Fall Trip 2 - Vancouver to Victoria

Fall Trip - Part 2 - Vancouver to Victoria

We arrived in Vancouver's Stanley Park, with it's great view of the city, late on the Sunday afternoon...

I love the Totem pole collection at Brockton Point, but with the sun so low in the sky, the lighting
through the trees was very blotchy, and not the best for photos. But I had to make the best of it...

Lonnie explained that many of the poles tell stories....

Coco liked the birds on the tops of several of the poles.
"What kind of bird is that?"

"It's a Thunderbird. They are very powerful, magical birds. There's another Thunderbird."

"Look, I'm a Thunderbird!"

"I'm one too!"

We stayed to watch the sun set...

... and the lights of the city go on....

Ferry to Nanaimo

Early Monday morning found us on the ferry to Vancouver Island. The trip from Departure Bay in Vancouver,
to Discovery Bay in Nanaimo takes just over an hour and a half. The sun hadn't even risen over the trees yet,
as Leona and Coco checked out the marina from the upper deck....

We were on the Coastal Renaissance, the largest ship in British Columbia's fleet of ferries....

While the ferry was loading vehicles, it was fine to be out on the open deck, but once it started sailing
across the Strait of Georgia, it got way too windy, so we went up front where it's sheltered

It looked like it would be a nice day....

When we reached Naniamo, we took a short drive along the coast along the water....
I forgot just how big the driftwood can be there.

Lonnie and Holly climbed up on a rock, as the ferry headed back out into the Strait, back to Vancouver.

Cowichan Bay

Heading south towards Victoria, we stopped in at the scenic fishing village of Cowichan Bay...

We arrived in Victoria just in time to watch the sun set over the Strait of Juan de Fuca

River Jordan

After spending the night in Victoria, we decided the next morning to check out the southwest coast along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It's a very rugged coast with very limited access. We went only as far as River Jordon, since the road goes inland after that.

The tide was out, and the kids started building stone sculptures out of the smooth, flat stones....

The girls decided to climb on some of the large driftwood...

Hundreds of seagulls were perched along the rocks at the water's edge...like a line of white dots along the edge of the beach....

When the rising water would cover the rock they were standing on, they'd fly off and find a
new dry rock a little further from the water. Coco and Holly enjoyed watching them....

When Jan got too close, they ALL took off......

French Beach

Heading back towards Victoria, we stopped in at French Beach Provincial Park. The beach is a 'cobble beach' of
large rounded stones and can be quite challenging to walk on, and it is dotted with giant driftwood....

The boys came across some giant kelp....

"Whoa, this is cool!"

They tried to pull some up the beach....but it was just too big.

Then they looked for whales, but didn't see any...

And just in case you think the driftwood is way out of scale to the dolls in the photos above,
no it's not - the driftwood here really is that big....

Centennial Fountain in Victoria

It was late afternoon when we arrived in downtown Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. It's a beautiful city, and one of just a few major cities that we actually enjoy going right into the downtown. There's a lovely garden, behind the parliament buildings, which has a fountain with several bronze sculptures of animals important to the indigenous people of the area.

Coco posing with the Eagle...

Two girls and a wolf.

Thunderbird Park

In downtown Victoria right next to the Royal British Columbia Museum, is Thunderbird Park with it's two longhouses and impressive collection of totem poles. Each cultural group of native people had their own style of carving poles, and many are represented in the Park. The original poles deteriorated over the years, and renowned native carvers were commissioned to replace them. Some of the originals are housed inside the Museum.

Mungo Martin built the traditional Kwakiutl house complete with carved house posts inside. In front of it stands a Kwakiutl-style pole also carved by Mungo Martin.

The bottom figure on the pole depicts Dzunukwa holding her son, half human and half Dzunukwa, who grows up to become founder of the Nimpkish people. Coco isn't too sure he wants to get any closer to Dzunukwa, the Wild Woman of the Woods, that mythical figure native parents would scare their children with to prevent them from going into the forest on their own.

The Haida poles are huge, with many figures, rising high into the sky....

Holly found them rather hard to photograph. Mostly we just got photos of the bottom figures...

At the base of this Gitksan-style pole carved by Mungo Martin, Henry and Tony Hunt,
is the ancestress Will-a-daugh holding her child who sucks its fingers.

"Let's pretend to be a totem pole"

Victoria Waterfront

Butchart Gardens

Continuing on with our fall trip. No visit to Victoria, British Columbia, is complete without a visit to Butchart Gardens. The gardens were started over 100 years ago, by Jennie Butchart, and they have become one of the world's premier floral show gardens.

In autumn the gardens are a riot of colourful begonias, and chrysathemums.

The girls enjoyed looking at all the different animals on the Rose Carousel....

..and the shady pools in the Sunken Garden....

Lonnie and Holly liked the Italian Gardens...

...and all the dahlias....

After walking through the entire gardens twice,
we were all very tired and ready to leave, and go back to the RV.

Duncan

After leaving Butchart Gardens we headed north, and stopped in at Duncan, the 'City of Totems'. However, my feet
were way too sore after walking through Butchart Gardens twice, so we only visited the Station Gallery.

Owen and Milo checked out the totem poles there.....

..and Milo climbed up on the caboose....