Caching in Canada 1

Dave, Sara (Dave's cousin), and I spent 3 wonderful days in and around Victoria, British Columbia, Canada over the 4th of July weekend. I got off work a bit early on Thursday, July 3rd and once home immediately jumped in the car with Dave to pick up Sara who lives in Portland proper. The ride along northern Washington's coast was beautiful; I especially liked passing through parts of the Olympic National Forest. We arrived at our hotel in Port Angeles, Washington around 11:00 pm, just in time to catch some zzzz's before catching our 8:00 am ferry to Victoria.









The ferry ride took about 90 minutes despite only traveling just over 20 miles. I slept for most of the crossing after the late nights spent prepping for our vacation. Was interesting driving our car onto the ferry.

We stayed at The Regency, an older boutique hotel in the heart of downtown Victoria. Since they had overbooked, we were bumped from one room with two beds to a suite with a queen bed and a living room with a sleeper sofa. Turned out to be perfect as it afforded Sara some privacy in the evenings. Our room had many nice features like recessed ceilings with pretty molding along the edges; European-style windows that opened outward to a faux iron-gated balcony with pots of geraniums; a distorted glass pocket door for the bathroom; and a wardrobe instead of a closet in the bedroom.

After lunch we set out for our first round of geocaching. Wound up in Esquimalt, a small town just west of Victoria. Many of the place names were derived from the heritage of the First Peoples, what Canadians call Native Americans. I thought this spot was scenic with all the greenery, the yellow flowers on the hill, the craggy rocks of the coastline along the bottom, and the Canadian flag.


Another cache had us walking along some beautiful trails that led to the water's edge. The theme of that cache was "tell us your wedding story" because so many people get married in that park. Nature did seem to provide a beautiful staging area for such an event.

Everywhere we went we saw gardens, hanging baskets, lush greenery, and beautiful landscaping. This whale art and landscaping were at the entrance of the park with the wedding cache.

The next shots are of Sara and Dave after finding the wedding cache. I was below them taking pics of the coastline, and when I looked up they both had their heads down focusing on their technology. Seemed funny so I called to them, and they wound up waving in unison.

One thing that struck me about the northern Washington and southern Vancouver Island coastlines is that neither had very much usable beach. Small stretches or pockets like in this picture were common sights.

I'll end here for today. Stay tuned for the next installment. :-)