oBOUCHERT GARDENS - VICTORIA BC

On the way back from my Alaskan cruise last week, we stopped at Victoria, BC and did the Butchart Gardens excursion. I put up a photo album and thought some of you might be more familiar with the plants/flowers than this Florida gardener. LOL. Please feel free to add comments/identifications to anything you recognize. (Click on Photo)

http://picasaweb.google.com/plantluver1/BUTCHARTGARDENS#

This message was edited May 18, 2009 10:09 AM

This message was edited May 18, 2009 1:16 PM

Hi budgielover!! I'm a budgielover, too. :-)

Thanks so much for posting the pictures. I've lived up here and in Alaska all my life and still have not gotten out there to see the gardens, so it will be fun to see your pictures. It's nice of you to share.

What did you think of Alaska? What did you see? What was your biggest surprise? What did you like best?

Kathy

Hi Katie0
I absolutely loved the trip. We flew from Tampa to Houston and then to Seattle where we took a bus to the port for the ship. We left Seattle and went up the coast to Juneau. At Juneau, we did the whale watching excursion where we were lucky enough to find several hump backs who put on quite a show of breaching, diving and fin slapping. After the whale trip we went back and took a tram thing up the mountain. Wow, what views. After that we came back and did Sitka, Ketchikan and Hubbard Glacier. Our last stop was Victoria BC and then back to Seattle. I will be posting more albums later of each stop. My biggest surprise was the weather. We came prepare to freeze our hineys off and the weather was gorgeous. Not a drop of rain the whole trip. Temps were moderate from a low of probably 40 up to near 70.
As a matter of fact, when we got to Hubbard Glacier, we had to take our jackets off and sunbathe. Many people were even in the deck pool. The guide from the national park who came on board said he couldn't remember ever giving a lecture where it was clear enough to see the whole glacier and surrounding mountains so clearly.
It was a lifelong dream cruise and I would certainly recommend it for anyone. You should really go soon as the rates are ridiculously low right now. There were many people there from Oregon and Washington. I'll post a link when I get the photos albums up.
Jan..

Jan, my sister and I took my parents on a cruise to Alaska for Dad's 90th birthday (he's still going strong) and I wasn't that keen on being on a huge ship but the scenery was amazing. Such beautiful trees and mountains! We also had good weather - it was September. Oh the whales and the otters! And eagles! I would love to go back, but in my car so I could explore at my own pace. By the way, we had amazing food.

Beautiful pictures. Looks like you went at a perfect time of year. It must have been 40 years ago that I went up there. It sort of looks the same. That a great mountain/sea shot.