Victoria – ToadMama.com

June 2, 2016June 2, 2016

Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park

Hi there! In case you haven’t visited in a while, this post is basically the second half of the pics I captured during a recent visit (April 20, 2016) to Victoria, BC, Canada. You’ll have to be sure to see the first installment if you haven’t already. There were so many pretty park pics to share, I decided they deserved a post of their own.

Anyhoo… I really didn’t have much of a plan beyond meeting up with Dar in the late afternoon. I knew Victoria was pretty, based on my previous, very quick visit and posts I’d vaguely remembered seeing on Dar’s blog and Brandy’s blog. I was excited to just have a few hours to myself to just roam, sightsee, and do whatever I felt like doing, or NOT doing as the case may be. I grabbed a Victoria map on the ferry and, upon seeing that Beacon Hill Park looked to be relatively close to the harbor, I decided to go there. (Here’s a link if you want to learn more about the 200-acre park.)

Remember, you can click on any image to see a larger version.

Since Richard asked, I had to check and see how far I actually walked that day. It appears to have been roughly six miles (9.5 km) give or take. I criss-crossed the park a lot, so it’s hard to tell for sure. I was walking slowly and stopping a lot for pics and also just to enjoy some peaceful spots in the shade.

It was a beautiful, sunny, warm Spring day. There were lots and lots of flowers in bloom. And a bunch of other interesting stuff to see. I could have gone to a museum and/or shopping, but it was such a pretty day and it was just so darn gorgeous that I sort of just ambled around the city all day.

Here are some of the many images I captured.

I didn’t enter the park through the main entrance pictured in that first shot. I’d just walked in the general direction of the park and entered on the first convenient path that I saw. And I didn’t have a map of the park, so I don’t remember what the various areas were called. Sorry. I was just ambling about.

8_IMG_0144 — The biggest non-wild rhododendron I’ve ever seen.

Same bush, different side. The bench helps give a sense of scale.

I may or may not have squealed aloud when I rounded a corner on a wooded path and saw this…

I LOVE The Moss Lady.

20_IMG_0261 — There were pretty colors everywhere.

I am a visual, nature-loving person, so I was completely and utterly in my element.

14_IMG_0212 (2) — Such a peaceful place.

The view would be all green and serene, maybe with a pond or two. And ducks. Loads of ducks, geese and such. Then I’d round a corner and, BOOM, more color.

Not that I am complaining. Trust me, I was absolutely delighted.

Some of my pics are a bit washed out because the sun was so bright, which is a shame. But I think you get the idea just how lovely a place it was.

Winding path lined with many varieties of tulips, daffodils, and similar flowers.

This one was in the shade, so you can see it’s form better.

Do the colors on this one make you swoon? I gasped aloud when I saw the thing in person.

One of the many spots I chose to just sit for a spell.

I was so overwhelmed by all the loveliness that I actually forgot ScooterBob was with me. DOH! I can be such a dunce sometimes. All oohing and aahing about the stunning natural beauty around me instead of snapping opportunistic photos of my little globe-trotting wooden friend.

17_IMG_0252 (2) — ScooterBob at the wildflower meadow.

I never did get an image of that meadow good enough to do it justice. It was a veritable sea of purple before me. There was just too much sun at that time of day.

Look closely and you’ll see a snow-capped mountain framed by those trees.

18_IMG_0254 (2) — Tiny pond with bust of Queen Victoria (I think).

19_IMG_0260 — Peacock (they are noisy suckers)

21_IMG_0264 (2) — Yet another pretty pond. And ScooterBob.

This is my favorite duck capture of the day.

Finally, my favorite nature scene of the day. A bunch of turtles on a floating log.

I actually stood there watching for a while. And laughing. While I have seen my share of turtles on logs, I’d never actually seen turtles on a floating log. It’s different, trust me. You’ll have to watch at least the first 45 seconds of the video I included below to see why.

That was my day at Beacon Hill Park. Yes, I’d go again in a heartbeat. Even if I had just one more day to spend in Victoria. Of course, I’d ask Dar to meet me there with a picnic meal, and perhaps an alcoholic beverage or two. 🙂

June 1, 2016June 1, 2016

My Day in Victoria, BC, Canada

As we were planning our recent trip to visit family in Washington, one of the things I really, REALLY wanted to do was take a side trip to Victoria, BC. Not because I hadn’t been there before or because I just wanted to say I’d visited another country. I wanted to get to Victoria to meet Dar.

I’ve known Dar, aka Princess Scooterpie, for several years via her blog, and wanted to meet her in person. The last time I was in Victoria, I’d been traveling with three other people. We were on a tight schedule and I just didn’t feel right carving out time for myself. Of course, I’d regretted it, and I was determined not to make the same mistake twice. If you’d like to read about the meet-up with Dar and two other moto-blogger buddies (on a different day), you can do so here.

Victoria isn’t exactly in the same neighborhood, but it was close enough that I knew I could probably swing a visit, with proper planning and a little bit of luck. The planning part meant figuring out how to get from Auburn, where Amy and family live, to Victoria, which is sort of close on the map, but just happens to be on an island. And that meant the logistics — time and money — were a bit of a challenge. Luck came into play when there was a day with no grand kid sporting events, which meant I didn’t have to be in Washington for chauffeur service. I was free!

I had several choices, but finally settled on the Victoria Clipper passenger-only ferry from Seattle.

IMG_0325_Vic_Clip — Victoria Clipper Ferry

I only had to drive into Seattle for the ferry’s 8:30 a.m. sailing to Victoria, a 2.5-hour ride away. I love ferries. I especially love ferries that travel in and around Washington. It is such a beautiful place. And that day was absolutely gorgeous.

Oh, we saw Orcas en route, too. Not very well, but we did see their fins.

I was to meet Dar around 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. The ferry docked at about 11:00 a.m. That meant I had four or so hours to explore the lovely little city.

Supposedly, Victoria is Canada’s most-British city. I can’t say I know for sure as it’s the only city in Canada I have ever visited. Not counting a brief trip to Niagara Falls, which is not really a fair comparison.

British-like or not, it’s gorgeous. There are Victorian mansions and flowers galore, which I discovered as I ambled about, with no real plan beyond visiting the city park.

Here are some of the images I captured in Victoria that day.

3_IMG_0091 — Parliament Building (Victoria is the capital of British Columbia.)

9_IMG_0129 — Pretty lilacs with lichen-covered branches.

25_IMG_0303 (2) — Interesting Architecture

29_IMG_0328 (2) — Looking over the harbor.

30_IMG_0355 — Looking over the harbor from the opposite side.

IMG_0332_wall_map — Wall mural of Vancouver Island (Victoria is on the SE tip.)

I couldn’t decide which sunset image I liked best, so I decided to post three

I think #2 is my favorite. I like the colors.

As usual, I shared a ton of pics in this post. So many that I decided to share pictures captured in Beacon Hill Park in a separate post.

April 25, 2016April 25, 2016

ToadMama the Tour Guide

Hey there! We are back at home in Virginia. While it’s good to be home with the girls, we both miss everyone. I try not to dwell on the fact that most of our kids and all of our grand kids live far away from us, but it does sort of suck. So it was really, really nice being able to visit.

Speaking of visiting… I took a special friend along as a surprise.

ToadMama_and_ScooterBob — ScooterBob and My Toadercycle (Thanks, Fuzzy!)

ScooterBob is a wooden scooter that once belonged to Bob Leong, a moto-blogging friend of mine. Bob was a very well-known and well-liked moto blogger (blogged about motorcycle travel and other stuff). The wooden motor scooter earned the name “ScooterBob” the moment it was assigned a globe-trotting mission to meet-up with other moto-bloggers and see the world.

As explained on the Travels With ScooterBob page…

That nomadic far-ranging mission was one Bob had set for himself. He had already ridden his BMW R1200R from coast, to coast, to coast; from his home in Vancouver to Charlottetown, and back. Along the way Bob met moto bloggers, lots of moto bloggers. Some he had already met, others he met for the first time.

Bob was, like the rest of us, an imperfect human being, with some wonderful qualities. Anyone who met him knew him as gentle, humble, kind, thoughtful, generous, and adventurous. Those are the qualities that endeared him to the moto blogging community.

Bob gave the wooden motor scooter to an east coast blogger, which is how it ended up in Montreal, where it stayed for a time. On a whim, and as a prank, the scooter traveled with another moto blogger to Key West. The goal was to surprise Bob when he showed up there on another leg of his mission, only to find that the lowly wooden motor scooter had beaten him to the destination.

Unfortunately, that prank never happened (read about Bob’s unanticipated passing here). There are also some touching tribute posts by other moto-bloggers.

That’s when a special group of moto-bloggers decided to show ScooterBob around the world, sharing places and things Bob Leong would have loved. Sharing those adventures on Bob’s very own blog.

As luck would have it, ScooterBob arrived in Virginia the day before we flew to Washington. I was so excited to finally get my turn!

When I started blogging many years back, I had a blog called Appalachian Tours. That’s how Bob found me. He was one of the first moto-bloggers who reached out to me, and it was Bob who brought me into the fold. He introduced me to an amazing group of like-minded people, many of whom I proudly call “friend.”

The last time Bob and Yvonne were in my neighborhood, we were supposed to meet. I couldn’t get away from work. There were deadlines looming and not enough time. Bob was very gracious and understanding, saying that he’d be back in the area next year, and that we could arrange to meet then.

A few weeks later, Bob was gone.

I will always, ALWAYS regret not having made the time to meet him. That regret is what has inspired me to meet as many of you lovely folks as I can. Bob’s memory lives on in many ways. His quirky, warm, sometimes-odd, charming ways have touched many lives. I miss Bob, and I am truly honored to be able to show ScooterBob some adventures in Bob’s honor.

I was even able to suprise three fellow moto-bloggers. We’d all planned to meet up while I was in the area, but they didn’t know I’d have ScooterBob along. (Of course, I only knew for sure a few days ahead of time!)

It was lots of fun showing ScooterBob around and meeting fellow moto-bloggers face-to-face. If you’d like to read about our adventures and see some fun pics, click the links below:

Meet-ups with three other moto-bloggers
A shout-out to Bob
Sights around Victoria, BC, Canada
Some roadside oddities in Puyallup and Tacoma, Washington

I’ll do some posts about our visit with the family soon, I promise.