Category Archives: Victoria BC

Victoria with Friends

12 Sunday Oct 2025

Posted by in Victoria BC

≈ Leave a comment

I’ve lost count now how many times that Karen and I have travelled to Victoria. It’s our place. This time though, we met some good friends on their overlapping trip.

Chinatown for dim sum and Fan Tan Alley was of course on our agenda.

We began the trip per our usual routine, staying the first night at The Edgewater Hotel next to the pier where we would board our ferry in the morning. There’s a giant cruise ship over my shoulder in this photo, just outside our room.

While the girls enjoyed high tea, Chris and I focused on locally crafted brews at a nearby pub.

No trip is complete without a visit to the Butchard Gardens. The start of October was too late in the season for the rose garden.

My favorite is always the Japanese Garden, for the seclusive shady spots.

Karen always looks pretty in flowers.

We ended the trip, again on the ferry, back to Seattle. The GOP-led government shutdown delayed our flight home the next day, but we enjoyed every minute of our trip.

Rooftop Sunset

14 Saturday Sep 2024

Posted by in Victoria BC

≈ 1 Comment

I proposed to Karen at the Austin Hyatt rooftop restaurant in 1986.  Thirty-eight years later, we dined atop the Seattle Hyatt at Nest to watch the sunset.

Fires from somewhere else on the planet filtered the sun indistinguishable from the moon.

And I was counting my lucky stars to still have Karen to warm my bed at night.

Mile Zero

08 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by in Running, Victoria BC

≈ 5 Comments

Mile 0 refers to the start of the Trans Canada Trail that begins in Victoria. I got in some really pretty miles here this past week.

I ate seafood absolutely everyday, including some great sushi in the Cook Street Village nearby.

The hotel my condo is located in is called Parkside, because it’s next to Beacon Hill Park, where I ran through countless flower beds to reach my ocean front path for my daily runs. These peacocks roam around the entire neighborhood. Headed down to the ferry now to take the slow boat back to Seattle. It was a good trip.

Dallas Road Waterfront

06 Friday Sep 2024

Posted by in Running, Victoria BC

≈ Leave a comment

This last week was a working vacation in more ways than one. I worked from our condo in Victoria B.C. And I ran every day as I’m training for the Boulder Marathon on Sept 29th.

The first photo above is me running along the Dallas Road Waterfront, and this pic immediately above is my view of it, and the Straight of Juan de Fuca, as I descend down Beacon Hill onto the coastal path.

I’ve been running further down Dallas Street than on previous visits to Victoria, giving myself a good 5 mile run. I’ve kept my pace at or under 10 minutes per mile, but the important thing is I’ve been running every day after work. This trip hasn’t interrupted my training regimen. I’ve even gotten in some strength training in my condo hotel’s gym. I’ll see if I can keep this travel fitness routine going next week as I’ll leave here Sunday for one night in Seattle, then off to STL Monday for a work trip. Hoping I can keep at it.

Sunken Garden

06 Saturday May 2023

Posted by in Victoria BC

≈ 1 Comment

When Jennie Butchart’s husband left a three and a half acre hole in her front yard, she filled it with flowers.

Karen and I visit Butchart Garden’s every chance we get. I count six times to date.

This was our first visit in April-May, the end of the rainy season in Victoria.

The crowds are sparse in the off-season and we could enjoy the sound of birds and falling water.

After spending the previous week among tens of thousands at a conference, this place renewed my introverted soul.

Victoria BC is our place.

The City of Flowers

24 Saturday Sep 2022

Posted by in Storytelling, Victoria BC

≈ 4 Comments

Vista 18

You spend thirty-five years with someone and you probably have a few things in common. A few things you both like to do. Places you both like to go. You likely have different favorite children but for everything else, you think alike. For Karen and me, it’s Victoria BC. We love coming here. We celebrated our anniversary last night at a swanky restaurant perched atop a tall hotel overlooking the harbor.

Sheringham Lighthouse

Today, we drove up the West Coast Hwy to Port Renfrew. If you’ve ever been to Maui, think the road to Hana – curves, more curves, and yet more curves with a few single lane bridges mixed in for fun. Along the way, we stopped off at the Sheringham Lighthouse and China Beach.

China Beach

We like to stay at the Empress when we visit but finally bought a fractional hotel condo. We intend to work from here every September and perhaps other times of year to get a better feel for the place as we think about where we might like to retire.

Japanese Gardens

Of course, we always visit Butchart Gardens. Without the summer crowds, we were able to stroll and enjoy the gardens in a much more relaxed way than on previous trips. Wherever we end up, at forty-five, fifty-five, or sixty-five years of marriage, I picture it colored with flowers.

Butchart Gardens

Dog Park by the Sea

19 Monday Sep 2022

Posted by in Running, Victoria BC

≈ Leave a comment

Sentier Transcanadien

Point zero on the Trans Canada Trail (AKA Sentier Transcanadien) starts in Victoria BC. Literally a couple of miles from my condo along the coast. I know because I was there today. Just past St. Ann’s Academy and through the middle of Beacon Hill Park. This initial 4.5 mile section is termed the Dallas Road Waterfront.

I didn’t have to cut through Beacon Hill Park, but with a maze of endless grass trails that pass fragrant flower gardens, why would I choose a route along an urban street? I ran up over the hump of Beacon Hill itself for the view it provided of the Straight of Juan de Fuca.

The Straight of Juan de Fuca

The Dallas Road Waterfront trail is asphalt, not as bad as cement, and it is an urban trail after all. What I found more amazing than the view was the dog park that ran alongside it for a good mile.

Dog Park by the Sea

This park for pampered pups didn’t end until it literally collided with the ocean. And that is point zero of the Trans Canada Trail.

Romancing the Pacific Northwest

31 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by in Victoria BC

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

mayflower hotel

Karen and I celebrated our 30th last week in Seattle and Victoria, BC., spending our first night at the Mayflower Hotel.  We took the girls along for a summer vacation.  They spent more time in Post Alley than Pikes Place.

gum wall ellie

I’d never heard of the Gum Wall before, but Ellie spent considerable time researching things to see in Seattle.

gum wall brit

I took the opportunity to market my novel as the platform appeared to offer an inherent stickiness.

cyber war

We did spend some time cruising the market, going back down later at night for photos.

pikes place

We returned to the Market for breakfast at the Crumpet (best coffee ever), and walked from there to take the tour of the Seattle Underground in Pioneer Square, where we learned all about Seattle’s infamous beginnings and below sea-level plumbing challenges.

crumpet shop

After the first night and a half day in Seattle, we took the Clipper Ferry through Puget Sound, across the Straight of Juan de Fuca, to Victoria.  Ellie’s first entry into Canada was by boat.  We arrived just in time to catch the sunset during dinner at the Marina in Oak Bay.

oak bay

The girls roamed around past sundown, noting how safe Victoria was compared to Seattle.  This photo below is of the Parliament building.

parliament night

Butchart Gardens was first on our list of attractions to visit.  We started in a clockwise direction in the Sunken Gardens, where Jennie Butchart first began her garden efforts over 100 years ago by transforming an exhausted limestone quarry.

buchart sunken garden

Photo opportunities presented themselves non-stop as we walked past countless fountains and themed gardens.

butchart fountains

Some of the flowers were so incredible, I don’t have words.  The girls stopped to smell them though.

butchart flower ellie

butchart flower brit

I believe Karen’s favorite was the Rose Garden.  Ellie’s middle name is Rose.

butchart rose ellie

I felt like the Japanese Gardens had some of the best hidden benches for peaceful contemplation.

butchart brit n ellie

Last on our walk were the stately Italian Gardens.  This photo below is of one of the entrances.

butchart italian

We split up for dinner.  The girls dined at the formal Empress Hotel.

empress 2

Karen and I returned to Il Terrazzo and its many courtyard fireplaces, because we enjoyed it so much nearly twenty years earlier.

il terrazzo

The next day was busy with a walk to Fisherman’s Wharf, followed up by a journey to Fan Tan Alley in Chinatown.

fan tan alley

And our return ferry ride back to Seattle for a final night.

Chihuly

Sunday was another busy day.  We started with a tour of the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum.

spaceship

The highlight for me was a tour of the Museum of Pop Culture, where I got to pretend I was in space and Captain of a starship.

star trek 2

It was a whirlwind vacation, three hotels in five days.  Nice way to end the summer.