We began our day with a 4 course breakfast at our B&B. We had yogurt with granola, dragonfruit and melon, orange poppyseed scones, raspberry and pineapple bread, and a hot plate of salmon, cheese, polenta cakes and a frittata. We were stuffed!!
We then headed out into the rain in our rain gear and umbrellas. Our first stop was the Victoria Bug Zoo and it was amazing! We got to hold huge bugs like walking sticks, catydids, cockroaches, praying mantis, and millipedes to name a few. It was sweet! The whole time I was thinking my sister would love this place. She’s always said she’d be cave tour guide when she retired from teaching, but I think this place would also be a good fit.
Then we thought we’d go inside the Parliment building, but they only do guided tours on the weekends and that didn’t interest us. So, by recommendation of our breakfast buddies from Calgary, we tried out the Royal BC Museum. It was nice to get out of the rain since it was soaking through my shoes, but I’ll have to say natural history museums are not for me. Too many taxidermy animals and old stuff to look at. We should have seen the Hubble IMAX narrated by Leo instead.
After the museum, we ate our leftover scones and bread from breakfast. I also had a bubble tea while Jeff enjoyed a chocolate covered waffle. This was our nutritious lunch since we were still pretty full from breakfast.
After these adventures, we headed to our room to dry out. Then, despite the rain we decided to drive out to Bruchart Gardens. Jeff and I both discussed how much our moms would enjoy this place. Lots of beautiful flowers and it finally stopped raining in time for the fireworks show. Let me just say this is one serious fireworks display choreographed to music. Dancing fireworks. Fireworks that shot sideways. Bug shaped fireworks robots. Crazy stuff! You’d have to see it to appreciate it, but I’d give it to thumbs up. Now it’s past my bedtime so we’ll see you tomorrow in Vancouver.





#1 by Donna on August 8, 2010 - 8:00 am
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Alison, you're brave to hold that HUGE bug! The pictures of Bruchart Gardens are lovely. I think you need to enter the yellow rose picture in a picture contest — it's gorgeous. Glad you're having such a good time. Have enjoyed your blog.
#2 by @russwilson on August 8, 2010 - 12:53 pm
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The flower garden picture is awesome!
#3 by Melanie on August 8, 2010 - 1:19 pm
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I LOVE bugs!! Except cockroaches — who would willingly hold one of those? YUCK! But the bug you are holding looks really cool!
I cannot believe you missed out on anything narrated by Leo. Candace will be disappointed in you. What pretty flowers! Have fun!
#4 by Debbie on August 8, 2010 - 2:41 pm
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Wow – the bugs were humungous! (is that a word??) Loved the gardens. Sounds like you guys had a good day, despite the rain! Continue on with the fun – and eating all those scrumptious meals. I'm jealous! Are you doing your interval walking Ali? I'm sure that's on the top of your list each morning!
#5 by Sheryl on August 8, 2010 - 6:37 pm
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I'll have to admit that I missed the Bug Zoo….but as you have seen, the Gardens are truly AMAZING! One of the most gorgeous gardens I have ever seen! So glad you were able to go and the weather cooperated. You won't believe this, but I just found a praying mantis in my garden today. They are very intellectual looking little critters! So enjoy hearing about all the fun you are having. Thanks for sharing!
#6 by Chris on August 8, 2010 - 11:43 pm
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I wonder if Jeff would have paid me 5 bucks to eat a bug?
#7 by Melanie on August 9, 2010 - 7:28 am
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Hey! You have your super cute black and white rain jacket!! Love that thing!
#8 by Ed Tittel on August 9, 2010 - 9:14 am
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More great photos. Looks like you two had a wonderful time. Hope to hear from Jeff when he gets back to the brutal heat here in Austin. Warning! At least three out of the next five days (Monday August 9 through Friday August 13, look out!) will feature triple digit temps. Ouch!
–Ed–
#9 by @scigal2 on August 14, 2010 - 4:42 pm
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Wow, those bugs are awesome. Maybe I should open a bug museum in Kentucky. Even better, I could open a bug museum near a cave and be able to give tours of both. I just now got to read about all your adventures since I was having my own as school started on the 4th of August here. Glad you had a good time on your trip. Can't wait to see more pictures.