Wednesday, June 15

THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN.

Day 247 – Mid-40’s this morning and get this, sunny skies! We were up early and headed for the Mill Bay to Brentwood ferry terminal at 8:05 a.m. We parked in the line when we arrived 45 minutes later. About three cars ahead of us, there was a sign that said, if you’re parked behind this sign, you may not make it onto the next ferry – it holds approximately 19 cars. The ferry departed on time at 9:15 a.m. We were the last car to fit on it. The scenic ride took 25 minutes.

The Saanich peninsula lies north and east of Victoria. At the north end there are frequent ferries that take people out to the various islands and mainland. At Brentwood we were on the west side of the peninsula. We drove north by the Victoria International Airport, then along the water through various neighborhoods ranging from homes on indian reservations to gated mansions. At the top of the peninsula, we were amazed how large the ferry terminal was and how many cars were waiting in line. It was also surprising how populated the whole area was; we didn’t expect that many people to be commuting either to and from Victoria or the mainland. We continued our drive around the eastern coastal part of the peninsula arriving at the first large city, Sydney. Ferries also depart and arrive from here, going to the San Juan Islands and/or Anacortes, Washington state. There were many ritzy homes and many condos, golf courses and golf & tennis clubs, and fancy yacht clubs in really huge marinas. Below Sydney we headed south and west. It had clouded up and it was warm, about 65 degrees.

We stopped at the Victoria Butterfly Gardens. When we first went in, we entered the Insectarium, where huge pictures of insects covered the walls and exotic tree insects were on exhibit. It was fascinating (but in general bugs aren’t my favorite things, mainly biting bugs though). There were moments of ICK interspersed with those fascinated moments, I must admit.

Then we went into a large, wet, warm and extremely humid room billed with incredibly beautiful plants, flowers, butterflies, birds, turtles and even lizards. OMG. Butterflies are insects, too, I know. We had a wonderful time. (The best part was when I was standing with Rob and we were watching a Pink Flamingo have a snack. Suddenly out of the blue, a Parrot flew onto my shoulder. It was the coolest thing! I said, “Well, HI” in my best parrot voice, and he/she said “HI”. Then I said, “HI, Hello” and he said “HI” again, bobbing his/her head around and we were looking at each other sideways. I had that happen once before years ago when we were taking a hike through an Audubon Sanctuary in Massachusetts, and I stuck out my hand wishing a bird would land on it and a Chickadee did, and stayed a bit.)

The warmth and high humidity zaps your strength after awhile, and it was beyond lunch time when we left; we stopped and had lunch at Subway. Butchart Gardens was not far from the Butterfly Gardens. We drove by to check it out, though we knew we didn’t have time to visit then. It looked like a wonderful place to go, although very crowded and the parking lot was huge and nearly full. That would definitely be a place to go on a fully sunny day, if we have one. It was now full clouds. We drove back to the Brentwood to Mill Bay ferry terminal and got in line. This time we were early enough to know we’d be able to get on the 3:35 p.m. ferry. While waiting in line, we finished our sandwiches and also had a signal. We managed to upload the blog posts, at least the first four of the ones ready & waiting to be published. The ferry was full again and we stood outside for the ride. It was very pleasant out.

It started to rain just as we arrived back at the RV. We lucked out. The traffic was heavy on the drive from the ferry terminal. And the girls were a little grouchy; we’d been gone too long.