As the last major stop in our western summer tour of official duties (professional meetings and conferences in Salt Lake City and Seattle), we took the train to Vancouver, BC for a few days of vacation to visit our son who lives in nearby Burnaby.
He had recently moved from a basement apartment with little ambient light to the tenth floor of a high-rise with floor-to-ceiling glass. My mind cues up the theme song to the 70s sitcom The Jeffersons: Moving On Up! And from his balcony, I see the present-day skyline of The Jetsons, complete with futuristic transportation clamor. Instead of a vehicle that folds into a briefcase, however, our son has an e-bike to maneuver the ultra-urban landscape. Nearby his tower is a huge piece of modern art made from canoes.
One day we rented an Evo car and rode the two-hour ferry from Tsawwassen to Vancouver Island, threading through the many islands in the Strait of Georgia. It was a gray day with a cold July wind, but the ship was huge and comfortable.
On Vancouver Island we headed to British Columbia’s quaint capital, Victoria. We visited second cousins, and were able to celebrate with them in the opening night of their daughter’s new restaurant, Emmaline’s.
But we also had time to visit Victoria’s picturesque downtown harbor, with its Parliament buildings, water taxis and houseboats, among many other attractions.
The weather cleared and we could see Washington’s Olympic Mountains from the southernmost tip in Clover Point Park at Point Zero.
From Victoria, we drove an hour north to Brentwood Bay to visit the renowned Butchart Gardens: an astounding cultivated landscape built in the remains of a worked out limestone quarry. The Sunken Garden, just one portion of the 55-acre complex, built inside the quarry hole itself, is stunning—and hard to believe it was once just cliffs and bare rock. Our photos do not do the magnificent estate justice.
Upon concluding our second day on Vancouver Island, we fled eastward against the setting sun back to the mainland. Once again, we maneuvered through the dozens of formidable islands clogging the passage, but from this direction, we could witness the rising appearance of Washington’s snow-covered stratovolcano Mount Baker, before pulling in to the ferry terminal at Tsawwassen Port.
Next: more from Vancouver, including its famous Stanley Park.