A day in Victoria. High Tea at the Empress Hotel.

Mixed-use building in downtown Victoria

 

It was a wild night - high winds, lots of rain. Really glad we weren’t in a tent! We slept in until 8:30, then got up to blue skies and sunshine. Cooked eggs on the griddle, ate at the picnic table, and admired the view. Drove into town, parked near the Empress Hotel, and walked and shopped. 

A nice sports shop, Cathie bought some hiking boots here

A small boat-building business

I really liked these skiffs they were building

We skimmed the large Chinatown area. Today we'd have gone in.

Back to the van about 1, wrote up postcards and relaxed, then changed and walked to the Empress for tea.

It wasn’t long before we were seated and fresh strawberries & whip cream were delivered (Gord ate all his too!). Everything was lovely without going overboard. Just the right level of service. We were there about an hour, and felt like it was worth the price. It included a 12-pack box of their special tea blend, a nice touch. Lovely harbour view. All in all a great experience.

 

Yum!

 

After tea We walked back to the van and changed back again, and walked around downtown for another hour or so.  Then took a drive out past Sooke. Disappointing, as the trees covered any views, and no pullovers for scenic lookouts or shore access.

Cath donned her new hiking boots, and we walked the boardwalk again, to Spinackers Restaurant, partway around to Victoria. Had a great fish&chips meal and 2 “homebrew” beers each. Still raining.

(Those were good hiking boots. Cathie still has them, and they still work 31 years later.)

 

 

A walking route from our campsite to Empress Hotel and downtown Victoria:

 

Leaving Langley, over to Victoria BC

 

Butchart Gardens

 

Rainy and mild to start the day. Away from D&B’s about 5:30. Luckily Donna was up to let the cats out, so made us some coffee and gave us some ice water. We called the girls - woke up Heather (8:30 their time, but she had been up till 2am).

 
We got to the Victoria ferry at 6:10, and bought a 1-way ticket ($35.75). Good crossing, up through the islands. Started seeing eagles right away. Cold and windy, had to go back down to the van for warmer clothes so we could stay outside for the trip across.

Got to Butchart Gardens at 9:10. $22 to get in, and you had to pay before you parked, so guys can’t even wait in the vehicle for free. The gardens were overall a disappointment. Our expectations were high, and it was nice, but the price was high, busloads of Japanese, Italian and German tourists swarmed the place, all jabbering loudly. They can’t seem to just walk around and enjoy the gardens quietly.

It's a pretty place though, especially considering it started from an old gravel pit: 

We got to West Bay marine park in Victoria to camp right about noon. It’s right on Victoria harbour, across from the downtown. Both Victoria and the Olympic mtn in Washington are visible from the park on a good day.

 

Victoria Harbour

 

From our Marina campsite

 

We walked along the harbour into town, along a great boardwalk, about 1 ½ miles to downtown Victoria. Browsed downtown for a while, in the rain (thank goodness for the Barbour coats). Then made a reservation for high tea at the Empress for 2pm Monday ($18.75 each). 

Then we took the water taxi home, as it was still raining and we were getting tired: 

 

We relaxed at the van for a bit after that, then decided to go out for recommended fish&chips at Barb’s Fish and Chips. The place was takeout with picnic tables, but since everything was wet, we just ate in the van. Rather expensive for takeout, I thought, but good. 

Then took a drive along the scenic Marine drive, stopping here and there and walking. We kept thinking we saw otters in the water, but they always turned out to be bobbing logs. The sky was blue in places and we saw a rainbow, so hopefully it will be better weather tomorrow.

(Disappointing that we had no pictures of this, or video. Thinks were sure different 31 years ago)

 

 

 Walking route from our camp to downtown Victoria:

 

 

 

A couple of days around Harrison Hot Springs and back to Langley

 

At Minter Gardens

Friday 

Mild and sunny, a lazy morning. Bob had coffee ready, so we just sat, chatted, and ate bfast until about 10. Cath &Donna &Gord went to Minter Gardens. Donna had a coupon, so that helped keep the costs down. What a wonderful place. We roamed the gardens for a couple of hours, took lots of videos and slides. Cath just loved it. We ate there too. 

After the gardens we dropped C&D off in downtown Harrison, and they walked back to the cg. They went by the hot spring and tasted the warm water (tasteless) and splashed some on their faces to look younger. 

It’s a beautiful scenic village with a lake and lots of mountains. C&D hiked up to the start of the Campbell Lake trail on the way back. Saw a snake both going up and coming back - likely the same one, annoyed at being disturbed. They carted back a piece of driftwood.

After showers, D&B treated us to supper at a Japanese restaurant nearby. We had to take our shoes off to eat, and sat on cushions. Dinner was excellent, especially the tempura-battered seafood. 

 

Harrison Lake shore in the evening

Harrison Lake

We had another campfire later at the neighbours, Pat and Ray. Ray loved building campfires. Wish I had a picture. 

Saturday

Cath and I went for a real uphill hike in the morning. We sure did a lot of huffing and puffing to walk 3 km in under 2 hrs, but it felt great.

Looking back down at Harrison Hot Springs

 

After the hike and a break we loaded up and headed back to Langley, Treating Bob and Donna to lunch on the way.

 

 

Cache Creek to Harrison Hot Springs, via Hell's Gate

 

   

We had a real good night in the van. We didn’t need to bother with side or front curtains, so laid in bed and watched the sun set. Went in to town and picked up Donna and Bob at 7am, and brought them back for bfast at the site. 

When we left and went back through Cache Creek, we found that D&B could have stayed at a better-looking place, several were just around a curve from where they stayed. Ah well, live and learn.

We stopped at Lytton, at the forks of the Fraser and Thompson rivers. You can really see them merging, as the Fraser is very muddy and the Thompson is quite clear. Lytton bills itself as the whitewater rafting capital of Canada, and you can sure see why! Both rivers were raging torrents.

 

 

Hell’s Gate was another hour’s drive downstream. All 4 of us took the Air Tram ($15 for two). It’s only a 4-minute ride, but it’s quite steep, and right over the rapids.

 

A lovely oasis on the other side. We’ve never seen so many hummingbirds, or so many different kinds. They come to the feeders outside the windows to the restaurant where we had a disappointing lunch. 

A great picturesque spot. Quite expensive though, and really not very good. It sounded good, with salmon chowder (very little salmon) and Caesar salad. Cath left half of hers. Bob paid for it all. Thanks Bob!

Cath got a souvenir spoon and another insulated mug. Then we drove on and stopped at Alexander Bridge Prov Park. Made a pot of tea, and took a hike down to the bridge (not open to traffic anymore).

 

 

We stopped at Hope to checked out the historic rockslide, a memorial to the four people killed in the early morning slide.

After picking up a couple of couple of bottles of wine, we headed to D&B’s seasonal campsite at Harrison Hot Springs about 5pm. A lovely spot. Bbq burgers, beans, and wine. Bob had a campfire ready when we got back from a walk into town.

Road trip to Whistler BC and on to Cache Creek BC

 

It's trying to be sunny this morning. We were all ready to hit the road by 8:30, heading up to Whistler for a “loop” drive. 

There wasn't too much traffic in the road this morning once we cleared Vancouver. The route became BC's famous Sea to Sky highway, and is a great drive, although a bit misty this morning.

Near Whistler we stopped in to Whistler Brewing and had some small samples:

 

We got to Whistler about 11:30, fixed salmon on a bun & some chips for lunch. The gondola ride is only operating on weekends right now, and otherwise the Whistler "downtown" seemed mostly expensive boutiques - quite disappointing, not our kind of place at all. 

But an hour’s drive up the road we stopped and hiked 3 km up to Nairn Falls. Really pretty and a good break. The scenery got better as we went along. We made several more stops to ogle the mountains and valleys. 

 

Part of the route we were on was still unpaved

Heavy rail traffic on the other side of the river sometimes

Rails often followed river valleys

Still in use today

 

Later we stopped at a hotel in Lillooet for a great ham steak supper. All 4 of us had it, being the daily special for $7.95 - soup/salad, dinner, tea & Jello - really good, and a nice change from fast food on the road.

Scenery changed on the 1 ½ hr drive from Lillooet to Cache Creek where we stopped for the night. Along the way we saw miles of ginseng fields. Terrain changed from foothills to drier, more desert-like terrain, deep Fraser R canyon. 

We camped at Cache Creek cg about 8pm, right beside the creek. D&B are in a motel in town, about 2 km away. Lovely cg setting, dry hills, sage, coyote/wolves serenading.