Pacific Northwest; Day 9

The alarm woke us up at 6:00 this morning. We had to leave earlier than usual to drive to Port Angeles to catch the ferry to Victoria, BC (on Vancouver Island) to see the famous Butchart Gardens (Butchart Gardens). When we departed the motel in Sequim (pronounced Skwim) at 7:15 it was sunny and 49 degrees. The high today was the mid 70's.

The ferry left Port Angeles
and crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria, B.C. situated on Vancouver Island.

Victoria was a beautiful city near the ferry terminal and we had some time to kill so we walked a bit before hopping on our shuttle bus.

The shuttle took us to Butchart Gardens where we walked around and took a boat load of photos.
The gardens cover 55 acres of a 130 acre estate originally owned by Robert and Jennie Butchart. In the early 1900's the area was a limestone quarry and Robert mined the limestone to be used in his cement plant. When the limestone was gone Jennie turned it into a garden.
Before leaving we enjoyed lunch at the Blue Poppy Restaurant.

The shuttle bus drivers jibber-jabbered the whole trip (going and coming). Most of it was useless information but they did relay several pieces of interesting information. The median home price in Victoria is over $800,000, apartments and rentals are hard to come by as they have a .4% vacancy rate, and they have 100 measurable earthquakes each year.

We drove a whopping 35 miles today.

To see all the photos taken today click on this link: Day 9 Photos

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