The Brucato's Western Loop!: One of the World's Loveliest Gardens!

Wednesday – Butchart Gardens, here we come!

Hello!

Woke this morning and it wasn’t actually raining! Yea!! Decided that it was time for some exercise, so got quickly dressed and headed out. I first headed down Humboldt Street, and walked past the old B&B we used to stay in – Beaconsfield Inn; just a beautiful place, holding lots of good memories! Turned at the B&B and headed toward Beacon Hill Park. Honestly, I’m not sure exactly where all I walked, but at some point I reached the coast, and started following it around … well…my “short” walk turned into more than an hour and 20 minutes, and did I cover the ground! Quite lovely, and I’m just hoping that I can remember everything I did, so that I can drag Robert along when he returns later in the week.

Finally back to the apartment, and had breakfast. As Butchart Gardens opens at 9 a.m. we left somewhere around 8:30 a.m. Fortunately, I’ve got Emmy (our GPS) and she did a great job directing us through the lovely countryside north of Victoria, to the Gardens, which had just opened. We parked, got a map, and this time, rather than going the “normal” route, we decided to do it in the opposite direction – which was great, as there weren’t many people around yet! The morning, which started out fairly foggy, but had cleared, was clouding up again – in fact, while we were wearing jackets, I left my umbrella in the car – and, once drops started falling! So much for believing any weather forecast…not a word about rain. However, while it piddled a bit, now and then, all and all, we were fine.

I would say that it is really not possible to suitably describe the Gardens; they are, flat out, incredibly beautiful. I have never seen more variety of colors and flowers – the dahlias were exquisite. We wandered through the rose garden, the sunken garden as well as the Japanese garden – just amazing. So, rather than put the photographs into the blog itself, I’m going to post them all at the end – except for lunch, of course, which this time, I remembered to photograph!

We wandered for probably three hours, to cover everything (with suitable breaks for Mom to sit down and rest). Also spent some quality time in the gift shop, but hey, a girl can always use a new tee-shirt, right?! It was then just a bit past noon, and time for us to head to the dining room for lunch. Well…the dining room is actually part of the original Butchart family home, and it’s lovely. We were seated in what looked like a back porch area, now decorated with rose wallpaper with an actual trellis built on top of it.

Lovely waitress, and fabulous food!

Mom started with their cream of celery soup, with a parsley puree.

For her main course, she chose their hamburger with home-made French fries. It was so good that she came very close to actually finishing it off! Surprising as well, because she also ate the soup! I started with a salad – mixed gourmet greens, in a wonderful light dressing. This was followed by their local chicken breast – served in a bowl with green and white asparagus, potatoes, cherry tomatoes and radishes all in a nice dressing…really great! By this time, all we could really think to do was waddle back to the parking lot and collapse in the car!

Which, of course, is what we did!

Headed back to the flat, making a Safeway stop along the way for water and milk. And boy, carting large bottles of sparkling water from the car, into the elevator, up to the 8^th floor and then inside the apartment is quite a job, but we managed! It was then that I remembered that Mom’s sweater was in desperate need of washing – and definitely needed SHOUT, which wasn’t here in the apartment. So, back down that elevator I went, and out to find some…which, by the way, isn’t carried by the local 7/11’s… Finally managed to track some down at a (Took the opportunity to try the Canadian version of frozen yogurt…good, but not a patch on our own Kona Beri in Tucson!) Back to the flat through the sprinkles, and now I’m thinking we’re in for the night. Definitely do not need much for dinner…Mom has both noodle and pasta leftovers in the fridge, and there are enough cold cuts and cheese in the fridge to make me happy!