Victoria, BC - 2017

Back in April I made a road trip out to Victoria, BC, with my parents. My sister flew out and met us for a few days as well. I hadn't been out to Vancouver Island since 2011, and it was so good to be back. I think I'd like to live there for awhile. A friend of mine, Angela Unsworth, moved out there recently and I'm living vicariously through her instagram posts. 

It rained all the way to Golden, the first leg of the journey, and we were hoping it wasn't going to be indicative of weather for the whole trip. We stopped A&W in Revelstoke, as is family tradition, and I snapped a couple cools shots of the train trestle and the main bridge (below). 

After Revy we made another stop between Sicamous and Salmon Arm for some more train shots (below).

After a quick stop in Salmon Arm we did our best to power through and get a good portion of the drive to Vancouver done. The next time we stopped was at Sowaqua Creek on the other side of the Coquihalla. Its a beautiful little spot just off the road, definitely worth a look around if you're in the area (below).

As we got closer to Vancouver I had to make sure we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls. I'm sure I'd been there as a kid, but I didn't remember anything about it, so I made sure to stop this time. It's a beautiful area, although the viewing area for the falls is kind of disappointing. They definitely didn't place the viewing platform in the "best" viewing spot, and as a result people still traipse around wherever they want to get a better view, so their attempt to protect the area hasn't really succeeded. That said, the creek coming down from the falls, and the surrounding forest are beautiful. It's a short, easy walk up to the falls and back, definitely worth stopping for (below). 

After the falls we powered on to Surrey where we spent the night. My sister had flown into Vancouver earlier in the day and met us in Surrey. The next morning, Easter Friday, we got up as early as we could so we could catch a decently early ferry to the island. While we waited at the Tsawassen Ferry Terminal I wandered around with Radar and snapped a few more shots. The ferry ride was fairly uneventful and I only snagged 1 good shot, the last one in this set (below). 

Once we were on the island we headed off to explore randomly until it was time to check in to our Air BnB in Central Saanich. We had fun just poking around the countryside for awhile. We stopped at an adorable little church, then headed off to Mount Douglas Park where we spent a couple of hours on the beach. Later in the evening we headed off to check out Parker Park, the closest dog friendly beach. Radar loved it. I think we both wish we could live near nice beaches (below).

The next day we spent almost the entire day at Butchart Gardens (below), where dogs are welcome! I Victoria and area are so much more dog friendly than Alberta, I wish Radar could come more places with me in Alberta.

The next day we watched the sunrise from Parker Park Beach, and then wandered around downtown Victoria for a bit, and then went back to Butchart Gardens in the afternoon again (below).

The next morning I spent several hours wandering around downtown Victoria with Ang, exploring cool alleys and shops and the water front (below). It was a fun morning and the weather was beautiful. I'm so glad we met up, I hadn't seen Ang since we finished uni and it was awesome to connect again. 

In the afternoon we explored Clover Point Park for awhile, and then the Butterfly Gardens in Saanich, and the Salish Sea Centre in Sidney, and then of course back to Parker Park in the evening for Radar (below). We actually saw a Momma Sea Otter and a couple of cubs romping on the beach, but I didn't have a telephoto lens with me, so we just watched and enjoyed the moment.

The following day we started our journey home, heading up to Nanaimo to check out Cathedral Grove, Goats on the Roof, and then up the Sea to Sky Highway to Squamish and Shannon Falls (below).

We drove up to hope that evening and spent the night, and then continued on to Kelowna the next day. We had a pretty hairy drive over the Connector into Kelowna. Probably the worst blizzard we've ever traveled in (below). You couldn't see the lanes of the road at all, and at one point a couple of pickup trucks passed us and completely obliterated the windshield of the car with snow and slush, we couldn't see anything at all for several seconds. It was pretty scary. As we started to descend from the pass on the other side, it was gone as quickly as it had come and we were back into lovely Okanogan weather.

The next day we wandered around Kelowna a bit and spent some time with my mum's best friend Laura. Later in the afternoon we headed for Golden and then home the next day. Overall it was a lovely trip and I really did not want to come home.

I'd love to live on the island for awhile. I need to have a blogging career of some sort. I'd love to live somewhere new every year, exploring the area, taking photos and blogging about it. And then move on to the next. There's so many places I'd like to live in the world for a year, and watch all the seasons change.

Cheers,
Bri