Alaskan Adventure - Day 2 - Thursday, June 1, 2006

Vancouver, Victoria, BC
Overcast in morning and evening, rain in afternoon.

Up at 0545. The sun struggled to rise through an overcast sky, but in the end, was swallowed by it. Talked to Mark on IM at 0630, just to make sure he got out of bed and made it into work on time. At 0700 we went down to breakfast. While in line waiting for the hostess at the restaurant, we struck up a conversation with a couple, Lee and Annette from California. Ended up having breakfast with them and they seem to have adopted us as their new "best friends". Although we are not on the same tour bus, they sought us out on the ferry to Vancouver Island and at every stop during the day. They were on us like barnacles on the belly of a fishing boat. I hope this doesn't turn out to be a burden. They're nice enough, though; Lee is into digital photography, so we have something in common.
In the hotel lobby we also met Andy and Lynn, from a Philadelphia suburb. I struck up this conversation because Andy was wearing a Penn State cap and jacket. He's a '64 grad, played on the PSU lacrosse team. They lived in State College for a while.
At 0925, we were on a tour bus headed for the ferry to Vancouver Island. The ferry was BIG... We're talking room for 30 big buses or tractor-trailer trucks, plus a couple hundred cars. Restaurant, bar, shops and game room on board, in addition to seats for about 2,500 passengers. Sailing time across the Strait of Georgia from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on Victoria Island was about 1-1/2 hours, very scenic as the ferry maneuvered through the many islands along the route.
After docking at Swartz Bay, the tour bus took us to The Butchart Gardens at Tod Inlet. This 55 acre garden, was begun over one hundred years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Pim Butchart in an effort to beautify a worked out limestone quarry site used in the manufacture of Portland cement. You don't have to be a gardener to appreciate the beauty of this site. We spent a couple of hours there, then boarded the bus to Victoria.
Victoria, on the southeast end of Vancouver Island, is the seat of British Columbia government. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time there, barely enough to take a fast walk through the shopping area on Government Street and have dinner at the Wharfside Eatery on (what else?) Wharf Street. Then it was back on the bus and ferry to retrace our path back to the hotel at the Vancouver Airport. Since we didn't get back to our hotel room until 0915, we just relaxed in the room for the evening.

See more photos at http://community.webshots.com/user/bodnar103