The day started with an early appointment to ride the ferry. We were waiting at the dock in Anacortes at 7:00 AM. We loaded up, and were on our way by 7:45 AM. We stopped (picking up and dropping off passengers and cars) at Orcas Island, Friday Harbor, and finally Sidney, BC. The whole ferry ride took about three hours, but we were warm and comfortable on the second deck. We ate sack lunches provided by our motel and played a game of Crowns. Booty and Laurie posed for me at the boat dock, Friday Harbor. It is for certain that we need to revisit the San Juan Islands in the future. They looked really interesting.
After checking into lodgings (The Cedarwood Inn) we went to town in Sidney, and found a bakery and bookstore. Laurie tasted her first European sausage roll. Very tasty indeed. We drove to Butchart Gardens, arriving in a down pour. It was a little discouraging, because we had looked forward to the stop, but the gardens provide umbrellas, and our parking attendant even took this photo for us. We had to include the crab sign, which is how one remembers where he is parked.
You wouldn't think there would be much to see at a public garden in October, but not only were the fall leaves on prominent display, the garden was planted with mums, dahlias, fuschias, hydraganias, and a myriad of other flowers I couldn't name. We took a ton of photos, most of which I will spare you from. After about 45 minutes, its stopped raining and the sun came out. The garden was spectacularly beautiful then, because the wet plants really showed off their color in the warm sunshine.
One of the highlights of the gardens is the beautiful Japanese section. Bubby, Booty, and Laur stopped to ham it up at the gate. This part of the garden has beautiful ponds, streams, sculpted shrubs, and bridges. We had fun looking around, but Laurie's camera decided it didn't want to play in the wet, and just quit. She was bummed out, because there were still lots of photos to be taken, and she was cameraless. We tried everything, but the camera would just not work properly. Interestingly enough, we just got back to the motel, and she turned it on, it is working fine now. Go figure.
This is the obligatory shot by the entrance to the gardens. We had a wonderful time, finishing our visit with warm up by the fire and some bread and cheese. It was nice to just sit and smile, thinking about everything we had seen and done.
We left the gardens in the rain, again. We drove to the other side of the island to a Provincial park called Goldstream. When we were here with Uncle Phil in November a few years ago, the salmon were running up this little stream and it was really something to see. Unfortunately, the fish were not in the stream, so the whole outing was kind of a waste. Bubby did pose with the biggest maple leaf in the world, and she wanted me to be sure and include this photo.
After we got back to Sidney, we went to the grocery to buy ketchup flavored potato chips and Scotch mints. We also bought a liter of milk for tomorrow's breakfast. We tried a couple of restaurant options and settled on a Greek spot. We had warm, homemade, pita bread and houmus for our appetizer. Bubby and I shared a nice Greek salad and pasta dish, Booty had a gyro, and Laurie ate baked spaghetti. Aside from their using clove in her pasta sauce, the meal was great. We ended the evening at Dairy Queen, where we finally celebrated Booty's new job.
A great day altogether and tomorrow will probably be just as good. Bubby has high tea reservations at the White Heather (a favorite of hers) at 2:00 PM and we will undoubtedly look around the Inner Harbor tomorrow, too.
Buboppy
No comments:
Post a Comment