Day #8: Seattle!

Patty and Paul served us a very delicious French toast breakfast and then drove us to Bremerton Harbor Ferry.


The Bremerton Harborside area has the most amazing fountains I've ever seen. Oops! This isn't one of them.


We caught the ferry to Seattle and grabbed a quick clam chowder lunch at Ivar's right on the waterfront.


While having our lunch I noticed this strange upside down rainbow in the sky.


We ate our lunch under the careful, expectant gaze of a hoard of sea gulls.


We decided to try the Seattle Underground Tour.


We learned a lot about how Seattle is built one story above the original town. It was rebuilt after a fire much like Chicago. It is also named after Chief Seattle. (I'll bet you spell it differently. I'd check it out but I'll be honest and say I have got to get myself to bed. I'm pooped!)


Also learned how Seattle imported a bunch of toilets invented by Englishman, Thomas Crapper. The toilets used to be called crappers after the inventer.


Next came Pike's Market which was a bustling, exhausting place.


I ran into Chuck Pefley there. He is a Seattle blogger whose blog I visited a while back. It was a lot of fun to meet a fellow blogger.


Back to the ferry from which we could see the beautiful Seattle skyline.


The haze had cleared and we got a good look at Mt. Rainier.

Day #7: Silverdale, Washington

We’re in Silverdale, Washington.


We arrived yesterday after a ferry ride from Victoria to Port Angeles in Washington.


It was the last day to cross the Hood Canal before it closes for construction for 6 weeks. For this reason, we’d changed our schedule to leave Victoria a day early.

Thank goodness Paul warned us about the canal bridge closing because we would have been in for a very unhappy surprise if we arrived today not knowing that the bridge was closed.


The Olympic Mountains were beautiful! It was another beautiful day in the Northwest.

We arrived at Patty and Paul’s in the late afternoon. After Patty's scrumptious dinner, Paul and Art went to return our rental car at Seatac airport in Seattle.

It's such a beautiful part of our country here!

Day #6: Back to Butchart

The sky was SUNNY and blue this morning! We decided to go back to Butchart and do the B.C. Museum in the afternoon.

As soon as we entered the park we could smell the perfume of the hyacinths blooming everywhere.


We were surprised to see camelia blooms that had fallen and scattered to the ground. My mom said that samurais hated camelias and called it kubi kiri which translates literally as cutting the neck referring to seppuku (ritual suicide where the stomach is slashed and neck cut off). Seeing the beautiful, in tact flower heads fallen to the ground seemingly still in their prime reminded the samurai of heads fallen in defeat.


I'm sorry this post is so long. The day was incredibly beautiful and we have a zillion photos that I just can't help but need to share.


Pasque Flower (pulsatilla)


Art spent a long time watching this beautiful woodpecker.


Mom said willow trees in Japan were often thought to have ghosts beneath them.


OK... Can't help myself....more cherry trees...


Art was explaining to my mom who rarely uses gym shoes how to double tie her shoe laces so they would stay secure.


Azaleas


Another cherry tree


We had to go back to see the sunken garden. A sunnier day made the garden even more striking.


We had a hot dog lunch at the Coffee Shop.


In the Japanese garden Mom was excited to see a Goyo no Matsu (5 leaf pine tree). She said she remembered her mother telling her how valuable this type of pine was.


I was having way too much fun photographing as many flowers as I could. I wish I had an even better macro lens.


Don't know what kind of flower this is but I just liked it.


This is Art's idea.


We had to see the sunken garden one last time before we left.


Mom and I had to have a soft serve to celebrate this gift of a sunny, beautiful day.


We went back to the hotel to get a little rest. Unfortunately, mom and I fell asleep, which didn't leave enough time for the B.C. Museum. I know Art was disappointed. There just isn't enough time in the day. We let mom rest at the hotel while Art and I wandered about the city. We saw this statue of Queen Victoria outside the B.C. Legislative Building.


There were decorated eagles placed around the city which reminded us of the decorated cows we had in Chicago.


We noticed that there were green parking meters for VERY small cars. It cost $1.00 for 1 hour instead of the $1.00 for a half hour for regular sized cars.

We'll be leaving Canada tomorrow and heading back to Seattle to see our friends, Patty and Paul. It's been a glorious visit to our northern neighbors!

Day #5: Butchart Gardens, Victoria

We're in Victoria tonight. It's been quite an incredible day. Art mentioned how we used to love taking the kids on trips because everything was new and wondrous to them and we could enjoy it through their eyes again. Now we're enjoying that experience again, seeing each magnificent thing through my mother's eyes.



We left Vancouver very early to catch the 8:30 AM Tsawwassen Ferry...



...and arrived at the Butchart Gardens by around 11:00.



"I thought Stanley Park was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen," my mother said, "but this place incredibly surpasses it."



We decided to buy the Spring Lunch offer and was glad we did. It was very elegant and delicious. Mom and I loved our potato puree with scallops and water cress soup.



Art enjoyed his mussels.



The grilled salmon atop the cobb salad was scrumptious. OK... I admit it! It was the bacon I loved!



Yes, yes! I did take another million photos of flowers! I just couldn't help myself. When we went to our hotel and downloaded the photos my mom asked several times if I was done because she wanted to see all the flowers again.



The sunken garden was magnificent! Mom kept gasping at the beauty all around her. The contrasting colors of the flowers, the variety of plants and creativity of the landscape architects absolutely astounded her.







When Mom saw the hanging cherry flowers, she remarked that she felt like she was dreaming because it was all too lovely for words.



We had to leave because Mom's legs were bothering her. We promised her that we would come back tomorrow. We made a stop at the Victoria Butterfly Garden where the wonder of having butterflies and birds all around her was another fascinating experience.

Art is such a sweetheart. He actually lifted Mom the other day to see something forgetting that she wasn't really our seven year old daughter of some 25 years ago. I know he nearly threw his back out.





There weren't just butterflies there. This bird really surprised me. It wasn't afraid of me at all but kept staring at me with his/her large eyes framed by orange eyelashes.



We're staying at the Executive House Hotel in Victoria tonight and tomorrow. It's a suite and just gorgeous.



It even has a kitchenette. I'm so excited. We went to the market and bought breakfast for tomorrow and some dinner for tonight.

I'm going to bed late again but I just had to share this day with you all. Tomorrow, we've got the B.C. Museum, a walk through the Empress Hotel which is a block away and back to the Butchart one last time. Although it cost $26.00 per person today, it will be just $3.50 tomorrow. I sure hope it will be a sunnier day. You know I need more photos!

And Mom is excited about seeing it all again! Hopefully with better light. Although it was overcast... it's still better than rain. We've been awfully lucky so far.