Christmas in Victoria wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the famous Butchart Gardens. We visited the gardens by boat in early summer, and were astounded at the size and variety: an Italian formal garden, a Japanese garden, an amazing rose ga…
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Christmas at Victoria’s Butchart Gardens
Christmas in Victoria wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the famous Butchart Gardens. We visited the gardens by boat in early summer, and were astounded at the size and variety: an Italian formal garden, a Japanese garden, an amazing rose ga…
Victoria and the Holiday Season
Where are we? We’re now settled for the winter in Victoria, BC on the south end of Vancouver Island.
You might notice that Vancouver is at the top of the map, on the mainland… not on Vancouver Island. The yellow line is the US-Canada border, and the group of islands under the “RES” of our boat name are the San Juans. We traveled as far south as Tacoma, and much farther north than this map shows in this first season of cruising the Pacific NW.
Here we are at the dock – decorated for Christmas, with the lights of Parliament in the background.
Victoria is a lovely small city, and it really goes all out for the holidays. The first big event for us was to go see Tuba Christmas – a 40 year old tradition where musicians of all ages come together to perform. It’s a very special memory for us since we always went with our friends the Halls to hear Ed play. We even trooped up to NYC one year to hear him play on the ice at Rockefeller Center! We loved hearing all the music and getting into the holiday spirit, despite the fact that this year Victoria was in the midst of an unusual cold snap – the temp was 20 degrees. Imagine holding a big chunk of brass and playing in that! (Today we’re back in the mid-40s – typical winter temps.)
With frozen toes but a bounce in our step we headed home to watch the boats gather for the evening’s lighted boat parade.
The sailboat approaching the dock turned out to be the star of the parade. He had an animated Santa that popped out of a package, with balloons that floated up.
We’ve participated in the Annapolis boat parade (cold!) and enjoyed watching them in the balmy Florida Keys. Despite the bitter cold, Victoria’s parade did not disappoint, and it only started after the amazing lighted truck parade moved through town!
There is a lot more to photograph around town – all the pretty lights and decorated store windows. Now that it’s warmer, it’s much more appealing to go out with my camera after dark.
It has been pretty quiet around our dock, and we were hoping to meet more liveaboard neighbors… but there don’t seem to be many, and people aren’t outside as much in the colder weather. We’re working on finding people and community that we can connect with for the winter months, and I’m sure we will.
Victoria and the Holiday Season
Where are we? We’re now settled for the winter in Victoria, BC on the south end of Vancouver Island.
You should notice that Vancouver is at the top of the map, on the mainland… not on Vancouver Island. The yellow line is the US-C…
Thanksgiving at Rosario Resort
Our friends Bonnie and Walt recommended Rosario Resort on Orcas Island, and we thought it would be a great place to celebrate our anniversary and Thanksgiving – something a little special (though it’s hard to imagine anything more special than the cruising season we’ve been having out here!)
The photo above isn’t the greatest shot of the mansion – I took it early on an overcast morning. It’s a lovely spot and the late 1800’s mansion has been beautifully restored.
The place had just that kind of special feeling we needed – especially since we were really missing our friends and family for the Thanksgiving holiday. We took solace in some of the amenities at Rosario – the hot tub and some spa treatments. We explored the property and admired the grand view looking down Eastsound Bay to the south.
We liked sitting by the marble chip fireplace, and we had scones and hot tea one morning, sitting in this nifty side-by-side chair (a single piece of furniture).
The mansion boasts a pipe organ from the turn of the 20th century, along with a beautiful piano from the same time period. The resort’s manager is a well-known local pianist (Christopher Peacock), and he gives a little concert and historical talk on Saturday afternoons.
We enjoyed the Thanksgiving buffet, though it was hard to see so many families together for the holiday – it reminded us how much we miss ours.
Growing up in NJ, I always went to my godparent’s place for the big family Thanksgiving dinner, which was wonderful. We never thought anything about it, but my godparents lived in a large apartment above the funeral home that they owned and operated. When my brother and I were at that age where we were easily bored, Dad would take us downstairs and play hide-and-seek. We never bothered with any rooms where someone was laid out, but we liked the smell of fresh flowers there. In later years we enjoyed talking with the “holiday strays” at dinner – friends or people who didn’t have anywhere to go for the holiday. Sometimes they were people who worked at the funeral home… free-lance embalmers, hair dressers, etc. Ask me sometime about the car my parents borrowed to take me to college. You really can’t make this stuff up.
We were planning to do some serious hiking Friday and Saturday, and then enjoy the music and history presentation, but the weather report predicted some very strong fronts. The only prudent choice was to leave the day after Thanksgiving and head to Victoria, BC – where we’ll spend the winter. We were sad to leave Rosario, but we’ll be back!
Thanksgiving at Rosario Resort
Our friends Bonnie and Walt recommended Rosario Resort on Orcas Island, and we thought it would be a great place to celebrate our anniversary and Thanksgiving – something a little special (though it’s hard to imagine anything more special than the crui…
San Juan Islands
It’s a short hop from Bellingham into the San Juan Islands, which is a good thing since we had some strong northerly wind and choppy conditions to deal with. We anchored off Lopez Island to hide from the wind, and had the anchorage all to ourselves (where is everybody – it’s not that cold, is it?). We had a great view of Mt. Baker in the Cascade Mountain range to the east…
…and we particularly enjoyed its many faces as the light changed. Dawn was my favorite look.
The winds settled down and we were due to get a cold snap. We had to hose the foredeck off with salt water to get rid of the thick layer of frost, and we got a laugh at the bird footprints in the frost on one of the deck boxes. It’s no fun to run around in the dinghy in the cold, so we decided to head to the marina at Friday Harbor for the two coldest nights. It was nice – we went to the movies, visited the knitting shop (where I found yarn and a vest pattern that I couldn’t resist), and walked around town. After two days, as it was starting to warm back up to normal temps (daytime in the mid-high 40’s) we ran around to the NW side of San Juan Island to visit the National Park site called English Camp.
This is where the English military established a camp for the 12 years when the ownership of the San Juan Islands was in dispute. The Americans had a camp on the south end of the island, and the two sides enjoyed each other’s company during the political dispute known as the Pig War. (The only fatality was a pig.)
We hiked up the mountain above English Camp, and had some fantastic views of the Olympic Mountains, the Gulf Islands, and Vancouver Island. If you look closely, ADVENTURES is the little dark speck at anchor just to the lower left of center in this photo.
After a long afternoon hiking and exploring the Camp, we decided to take it easy the next day so we took the dinghy around to Roche Harbor. Roche is a “resort”, though it was nice and quiet this time of the year. We strolled around the historic buildings and the old lime kilns, and we checked out the sculpture garden – a little too abstract for our tastes. We enjoyed a nice lunch there, and then bundled up for the dinghy ride back to the boat.
Our next stop will be nearby Orcas Island and Rosario Resort to celebrate Thanksgiving.
San Juan Islands
It’s a short hop from Bellingham into the San Juan Islands, which is a good thing since we had some strong northerly wind and choppy conditions to deal with. We anchored off Lopez Island to hide from the wind, and had the anchorage all to ourselv…
25 Years
Today is our 25th Wedding Anniversary – where has the time gone? This week also marks 9 years since we moved aboard the boat full-time. Living in a small space has its own challenges, but we still love it. It has been a pretty fabulous journey together so far, and we hope and pray that we get to keep having Adventures together for a long time to come.
We have a picture in the boat with a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery that really says it all:
Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/antoine_de_saintexupery.html#btciyI557wBzeDfr.99
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/antoine_de_saintexupery.html#btciyI557wBzeDfr.99
“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”
Thanks a million, Sweetie, for so much happiness and for making my dreams come true.
25 Years
Today is our 25th Wedding Anniversary – where has the time gone? This week also marks 9 years since we moved aboard the boat full-time. Living in a small space has its own challenges, but we still love it. It has been a pretty fabulou…
