August Cont'd: Jim & Sue Visit, Part One

Our pals from Asheville (by way of Orlando) just couldn’t get enough of us after Ron-Kon , so they decided to extend their vacation in the Pacific Northwest quite a bit longer and eventually worked their way up to Victoria. This was the first extended vacation they had taken since going to Spain about seven years ago, and I have to say they were determined to make the most of it!

This was their first visit to Victoria, so we had to take in that most iconic of places to visit here, The Butchart Gardens (which, despite the close association with Victoria, is not in fact within the city; it’s in Central Saanich!). Naturally, a warm sunny day is the perfect time to go, and so we did, and shot tons of pictures (which I’ve managed to whittle down to just the top 50!). Like our previous mutual visit to Biltmore House , it's really hard to believe that this was once a private residence. A small army of gardeners keep the place up these days, but when you see the Sunken Gardens (Mrs. Butchart's crusade to “recycle” a disused stone quarry) and all the rest of it really takes your breath away. For a first day activity, I have to say we set the bar pretty high -- but this was just the beginning!

Here's our gallery of pictures . If you have some great Butchart snaps, feel free to add them via the controls on the top of the page.