Jess has been doing a lot of work in Victoria this year for the BC government and we decided to take a couple weeks this summer to go to Victoria with him.
It's about a 15 hour drive, not counting construction tie-ups and bathroom and meal breaks. The kids all did a great job getting along in the car and the trip was relatively painless.
Here is Shae and me on the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria. It was so exciting to finally make it to the ocean after so much driving!
Once we arrived at our rental house and unpacked, there was time for a picnic at the beach down the street from our house. It was low tide and the kids had fun exploring the tide pools.
Connor found a dead jellyfish on the beach which he thought was pretty cool. This red jellyfish is very common in the waters off of Victoria, this was just one of many we saw on our trip.
Our first full day was a nice warm and sunny day and so we spent the day at a beach in East Sooke Park, called Aylard Farm Beach. It was a beautiful sandy beach in a quiet cove and there weren't very many people there. We all had a great time at this beach.
The water was quite frigid and had lots of jellyfish swimming in it so we didn't too a lot of swimming even though it was a hot day.
Shae and Jess went on a hike out to the point where they could overlook the beach. They even saw seals on their hike (sadly no photos of the seals though).
The next day, we left the kids at home for the morning while Jess and I went on a guided kayaking trip. We started out in a protected harbour and then spent a little time out in the large ocean swells. Finally we kayaked around an island covered in lounging seals before heading back in. It was our first time kayaking and it was a lot of fun. A different stroke than canoeing so it took some getting used to but it was awesome being so close to the water.
In the afternoon, we went for fish and chips at Fishermans Wharf and once we were all stuffed full, the kids played at a nearby playground for a bit.
The next day, we drove to Sidney and took a ferry out to a National Parks Preserve in the Gulf Islands, called Sidney Spit.
This is a small island with lots of sandy beaches and a long sandy peninsula with a lighthouse at the end. It was a windy day and some ominous clouds passed by later in the afternoon but we still had a great time. Because this beach was more remote, there were lots of shells and other treasures for the kids to search for and there were also lots of clams to dig up.
There was a geo-caching program running while we were there so we tried our hand at the children's geocaching clues which led us along the beach and then into the forest.
One of the clues led us to this enormous eagles nest - it's hard to tell in the photo but it's as big as a car. And there were all kinds of bones scattered on the forest floor beneath the nest.
One of the beaches had all kinds of cool driftwood houses on it which were fun to explore.
The next day, after church in the morning, we drove to the Esquimault Estuary. This was a narrow causeway that had a lagoon full of birds on one side and the open ocean on the other side.
There were tons of blackberry bushes growing here so it was fun to sample some since they don't grow in Edmonton.
Later we went to a playground which had a gigantic rock for the kids to climb on and for me to sit on. There were also many types of monkey bars so Maira was in heaven.
Then we had fun playing board games until bed time.
The next day, we got up early so we could make the drive to Port Renfrew and make it to Botanical Beach by low tide. This beach is in Juan de Fuca park and it's world famous for the biodiversity of its tide pools. The beach is made up of limestone that has been worn away by the water in cool patterns that reminded us a lot of the hoodoos in southern Alberta.
To get to the beach, we had to walk a few kilometres but the walk was through a temperate rain forest which was lush and beautiful.
When we got to the beach, everyone had fun clambering over the rocks to examine the sea life inside the tide pools.
The next day, we stayed in Victoria. We visited Beacon Hill Park. There was a children's petting zoo in the park, as well as beautiful trees, ponds and so many colourful flowers.
Later, we walked down the street to the beach by our house again. It was too cold for swimming but Hudson got wet anyway. Shae sketched and I knitted and we just enjoyed being near the water.
On the way home, I convinced my timid children to go for a walk with me through this beautiful old graveyard. It is the place where Emily Carr is buried. It had such a beautiful, reverent atmosphere.
And of course, we had to go back to the "monkey bar park".
The next two days, Jess was working downtown so I was on my own with the kids. One of these days was rainy so we decided to go visit the Royal BC Museum. And so did everyone else in Victoria, apparently. There was a lineup to wait in the lineup to pay for admission. Seriously. It was a nice museum but not very kid friendly with very few hands on activities so it wasn't our best day. The other day, we went to Brentwood Bay and rented a canoe and a paddleboard. Brentwood Bay is very calm and sheltered and there was all kinds of interesting sea life for us to see from our canoe. There were literally hundreds, maybe thousands of small white jellyfish in the water all around us. And when we got to the shallower water where we could see the rocky bottom, we could see dozens of purple starfish, all kinds of anemones, and we even saw a pink octopus!
Shae was on the paddleboard and although we were assured that it was as easy to stay on the paddleboard as it is to stay on a sidewalk and not fall off, Shae got pretty nervous when she saw all the jellyfish in the water. And then when she paddled right over top of a huge 3 foot long jellyfish, she decided she was done. So she got off and Connor gave it a try. They both did great and stayed completely dry.
For our last day, we decided to go back to Aylard Farm since it was probably our favourite beach.
Then it was time for the long drive back. We left at 7 in the morning and got home at 1 am. The kids were great travellers, (of course lots of movies and some iPhones and an iPad helped the time pass quickly).
On the ferry to Vancouver, we let the kids run around as much as they wanted. I also read stories to them.
We had a black bear cross the road in front of us as well as this elk and spotted all kinds of wildlife driving through the mountains. The world is such a beautiful place. I am really glad we got to spend this time with our kids, showing them the natural beauty of our country.
