the tart. Some of Jen's friends (Tara and Rick) from Portland drove down to meet us and also brought cheese and crackers. It was a cozy spot and great company.

I hope that we can all get together again soon.