Up Over: 8/13/16 Flowers and Ferries

Today we ventured into horticultural heaven.

The cool morning of Victoria saw us out into the city. Streets lined with riotous flowers belied the serious drought that is affecting the island. Less than half the normal amount of rain has fallen this year, but the residents still maintain a floral attitude. Our experience riding the city streets was much improved today because it was a weekend, so we glided out of the center to our destination, Butchart Gardens.

Robert Butchart, a pioneer in cement production, moved with his wife Jenny to Victoria in the early 1900's. He started a cement plant and his wife began her gardens. Here her genius took flight to create a paradise. A prime example of her exceptional ingenuity is in the sunken gardens. A lime quarry proved unfruitful for her husband, and she took rock and made it into a botanical miracle. Feeling privileged to walk through the giant trees started as seedlings, the tiny waterfalls rushing past 100 year old Japanese maples, hedges of Leyland Cypress, thicker and more compact than the walls of my house, we fell under the spell of absolute landscaping perfection. Not one weed, very little blight and total pest control kept Jules amazed. To think of the care that it takes to maintain this perfect environment, when thousands of visitors are trekking through it every day, is mind boggling.

Relaxing our way through the gardens, we gradually wandered out of the maze of color. Time was right to board the ferry leaving for Vancouver, so we made tracks. Easily gearing up to the second deck, we settled into our cruise. Warm weather and calm seas brought us safely across.

Back on the mainland, we skirted Vancouver and headed for the hills. Hope was calling us and after several false starts looking for rooms in other towns, we ended there for the day, scooped into a bowl of mountains.

We are definitely on a homeward route. We have ridden to the western most point of the Trans-Canadian highway, continentally opposite to the furthest point east on our ride last summer, St. John's, NL. Feeling the need to fill in the middle, we wonder when we will cross all of Canada and complete the longest transcontinental highway in the world. For now, we are quite satisfied in book-ending this amazing country, and will continue east, dipping into th US when the road leads us there.

Thank you Canada for seeing us in and out of Alaska in grand style. Thank you for some of the most intense scenery ever seen and for growing the friendliest people in the world. You have been a good guide and a better friend. We will miss you when we leave!