Stalling With Some Photos

Well, we just returned home yesterday from a four day vacation in Victoria, British Columbia.  It was a short but much needed trip before we have to start the school/fall grind again.  I read three books and got to meet a fellow blogger, Natalie from In Spring It Is The Dawn!  We met at Munro's Books (where I could have spent a fortune on British titles) and had tea at Murchie's next door.  Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture together so I guess I'll have to go meet her in Japan some time and get that pic!

Since I am a bit tired and not feeling up to writing any reviews tonight, I thought I would share some piccies with you of Victoria and other locations around Vancouver Island.  We spent more time going around the south end of the island than we did in the city so they're mostly nature shots.  I hope they make Uncle Al proud!

These first ones are during the ferry ride from Tsawwassen to Sydney.  I could almost make a day of just riding ferries through the islands!

These next ones are from a provincial/regional park called Sooke Potholes (or Pot Holes, depending on where you look it up).  I have no idea what the potholes were supposed to be but it was a very nice river park where we ate a picnic lunch.

After that park, we kept driving down the highway to find an ocean park.  We ended up at French Beach which was windy but beautiful.  I love the rocky shores of the north Pacific.  We flew a kite and Z spent a lot of time throwing rocks into the crashing waves.

I'll even make this a book-relevant post with this picture of a family that we saw on the beach (another woman before them built the rock piles) --

The next day we decided to drive in the other direction and take the scenic route around the southeastern corner of the island.  It was highly residential but they also have a good number of public parks where you can stop and enjoy the coast.

The best part of the day was when a kid called us over to a boat launch area where there was a curious harbor seal that kept surfacing.  He came up as close as maybe 10 feet away at one point!

I even took a short video of the seal when it was close --

Oh, and there were some buildings there but I only got this one slightly blurry shot of the Parliament building from the car.  ;)

I think that T got some more pictures of The Empress hotel and other city shots but for some reason I never pulled my camera out in the city.  Oh well!  It leaves me something to do next time we go to Victoria!

Refreshed and happy,

K and Z