We flew out from LAX on Thursday morning, leaving at 5:53 a.m. We had to arrive at the airport at 4:00 a.m. (that’s the time the terminal opens) so we were up at 3:10!! Thankfully, Starbucks opened at 5 a.m. while we were waiting at the gate. J
We flew Alaska Airlines from LAX to Portland, Oregon and then caught the connecting flight an hour and a half later from Portland to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The flights were fine with very minimal turbulence. Pictures from the plane.
Landed in Portland, Oregon and then took a prop plane up to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Went through Customs and got my very first stamp in my passport!
We only had to wait about five minutes for our bags and then we caught the Enterprise shuttle to the Enterprise car rental office. Vancouver Airport in on Sea Island, just outside of Vancouver proper. The car rental office is in Richmond, just south of the Sea Island. It’s not the best area. Well, parts of it are okay and other parts…not somewhere you’d like to be when it’s dark.
We drove around to try to get our bearings and ended up at Red Robin for lunch. But, important to note, it’s Canada’s Red Robin and the menu reflects that! Lamb burgers, red pepper jelly, yam fries, salmon and chips, and the "California Chicken Burger." :)
There are maple leaves everywhere here!! On the Wendy’s sign, the Denny’s sign, etc. the apostrophe’s are maple leaves!
We traveled to North Vancouver and went to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. The Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park – “Naturally Thrilling since 1889.” J The bridge sways 230 feet above the Capilano River and it really does sway. Especially when there are annoying kids who purposely run from side to side to rock the bridge. (The guide in the tower had to yell at them to stop.)It was so quiet and peaceful in the forest. They have a cool nature walk up in the trees! From the website: “Treetops Adventure is the newest of Capilano Suspension Bridge's attractions and the first venue of its kind in North America, offering a squirrel's eye view of a thriving coastal forest. Visitors venture from one magnificent Douglas fir tree to another on a series of elevated suspension bridges, some reaching as high as 100 feet (30m) above the forest floor.” Some pictures from there.
We headed back to the hotel because it was SO hot and humid outside! Well, hot according to Canadians. They kept apologizing for the “heat wave” that had come through. It was around 90* F and we told them that was normal for summer in California. We have been having cooler than normal temps in CA before we left so it’s nice to be a bit warmer here. It’s also funny to hear Canadians say, “Wow, it’s 30* today! It’s so hot!” We’re thinking, “30*?? Oh, right, Celsius.” :)
The sun doesn’t go down until after 9:30 p.m. and that totally throws off my body clock! The sun is up by 5:00 a.m. and sleeping in is quite hard to do. :)
Friday
Up at 6:00 a.m. (see above comment…) and down to free breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We drove over to the ferry terminal and got there at 8:02, just missing the ferry. We pulled in and waited for the 9:00 ferry. Thankfully, they had a Starbucks in the ferry terminal food court/gift shop and we were able to use the free wi-fi to check e-mail. (No 3G network in Canada, eh.) We drove the car into the bottom of the ferry and went up to deck 5 where I was able to take a little nap while I was trying not get sea sick. J Hurray! I didn’t get sick at all. It was actually really smooth and slow. It took about 90 minutes to get from Vancouver to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal (northern part of Vancouver Island.) We decided to drive straight to Butchart Gardens which is across the island in Saanich.
Butchart Gardens
“Wow.” And again I say “Wow.” The Gardens are so amazingly beautiful. We did the self-guided tour around the Gardens and took LOTS of photos. My camera has a panorama feature and I was able to get some great shots of the Sunken Gardens.
We toured the Rose Gardens, Japanese Gardens, Italian Gardens, the Sturgeon Fountain, Star Pond, the Ross Fountain and then rode the Carousel. J
We spent a little more than three hours at the Gardens and only left because it was incredibly humid and I was wearing jeans. :-P
We drove over to Victoria and found our hotel, the Harbour Towers Hotel. It is right next to Victoria Harbor. A photo from our balcony.
We can see The Fairmont Empress across the way from our balcony and the Government Building is just down the street from us.
We asked the concierge where we should eat dinner and he recommended and drove us to Pagilacci’s Italian restaurant. We had to wait about ten minutes to get a seat but it was worth the wait in the heat. :) Oh, yeah. In Victoria, there is no air conditioning for the most part! It so seldom gets hot that the buildings don’t have it. First we thought it was just our hotel but we asked the concierge and he said that hardly anyone has AC. It just doesn’t get hot enough. Now the “heat wave” idea made much more sense to us. :) After dinner, we walked about ten blocks back to the hotel, passing The Empress and the Government Buildings.
We toured the Royal London Wax Museum on recommendation by Miss Bethany Shubin. :) It was creepily cool! Some of the figures looked so real, it was easy to believe they would start moving and talk to you. Some of my favorites are here in photos. (Photos on the other memory card. They’ll be up later…)
Going downstairs, they have “Storybook Land” which was really cute! But that lead into “The Chamber of Horrors.” Not so cute. Really freaky actually. We walked through there as fast as we could while I was trying to look at the ground and not the gruesome figures on the guillotine, the rack or other horrible devices. The last display in the chamber had something MOVING inside it and I screamed and pushed the door open to run out. Chris was staring at me and then started laughing. (Meanie!) He said he’s never seen me so scared before or could remember me ever screaming like that. *shudder* I didn’t want to go back and show him what was moving in there. Moving on…The Galaxy of Stars was really cool. Favorite shots in here…
“Great Leaders” – I only took a picture of Martin Luther. :)
We then walked the remaining three blocks to the hotel (everything is SO close here in Victoria) and got to see all of the lights slowly turn on as the sun went down. The Government Building is lined with white lights and it is so pretty. We’ll go back tonight after dark and take better pictures of it.
Saturday plans
Free tour of the Government Building this morning and then today at noon we have a reservation for tea at The Empress Room in The Fairmont and I will take LOTS of pictures. We will tour Craigdarroch Castle this afternoon – “Victoria’s Legendary Landmark.” Again, lots of pictures will be taken. :)
Things that are different in Canada
The way they say certain vowels. Example: we say Mazda as “MAWZ-duh.” Here they say “MAHZ-duh.” Also with pasta: “PAWS-tuh” and “PAHZ-tuh.” A boy in the market looking at the scones in the bakery area. “Oh, look! Raisin scons!” (Not SKOnes. SKAnes.) This will probably make more sense if you say it out loud rather than read it. Oh, look. Now you’re speaking Canadian. :)
They don’t have parking lots, they having “parkades.”
They follow up with “eh” after saying things. Actually, after pretty much anything.
"Fur shure" and "Yeah, fur shure" are also heard around here quite a bit.
It’s incredibly hard to find a super market around here! We found ONE in Victoria and it’s called “Thrifty Foods.” It’s tiny with ten aisles but full of people. There is an attached pharmacy/health foods store through a doorway. They don’t sell produce in the market but they do in the pharmacy. It’s funny to see the same brands here but with different product names. Such as, Yoplait Go-gurt yogurt in the States is Yoplait Tubes here in Canada. The 7-Up bottle labels are different here. And everything is in English and French! (Not Spanish!) :)
The drivers are very friendly on the road and no one seems to be in a hurry. The posted “kph” is much slower than the MPH at home but you eventually get where you’re going. :)
The bicyclists are CRAZY! They merge right into regular traffic (though not going as fast), cut off cars, run red lights, nearly hit pedestrians...Stay away from the bicyclists! :-D
Saturday
Saturday morning, we set out for the Legislative Buildings near the harbor. They have free tours available and our tour guide was great! He was informative and funny, both essential in tour guides in my opinion. J An architectural contest was held in 1892 to see who would design the new buildings and the bid was given to Francis Mawson Rattenbury, a 25 year old American architect! (He went on to design The Fairmont Empress Hotel.) The main buildings were built from 189-1897 and opened in 1898. Total cost of the building was $2 million (which at this time would be at least $500 million.)
Queen Elizabeth II of England is also the Queen of Canada. The tour guide said that she “reigns but does not rule.” This means that she is benevolent and she is represented in Canada by the Governor General and in each of the provinces, by the Lieutenant Governor.
Golden Jubilee Window – a gift from the Government of BC to the Queen on the anniversary of her 50th year on the throne. (2002)
Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Window – a gift for the 60th anniversary of Victoria’s reign. (1897)
The Memorial Rotunda – the site of several war memorials to those who gave their lives for Canada.
Legislative Chamber – the chamber was closed that day because it was being restored. They have a picture to show what it looks like. J The tour guide told us a funny story about when the Speaker is elected to the chamber. Two members stand at the end of the aisle and the newly elected Speaker runs away from the large chair in the middle and tries to run out of the chamber. The two members “catch” him and drag him back to the chair. The “theatrics” of this dates back to when the Speaker had to go before the King of England and give him the bad news from the Parliament (“we don’t want to raise taxes,” etc.). The king would typically call for the man to be executed or tortured. (This happened over 150 years and several kings!!) Now, of course, these things don’t happen. But only a few hundred years ago, becoming Speaker was a potential death sentence.
We had reservations for Afternoon Tea at The Empress Room in The Fairmont Empress Hotel. Wow. The hotel is SO beautiful and the food was excellent. If you ever have the opportunity to go to Victoria, save up to have tea at The Empress Room. J
Walking about Victoria and taking pictures of beautiful buildings.
We visited Craigdarroch Castle in the afternoon. It was a beautiful house but the family story is quite tragic.
From website: “Craigdarroch was built between 1887-1890 for Robert Dunsmuir, a Scottish immigrant who made his fortune from Vancouver Island coal. This legendary Victorian mansion, built on a hill overlooking the City of Victoria (Craigdarroch means "rocky, oak place" in Gaelic) announced to the world that Robert Dunsmuir was the richest and most important man in Western Canada. He died in 1889 leaving his entire estate to his wife Joan who lived in the Castle until her death in 1908. The immense fortune of the Dunsmuir family is reflected in the four floors of exquisite stained glass windows, intricate woodwork and fabulous Victorian era furnishings.”
Mr. Dunsmuir died before the house was finished and Mrs. Dunsmuir only lived there for eighteen years. All of that time and money and energy spent for what? They had eleven children but several of them died young. Mr. Dunsmuir left his entire estate to his wife (very unusual at that time) and his sons were expecting the estate to come to them. The children argued over who would own the property after their mother died and eventually the house and land were auctioned away and made into sub-divisions. The house became a military hospital, Victoria College, and a music school before the Historical Society Museum took it over and began to restore it to its former glory.
The sunset here at 9:00 p.m.
The sunset at 10:00 p.m.
Sunday
We went to a church that we found online (Victoria Free Presbyterian Church). The church rents the space from the “Holland House” – a club for Dutch people. We drove up and saw all of the orange flags and people wearing orange shirts and thought, “Uh oh!” The church service (at the building) was canceled because of the World Cup and held instead at someone’s home. (We didn’t know this until later in the afternoon.) We drove around and listened to a sermon on the radio by a pastor in nearby Cloverdale and then one by J. Vernon McGee.
We then headed to Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site (we saw a sign on the side of the road and decided to have an adventure). So much history here! Ford Rodd was built as a coast artillery fort in the late 1890s to defend Victoria and the Esquimalt Naval Base. We were able to go into the underground magazines (a place where ammunition is stored) and batteries (a unit of guns and mortars).
Fisgard Lighthouse is just down the hill from Fort Rodd and has been restored inside.
We headed back to the hotel and Chris e-mailed the pastor of the church to if there would be an evening service. The pastor e-mailed back quickly and explained about renting the space, the World Cup, etc. He was at a young camp in Calgary but there would still be an evening service at the building with a visiting pastor preaching. We headed back up there and yay! There were people in church clothes J and friendly smiles. We were welcomed by several people and the visiting pastor introduced himself to us. There were about 20 people in the congregation. Pastor Jason Boyle preached from the book of James on how we are to view the future (James 4). It was a really good sermon. We spoke to Jason and his wife Danielle who told us they are heading out to Mexico City to serve as missionaries. AND (get this all of you from TRBC!) he is meeting with Wayne and Marti Anderson and working with them!! J We told Jason that our church prays for the Andersons and send them support. What a small world! J
Monday
We left Victoria early to make the ferry back to Vancouver. It was a much rougher crossing than the previous one. Thankfully, I didn’t actually throw up but it was a distinct possibility for a long time!
We drove through the maze of Vancouver’s highway/street system (more on this later) and found our last hotel for our vacation. It is right on the upper harbor and you can see the seaplanes taking off and landing. We then set out to find the Sylvia Hotel, a place that Chris’ mom worked for four months while she was waiting for her visa to be able to come into the USA legally after marrying Chris’ dad. (This is back in 1958.)
We found the hotel and it is beautiful!
Tuesday
We had to be at the airport at 6:00 so we were up at 5:00 to give us time to drive over to Sea Island where the airport is. The rental car office didn’t open until 7:00 so we went to the airport, checked in, and then Chris went to return the car while I waited with our bags at the airport. The rental car shuttle brought him back and then we went through security…and I was pulled out of line and searched with the metal detector wand and then patted down!! (Are there many blonde, pale terrorists out there??) They let me go and we got on the plane, flew home without further incident, and picked up the boys from my mom. J
(The boys loved the presents we got for them. That was their big request – “Presents from Canada!”)
I’m glad to be home and sleep in my own bed and not pack up a suitcase every few days. I loved the vacation but I wouldn’t want to live there. There’s no place like home. <3
