Victoria, BC

Earlier this week we took a day trip to Victoria, BC. Click more photos to see the rest of our trip. Victoria is the capital of the province of British Columbia and is located on Vancouver Island. It's a city that holds tight to it's British roots and is fun to visit at all times of the year. For us it's a nice day trip or weekend getaway, especially when we need to get out of town and spend time in a city. It has the advantage of having excellent public transportation, so we just walk on the ferry and don't have to worry about a car. On a clear night we can see the city lights across the Strait and it never fails to amaze me that less than 20 miles of water separates a big beautiful city like Victoria from a little backwoods town like ours.

One of our favorite places to visit while there is Beacon Hill Park. It's just up the hill from the Royal BC Museum, but most people I've talked to have never heard of it. The park itself is huge and includes several ponds, a petting zoo, a putting green, baseball fields, an outdoor stage for concerts, a playground, and is a mix of landscaped and wild areas. I'm a sucker for the petting zoo and insist on going there to play with the pygmy goats. There is a heron rookery there as well as a couple of pairs of bald eagles. The eagles swoop down on the heron nests in spring and try to snatch the babies, so the adults keep watch and every time they see an eagle, set up the most ungodly racket I've ever heard. It's something like the sound a horrific train wreck might make as it slides through the steel skeleton of a skyscraper.

A few of the pictures are from our last visit in the spring. A place I hadn't been in 20 years, but could still remember clearly was Craigdarroch Castle. It's a fairly easy walk from town if you're feeling spry (listen to me; I sound 60) or a short bus ride if you're tuckered out. It was built in the 1890s by coal baron Robert Dunsmuir for his wife. He died before it was completed and she lived in it until 1908, when she also died. Even though it's been passed through many hands in the last 100 years, it's in beautiful shape and is a monument to good craftsmanship.

One of the places I have yet to visit there is the Butterfly Garden located just outside Buchart Gardens. I passed on it this time because I want to have a digital camera when I visit and there tend to be more butterflies in the summer. Before they closed recently, the Crystal Gardens in downtown Victoria had a small butterfly garden that we visited frequently. It was always a warm place to spend a quite hour or two until a visit when I turned around just in time to see a little boy stomp on a butterfly that had landed on the ground in front of him. His parents were completely oblivious and it sort of ruined the moment for me.

Victoria also has a Greek restaurant, Milos, that serves my favorite calamari ever. Usually calamari is too heavily breaded and cooked too long, but they make it just right. It's been on my list of favorite restaurants since my first visit there at 10 years old. They also make excellent chicken and steak for the anti-seafood crowd.

One of these days we'll drive over and spend a week or so camping and exploring the island. Until then, there's always something new to find in the city.