Day 94 - Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island BC - Friday, August 12, 2011

Today we learn why everyone tells us we MUST go to Butchart Gardens.  We are totally delighted with the gardens, and follow our map for a time.  Then we revisit some of the areas and wander about.


Each area is more beautiful than the one before, and each flower is more beautiful than the one we just saw!

This one is for Bruce

Herb shows Jake a puppet in the photographer's studio, but Jake is not impressed.

Instead, he heads straight for the Information desk in the Welcome Center, because he can smell the doggie cookies.  He knows there is one for him.


He not only gets a treat, but is asked to pose for a photo.


Or two.

The Butchart Gardens have been a long time in making, and are still being expanded.


Up to now we have been enjoying the scenery God made in the six days, but now we see beauty that is mostly man made.  Actually, woman made: 


" Jennie Butchart wanted to beautify the worked-out limestone quarry which had supplied her husband Robert Pim Butchart's nearby Portland cement plant."  (Copied from the brochure and map guide.)


I'm sure Jennie had many helpers.

Jake makes a friend, who gives him a drink from her water bottle.


It is not a seamless operation, and she gets a shower.  I don't think she minds.

Javelinas and Bear

Jake checks out the statue to see if it is real.

He decides it is harmless.

And something for the children -- young and otherwise.

Bear with Salmon

I don't want to ride just so Daddy can take a photo

Jake finds the water bowl by the 'Park your dog here' sign.

It is very near the ice cream shop.  Someone discovers he does not have his wallet, and the other one finds $3 in a pocket of a jacket left from a recent trip to the laundry room.


Ice cream is more than $4 per cone.


Oh, well, maybe we will come back after dinner and try again.........

Find Willie's Tug.

After dinner we get the wallet and dinghy back across the water to the Gardens' dock, where Jake decides to rest a bit.

He gets some attention from the dock hand before we go in search of ice cream.

Could it be that I have missed some photo ops?

Once back on the boat for the night, we have our memories of the beauty of the grounds and flowers and the nice visits with other guests.


But an added delight is hearing the bamboo waterfall late into the evening, as it continually fills and empties.    A wonderful rhythm that lulls us to sleep.

Willie of Willie's Tug,
   and Walldog, Willie and Jake