Monday Visual Inspiration: And finally, Victoria.

We spent our last couple of days in Canada in Victoria, B.C.

First, we toured Butchart Gardens.  This is the hedge wall that confronts you in the parking lot.  No, that's not growing on a wall or anything--it's growing on itself.  Yes, that's a 15-foot-high hedge. I told you this area was a rain forest.

The entry complex.  It included a cafe/restaurant what was very reasonably priced and very good.  A solid lunch fortified us to go a-lookin' at plants for two hours.

The Star Garden near the Rose Garden.

A path in the Japanese Garden.  I could have sat in the Japanese Garden all day.

More Japanese Garden awesomeness.

OMG a wee black ferret/stoat looking thing in the plants!  SQUEEEEE!!!

The next day, we attempted to see some whales on a small open-boat trip, but we just saw porpoises.

And seals.  A lot of seals.  Seals are dog mermaids, did you know that?

Fan Tan Alley, the narrowest legal street in Canada in Victoria, which has Canada's oldest Chinatown.

The Empress Hotel at night.

The old theater near Chinatown.  We took a ghost tour around the harbor and into Chinatown, ending here.  The owner of the theater fell on hard times and eventually hung himself in the theater, so supposedly people see a dark figure swinging in the shadows when the lights are off, but of course the figure disappears when the lights turn on.  It's a neat building to look at in the daytime, too, as you can tell that the buildings that once flanked it are now long gone.

Quit fooling around, y'all.  This is serious coffee.

The view from the ferry that took us from Victoria, B.C. to Port Angeles, WA, U.S.A.  We flew out of Seattle back to Denver, which was way cheaper that flying out of Victoria or Vancouver.