This post is Part Two about our 2018 summer vacation road trip adventure to the Pacific Northwest and Canada. You can read Part One here.

Victoria, British Columbia

I hadn’t been to Victoria since I was a kid. Andrew had never been at all. Part of the reason we wanted to head north of the border was to have the excuse to ride on the ferry. The other was to go to Butchart Gardens. I’ve heard it is a breathtaking tourist attraction and I wanted to go see if for myself.

When you want to take your car to Victoria by ferry, there is only one option: take a vehicle passenger ferry that leaves out of Port Angeles, WA. Thankfully there are several trips made per day. Accessibility on a vehicle ferry is tricky because of the way they load the cars. They pack them in so tightly there is no room to let down the van ramp. We hadn’t made arrangements prior, so on the way over we had stay in our van and ride over in the belly of the boat. It wasn’t the most ideal, but the trip was only like 90 minutes, and we were just thankful to be headed on our way. (Going home we were able to load our van first so we could exit it before other cars got parked in around us. So we were able to scoot upstairs via the exterior ramp to the passenger/viewing levels.)

We happened upon Victoria’s disability resource center!

Our first day in Victoria was the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. So of course the main port area was abuzz with tourist activity. WE didn’t stay in the downtown area long, but just to get a bite to eat and stretch our legs a bit. As it turns out, when we parked, we happened to park right in front of Victoria’s Disability Resource Center! We were wondering if they had one. Turns out, they do!

Our hotel was about 15 miles north, so after we got done eating, and picked up a couple items from the local convenience store nearby, we were fine with getting out of the tourist congestion. Another large intention for this vacation was to just simply rest and relax. So we didn’t mind the thought of just settling into our hotel, taking a nap, checking out the pool, and leisurely researching out local dinner options.

Thankfully, we learned that Butchart Gardens would be open on Monday, even though it was the Labor Day holiday, (both in the States and Canada). But I guess the tourism opportunity is too much for the Gardens to turn away. We arrived about 10 in the morning, wanting to make sure we could have enough time to see the whole grounds, and check out the gift shop of course. :)

Drew and I in front of the welcome sign at Butchart Gardens.

Oh. My. Goodness. The gardens were magnificent. Even this late in the summer the colors were so vibrant and the foliage so alive. The caretakers and horticulturalists do a meticulous job of maintaining the park. Words can’t really do it justice. On top of that, the weather was PERFECT. Not too hot, not too cold. And even though it was a holiday it wasn’t too crowded either. Not that I had anything to compare it to, but, as a visitor, I felt that I had the space and time to enjoy the Gardens at my own pace and take all the photos I want, etc. I definitely recommend Butchart Gardens as a vacation must-do. I’m not a big garden person, and even I was blown away.

One of the many fountains at Butchart Gardens.

We stayed in Victoria until Thursday morning of that week. Having that extra couple of days allowed us to scoot around the city. Part of what we love about vacations is to just be able to set out on our fully charged mobility devices and go explore. We went to the famed Empress Hotel (no, we didn’t do the high tea, but we did tour the grounds a bit), went to the Parliament Government Building, went to this really cool little attraction called Miniature World, visited the historic gothic-style Christ Church, ate at some fabulous restaurants and of course, shopped.

We boarded the ferry and headed back south through Port Angeles as we headed to Portland. It was so nice of our friend Richard to meet us at this lovely little place called Falls Terrace for lunch. It is in the town of Tumwater, where Hwy 101 and I-5 meet just south of Olympia. We hadn’t seen him in years and he had to go a bit out of his way to meet us. We had a great time catching up.

Me in front of the famous luxury Empress Hotel.

The Government Building in Victoria. The heart of the legislative process in the province.

Another view of the harbor from our ferry.

Portland

Ducks hangin’ out near our hotel in Lake Oswego.

From Victoria we had to make the long haul straight south to Portland. That lunch with Richard was the perfect mid-way rest stop. But with the weather still being on our side, meaning no rain, traffic was not bad at all.

Once we arrived in Portland we were pretty tired. Have I mentioned that Drew drove this entire trip? He was great about it. But with just him driving it meant we needed to be disciplined about rest. So once we got to our hotel we just settled in for the night. I think dinner that night might have even come from leftovers we had in the car, along with fresh vending machine snacks. (Thank goodness for hotel room microwaves!)

But by the next morning we were ready and refreshed to see Drew’s sister Lesley, and the rest of the family. We drove to their house and did what families do: talk, eat, talk, eat, talk, eat... One thing I did have on my must-do for Portland was go to Powells Bookstore. I’ve been to Portland several times now but never to Powells. I’d heard it is huge, and I love bookstores. So we planned our first day outing around checking that off the list. Wow. Is it ever huge. We were there for like two hours and I only saw a section of the store. So. Many. Books. It was a lot of fun and, well, of course I found a few new books to buy. That night we went back to Lesley and Dave’s house to play an epic couple of rounds of Yahtzee. Fun times. I hadn’t played that game in years. Grandma Frances would have been proud that I won the first round :)

We spent another full day in Portland before heading home. We went on a walking tour of the river’s edge, hung out at a “hipster” coffee place, and went out to dinner at this really hip/cool pizza place that played live jazz.

With a packed up van, weary from our adventures, and super excited to get home to see our fur-son Alton, we headed home two weeks later. Our drive home was made even more adventurous because I-5 was closed in the Redding area due the forest fires. That meant that we had to cut over to the coast in Oregon via Hwy. 199 which leads to Hwy. 101, and drive the coast home. Yes, it is a pretty drive, but it takes longer and is more twisty-turny. It is a harder drive when you’ve already driven like 2,000 miles and you are just plain tired of being behind the wheel. But we took our time and made the whole trip safely. Again, thankfully the weather cooperated. The lack of rain made it bad for the fire situation, but it was nice to be able to drive in sunny skies.

All in all it was one of the best vacations we have ever taken. It was surely one of the best road trips. I am so thankful and Drew and I travel so well together. What is the old saying, “stick two people in a car for more than eight hours and then see what happens...” Yes, we both get tired and cranky at times, but at least we get tired and cranky together. And more importantly, we arrived home safe and sound, eager to greet our tail-wagging fur son Alton, who was as excited to see us as we were him. (Special shout-out to Auntie Lisa and John-O for taking such good care of him while we were gone.)