Gary-Summer: July 2026

Friday, July 24, 2026

July 24, 2026 - Buchart Gardens

Title: July 24, 2026 - Butchart Gardens

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

Description:

Today is a slow morning in Victoria. I woke up around 6:30 and saw there was no lightning and went back to bed. Sort of nodded off and on. Andrea got up to go for a run and I got up around 8. We had a hotel breakfast. It is not until a little before 11 do we actually get out of the room.

Sherri and Andrea

We get to Butchart Gardens about 11:45, after paying the entrance fee. The fee seems really high, but in Canadian dollars. Later on when I get an email from the bank, the amount seems tolerable. I can hear my Dad in my ear grumbling about how high prices are now. The difference is that even though I think the prices are high-I am like Dad in that regard-I will not let that stop me or my family from enjoying what we want to do. We just need to choose wisely.

Now that I have that out of my system. Sherri and I have been to the Gardens before with Mom and Dad. Andrea has been here as well when she has done her Dragon Boat races. In a lot of ways it is not new to us. But particular to Sherri, she wants to spend time exploring and enjoying the Gardens and a High Tea.

Surprisingly, Sherri and Andrea spend about the first half an hour in the gift shop. I found a shady bench and continued to read Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. The book started off slow. From reading his previous book, he is an engaging writer. So I am willing to give him a chance. Now I am engaged in his characters and wonder what he will be bringing next to the story.

Sunken Gardens

When they emerge from the gift shop, we start walking along a path. That is when Sherri realizes she has forgotten her phone/camera in the car. I get commissioned to retrieve it while they continue to enjoy the flowers along the way. It takes me about 15 minutes to get back with them. They had not gone far-not sure if they wanted to make sure I could find them or if they were enamoured with the flowers.

Trees of Life

I will not be going into detail about every flower we saw. More just some general places we went. Hopefully the pictures will give you some ideas. The first section we went to was the Sunken Gardens. Sherri asks me about a plant. Which they saw. I thought it was a begonia. When I put Google Lens on it, it confirms it! This is so unusual as my extent of botany is: it is living!

We spent about 45 minutes just wandering around the Sunken Garden. The two original trees, called the Trees of Life are down there.But to me, they are not the main attractions. The riot of colors with the peacefulness of the grass and ponds are. As we make our way around, it is realized that we need to get moving so Andrea and Sherri can make their 1:15 reservation for High Tea.

Ready for their High Tea

It takes a little effort to find the entrance-actually, if we just opened our eyes at the start of our search, we would have seen the way. They leave for their tea, I find a bench in the shade and have my sandwich-notice the theme? All are content with their sustenance. I read for a while longer until their tea finished around 2:15.

Did Andrea and Sherri enjoy themselves? I will have Sherri and Andrea put the High tea into their own words:

It was so nice, lots of good food selection. Tea was really good. Felt like they were being taken care of. Down to the tea strainer being set for them. Food was very decadent. The tea was delicious. Mom got the 100 year tea; Andrea was the Button tea.

It was a great time to spend with her daughter.

They want their own High Tea.

Andrea at the High Tea

The first thing which they do is serve the sweet thing first, an English peach trifle. Then served tea before the main food.

The quiche, which was both of their favorites, had a really thick crust. There were leeks , with crushed peppers. The peppers were locally sourced, something like from the Volcanic Gods.

Then there was the sausage with something like a philo dough. It was done in layers, with time in the freezer to get the layers right.

After they get out, we go over to the Rose Garden. There, we wandered around the circle. We saw a sign saying there were 2,500 different roses in the garden with around 250 varieties. That is a lot of roses. Every couple roses, one of us comments about how fragrant or vibrant the flower was.

Monkey Puzzle Tree

When we emerged, we thought we were going to the Japanese Garden. Instead we ended up at the Fireworks area, totem poles and Rose Carousel. The totem poles were created for the Gardens 100th birthday, honoring both the First Nations of the area as well as representing various animals. We come across a couple Monkey Puzzle Trees. We stopped and cogitated on, where have we seen these trees before? We each have different recollections. We rested there for about 15 minutes before moving on.

We retreated back to the Rose Garden and now went the right way to get to the Japanese Garden. To me this seemed much more like a Japanese Garden than what we saw in Minnesota. But there are two different types of terrain which these and the Minneapolis gardens are built on. I think Butchart was built on ground which was more conducive to a good Japanese garden. First, we descended into a hallow, by a series of steps. Then the path winds its way around, so you have to slow down and enjoy the surroundings. There were all of the elements which we learned about last month-see Wikipedia on this. These gardens seemed to flow more than forced. I could see how you could get yourself lost on these paths.

By the time we finished with the Japanese Gardens it was 4pm. We all are pretty tired. But there is one more thing left which Andrea and Sherri want to do: revisit the gift shop. Which means I get to read some more. By the time we left, it was closing in on 4:45.

Andrea drives us out. We decided we wanted to stock our stuff. I wanted to get gas and Shereri wanted a Polish dog and poutine. That means we will go to Costco. Apparently Victoria really likes their Costco. When we got off of the highway, there were signs telling us exactly where to go to get to the store. We are still unsure how to convert something such as km/l to miles per gallon. Somehow 11.5 km/l seems low.

Costco Adventure

We did wander around Costco. But, we did not pick up anything. This Costco carried much of the same stuff as what the ones in Salem and Fresno does. But they seem to have things arranged differently. We ended up not buying anything. But we did go to the food court and had Polish dogs and poutine. We are content.

I drove us back to the hotel, arriving at 7:15. We all just lay down and relax. I eventually take a shower, followed by Sherri. By 10, I go to bed.

Extra Photo's

Andrea at High Tea

Sunken Gardens

High Tea Drink

Sherri and Andrea coming out of the High Tea

Sherri and Andrea

Centennial Totem Pole

Monkey Puzzle Tree

Beginning of Japanese Gardens

Andrea helping her Mom

Stork sculpture

Pagoda

Sand Garden

Flowers and Plants

Thursday, July 23, 2026

July 23, 2026 - Go to Victoria

Title: July 23, 2026 - Go to Victoria

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking : Car

Trail: Tumwater Falls

Trail head: Brewery Park

Distance: .75 miles ¹

Elevation Rise: 218'
Descent: 219'

Maximum Elevation: 102'

^{1Information from plotting on Google Earth}

Description:

I got up around 5:20 to find that there was no lightning to report on. After yesterday’s activity, that is good for both the area and me. Me because I can use the early morning hours just to enjoy a few things. For the area, it will give people time to find any fires started in the reporting area.

People and RipTide-now called Toste-started getting up at 6:30. I had my breakfast and then packed the car. Felt pretty proud of myself: everything is below seat level in back. In the past, I have only had a tunnel to look through to see out of the rear view mirror. Lawrence leaves for work at 7:40.

We leave Andrea and Lawrence’s house at 8:45. Andrea is driving and I am in the backseat-this is a rarity. A bit of conversation for a while. I work on a couple blog entries for this trip. When Andrea gets behind a Tesla which does not seem to understand how to drive on a freeway, she notes that you can buy a beautiful car, but you cannot buy driving skills. This will go in my email signature line sometime.

When we get to a rest stop, Toutle River to be exact, I take over driving, but not for long. In about 45 minutes, we came to Brewery Park. Andrea has stopped here and highly recommends it. There is a set of falls, Tumwater Falls. This is the area where Olympia beer was brewed. It is a short walk to the upper falls. There is something about the falls, both something plain and simple-after all it is essentially a fall which was created by a dam-which is a source of refreshment to one's eyes.

Fish Ladder

But we walk further down a path, maybe a third of a mile. Some of the path has metal grates which allows you to look down onto a fish ladder. Andrea notes that when the fish are running, you can watch them as they leap up the ladder. The path is really a loop. We cross over the Deschutes River and come back to the other side. A very pleasant walk. I have marked this as a place to stop for a nice break if we are in this section of Washington.

Just as a note: We had previously walked along Deschutes River in Bend, OR. But this is a different Deschutes River. You do not expect something with that name to have several versions of the river.

I continue to drive. We need to get some bread and stuff. There is a Trader Joe’s along the way which we stopped at two years ago. We stop again. I sent a picture to the family asking do they know where we are? This starts a text chasing which seems to have no end. Finally David remembers the place from two years ago.

Sherri and Andrea crossing the Deschutes

And along the lines of two years ago, I made the same mistake we made two years ago. The direct road to Port Angeles looks more like a side offramp than something that major. I started off wrong and realized ten seconds into the route what we did wrong then and now. It took us ten minutes to get us right.

I drove for a little ways further until Andrea finished her sandwich. Then she took over driving. I have my usual sandwich. It is another 2+ hour drive to Port Angeles. Andrea gives narrative about the places she and Lawrence enjoyed on a recent trip up here. We make it right when the ferry over to Victoria starts to accept cars. There is an almost two hour wait to load. Andrea finds some fellow Dragon Boat racers and talks with them. I read. We do hear thunder to the west of us and the waters look choppy.

The ferry has us leaving the cars in the hold and go up to the passenger deck once the ferry starts to move, the effects of the choppy waters is shown . Andrea and Sherri go outside into the wind and wet, Sherri can barely keep upright, Shortly afterwards, She comes back in and I join Andrea. I do not do much better getting out. I am able to navigate by holding onto rails. With a little practice I can go short distances without holding on. Eventually I rejoin Sherri and Andrea inside.

Someplace on the water, we get a message from Verizon. In essence it says that they are switching us over to Canadian carriers, but we can still use data, make phone calls and text.

We had left a bit late and arrived a bit late. The sides of the lanes are so narrow, we have a difficult time getting back into the car. I try to be the one who crawls over the shifter and managed to get stuck. Andrea helps to get me unstuck.

Andrea drives us to the hotel, Robin Hood Inn Room 245. Looks pleasant enough. We have two queen beds with our own kitchen. The room is a quasi-second story. The hotel is built on a hillside, so the slope has us even, even though being on the second level. After we got settled in, we ordered food for pickup from Hecklers Bar and Grill. Andrea and I got a Beef Dip while Sherri had a chicken salad. Enjoyable. I thought I wanted something light, but I ate the whole thing. Shortly after finishing, we went to bed, around 10.