A Day Walking in Victoria, Part 5--HFF and MORE!!! :D (+11 insets)

(+11 insets!) (Please view large! You'll enjoy it!) :)

Trip Talk: Taking Time to Wander

Without a hard agenda, Steve and I strolled along the southern coastline of Victoria, gradually finding ourselves along the southern shore which afforded a cool perspective of Victoria's harbor. We were both happy to get away from the throngs of tourists who frequent the busier parts of the city's waterfront. The lovely southern views were incredible and showed the 25-mile distance to Port Angeles, Washington. There was something really special about staring out at sea and seeing so much activity. Hard not to thinking about the history of this place. Victoria has been an important town since navigators came here in 1770 and befriended the native people who made their home there. Did you know that, with its proximity to Hong Kong, Victoria was once North America's largest importer of opium?! These days Victoria is known as the "Garden City" because it's so beautiful. There should be no surprise that it thrives as an extremely popular tourist destination, but it also makes an important home to the tech sector.

One of the things I love about taking the time to walk around a city is that you get a much better sense of what it's truly like. Truthfully, Steve and I didn't get to walk as far as we'd wanted to but we did get to see enough of the town that we were really satisfied. We'll definitely be coming back some day because this city has so much to see! (By the way, this is my last presentation for our day in Victoria!)

Today's Pictures

My main picture today was captured at Holland Point, along the southern edge of Victoria's waterfront. The view along this pretty path was so nice and though I'm not a big fan of the pollution caused by cruise ships, I just loved the way this picture turned out with the meandering fence, a fringe of golden grass and the pretty clouds in the distance.

Inset 1: This extremely wide panorama shows the amazing view from Holland Point. On one side it shows a ship at one of Victoria's two massive cruise line docks and on the other, a trail meanders along the southern end of the city. I love the way the fence stretches across the scene! I would have made it my main image today but I was afraid that it just doesn't look like anything unless you see it larger!

Inset 2: This picture was a surprise to me. It's a very tight crop of a much larger image and at first glance looked like a garbage shot. As I was about to toss it I zoomed in. WOAH! There's something super cool about the sparkles on the water, the silhouette and that mirage-like background. I couldn't have planned for it, but this turned out to be one of my personal favorites!

Inset 3: This sailboat in its festive red and white colors, zipped across the bay with its happy crew…you could almost hear them laughing as they flew by!

Inset 4: This is the official start of the Trans-Canada Highway, a marker that sits at the edge of Beacon Hill Park. The Trans-Canada is the longest highway in the world, stretching all the way across Canada for 4,862 miles (7,821 km)! ! I specifically wanted to come and see this because I find places like this to be extremely thought-provoking. I stood there, vsualizing the line that begins where I stood, and crosses thousands of miles to a place I've never even seen. And then there's the giggle about this highway. In order to follow the highway, you actually have to take a ferry across from Vancouver Island to the mainland. On the far side, another ferry is required to get you to the edge of Newfoundland! Finally, thinking about the Trans-Canada Highway is exciting because both Steve and I would really love to make this trip sometime, taking months to explore as we go. (I have included another inset below this inset which shows the path across Canada.)

Inset 5: This pano features a pair of oil tankers on the horizon. The industry here in Victoria and Vancouver Island are almost always visible just by looking out to sea. Tankers, fishing boats, ferries, personal craft, charters of all kinds…they are ever-present and make for a wonderful time sitting and watching the ongoing show!

Inset 6: Here a powerful yacht flies by, what a beauty! The stuff of dreams, Steve once entertained the idea of maybe getting a boat to travel in. But the bigger the boat, the more money they cost and absolutely everything that goes along with that…they are notorious money pits and there are more economical ways to see the world. They sure are fun to see though! :D

Inset 7: This is a detail shot of "The World's Tallest Totem Pole"! What do you know about that?! While we were walking through Beacon Hill Park we saw this totem pole in the distance and had to get a picture. Then we read the sign and discovered its claim to fame. Now that I'm home, I've done a search for "World's Tallest Totem Pole" and you'll be amused if you click on the link, to discover there are a bunch of candidates…and some of them cheat by using more than one tree to come up with it's final height…lol, that's not fair! :D

Inset 8: Here's a picture of the whole totem pole, with me at the base to show just how tall 127 feet is! (Click on this link for more information about the pole's carving team and its history)

Inset 9: Continuing our walk up through Beacon Hill Park, we began to head back into the heart Victoria's downtown. Parked at the side of the road, I couldn't help taking a picture of this enormous Caterpillar excavator. These monstrous earth-movers never fail to get my attention, and like a little kid, I would happily watch one of these guys for hours as it moved dirt from point a to point b!

Inset 10: "What the heck is that?!" Next to the Cat was this group of wrapped things and Steve was happy to amaze me by saying, "You know the garbage cans you see on the street? This is what they look like before they're put into place. YES…the "can" is set incredibly deep below the sidewalk so it holds more trash! Isn't that just AMAZING? I stood and stared and stared. I had no idea that city garbage cans were made this way!

Inset 11: By the end of our long day and many hours of urban hiking, Steve and I were absolutely ravenous for dinner. Because we have a ketogenic lifestyle, the easiest meal--as well as one of the tastiest--that we enjoy are burgers. We had hoped to return to the wonderful sushi restaurant we'd visited the last time we were here but sadly the doors were closed when we arrived…we almost cried to see they were closed on Mondays! But I'd remembered passing by a hamburger joint at some point during the day and discovered we weren't too far away. About 15 minutes later we walked into Fatburger and discovered a whole new Nirvana! Not only did they serve their burgers in lettuce wraps, they did an AWESOME JOB making them easy to handle and eat (if badly made, lettuce wraps fall apart or can't even be picked up at all)! The restaurant was super cool with bebop music, fun décor and wonderful staff. Did I mention the part about blazingly fast, free wifi?! We considered moving in! :D

Pam, I think you would have had a fantastic time if you'd been our stroll through the area of Victoria. we visited. I totally understand why this place is on your bucket list. We loved it so much that we hope to return and spend some WEEKS just exploring this area of Vancouver Island! I sure do hope that you've had a good day, you are certainly in my thoughts! :) *HUGS*

Explored on 9/27/19; highest placement #3.