Blog - Travel Explored

Destinations

Exploring Las Vegas & Workshop

Posted on November 4, 2010

Over the weekend I have been in Las Vegas attending a workshop. The workshop went for three days, and there was also a lot of pre and post workshop get together’s as well. All of this combined with the timing of flights, access to internet and such have contributed to the lack of updates. But as I mentioned in previous posts I expected this.

Steve Pavlina Conscious Growth Workshop

The workshop that I attended was presented by Steve Pavlina and was called Conscious Growth Workshop. I have been a long time reader of Steve Pavlina’s Blog. I took it as a sign when the workshop coincided with my chosen time to visit America for the first time.

Even though I had been reading his blog for some time, there were numerous things that did not click together for me. The workshop to some degree helped me to bring these concepts together in a more fluid way. A way that is much more likely to see me being able to put them into action in my life.

There is also a side benefit of the workshop which I had not thought about before. I connected with a lot of people who just get the way things work. Mostly in a few days, I have built a network of friends from all over the world. People in places like Australia, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Mexico and I am sure there are others.

Besides the workshop, there was plenty of time for socialising with other attendees. Whether it was eating out, seeing the sights along the Las Vegas Strip, or just having deep conversations. In this post below I summarise my time over the last few days. The thing about Las Vegas is there is just so much to do, and only so much you can fit in.

Eating Out

The range of options when choosing where to eat a meal in Las Vegas is endless. Every single casino seems to have multiple different dining options. On top of this, there are many other restaurants everywhere.

I think you would be hard pressed not to be able to find something you could enjoy to eat in Las Vegas. The options start with food court style dining and go through to five-star restaurants. However, it seems a favourite with many is the buffet options.

To fit around everything that I was doing each day, I stuck with nice quick options for breakfast and lunch. Then for dinner, there would be a more adventurous option, often with a few people from the workshop.

Eating on a budget in Las Vegas is quite easy, and I do not think I paid more than $7-$10 for lunch. When it comes to dinner, I did spend a little more for a couple of experiences. The first was to visit one of the buffets, which was great value at around $30 + tip. The second was trying an Indian restaurant for the first time (image below).

Seeing the Sights

Las Vegas in many ways is like a sightseeing buffet (to continue to food thoughts). There are so many casinos, each with their little quirks or points of interest. The main thing is determining what is worth seeing and what just fills in time.

Looking North along the Las Vegas Strip from near the Bellagio

A Pedestrian Walkway at the Venetian

The Pirate ship at Treasure Island

Paris by night

Lady Chocolate, at a chocolate shop in the Bellagio

The Bellagio Conservatory

The Bellagio Fountain show

The Bellagio Fountain Show

The ceiling in the lobby of the Bellagio

A fountain in the Forum Shops at Ceasars Palace

Future Las Vegas Visits

Of course, there is so much more that I could have visited, could have shared from Las Vegas. It all comes down to just how much times is available to spend sightseeing.

There are some things that I would have like to see, which I missed. Such as The Sirens show at Treasure Island, also the Tigers at MGM Grand. Additionally, there were some casinos that I would have liked to visit, but again a lack of time.

Either way, I can say that Las Vegas will be a place I return in the future, and not for the gambling. Had I not been attending the conference, I could easily have done a lot more. But I would not give up the friendships I created for anything.

Destinations

Day Tour Visiting Hoover Dam

Posted on October 28, 2010

Another sight you generally want to see if you are near Las Vegas is Hoover Dam. So today I have booked on a tour to do just that. The tour started with a short drive around Downtown Las Vegas before heading out towards Hoover Dam.

Lake Mead

The drive to Hoover Dam is around 40 minutes and covers some rather barren countryside. The first sign of the dam that you see though is Lake Mead. Lake Mead is the lake which forms behind the wall of Hoover Dam. Lake Mead is the largest man-made lake within the United States and is a stunning view.

Hoover Dam

There are two different marvels of engineering here and you don’t know which to look to first. One is of course, the Hoover Dam wall itself. The dam wall of Hoover Dam contains 3,250,000 cubic yards (2,480,000 m³) of concrete. The last concrete was poured on May 29th, 1935.

The newest addition to the area is a bridge which is part of the Hoover Dam Bypass Project. It sits around 900 feet above the Colorado River and around 1500 feet downstream from the Hoover Dam wall. The bridge was only opened to traffic a matter of days ago.

Inside The Hoover Dam

Seeing the Hoover Dam is one thing, but seeing some other parts of what the dam does is also interesting. First is a visit to one of the 4 bypass tunnels, each 50 feet in diameter. These tunnels were used to divert the Colorado River during construction of the dam wall. They no longer divert the river, but now house 30 feet diameter intake pipes. These pipes draw water from Lake Mead and direct it to the turbines of the hydroelectric power plant.

Seeing the size of the turbines is quite something as well. They are absolutely huge, and in total between all 17 can generate enough power for 8 million people.

Heading Back To Las Vegas

On the way back from the Dam, the tour driver made two quick stops for us. One at the Lake Mead Lookout which had a spectacular view of Lake Mead.

The second stop was in what appeared to be a park in a suburban area. There was a group of wild Mouflon Sheep grazing here, which was pretty cool to see.

Fremont Street

The last stop for the day was to take a look at Fremont Street. Fremont street is or was the address of many famous Vegas Casinos. Now it is a destination itself, and well during the day a bit like anywhere else in Las Vegas. It would be good to see at night, but I am not sure if there will be time for me to get here.

Today is the last post from me until after the weekend. I have a conference that I will be attending, and doubt I will have time to get out and see much or share much. So I will combine anything I do over the weekend into a post early next week.

Destinations

Outlet Shopping In Las Vegas

Posted on October 26, 2010

One thing that many people have mentioned to me about Las Vegas is the shopping. So I thought today I might get out and see just what the shopping is like. Before heading out, I looked at the options, and there is quite a lot of choices.

Getting Around Las Vegas

There is a lot of shopping available within walking distance from my hotel along the Las Vegas Strip. But there is also plenty that is just beyond what you would consider walking. As such, you need a way to get around to be able to explore the shopping options.

Before you can go shopping, though, you have to get there. One aspect of Las Vegas which is very easy. Two shuttle buses run up and down the Las Vegas Strip. One route called Ace, and the other called Deuce. The first one Ace is a long bus which

The first one Ace is a long bus which makes stops at some of the Casino’s, and the extreme ends of the Las Vegas Strip. Which just so happen to be where an Outlet shopping centre is. Yes at both ends. The second bus Deuce makes stops at every Casino along the strip. Both are handy for getting around, and the price is right with a ticket for the buses coming in at $7 for 24 hours. ** UPDATE 2016: These services may have changed, so it is worth checking before visiting **

Outlet shopping

The first shopping mall for the day was Premium Outlets, located near the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip. The centre is an open air shopping with quite a lot of stores. There are many of the big names here that I am used to seeing at home.

When it comes to saving money though I am not sure, there is a significant difference. I am not a big brand name shopper so found it difficult to spot a cheap bargain. Everything was marked down considerably from the original retail price. But I could not detect much difference on one or two items to what I might have expected at home.

I did not find anything that caught my eye here, beyond a pair of shoes they did not have in my size. So it was time to hop back on the bus and head for the other end of the strip.

North To South On The Las Vegas Strip

The bus trip from one end of the strip to the other is about 7-8 miles or roughly 12km. With the traffic lights, bus stops and traffic in general, this is not a quick trip. In particular between Casino’s the bus can get fairly full as well.

The outlet centre at the southern end of the strip is a little more realistic. I cannot place the name as it seemed a lot of renovation work was ongoing, and there were not signs. However, they did have some stores with much better value offerings. But again nothing that screamed bargain at me.

Back on the bus and there was a stop heading north that caught my eye. It was a place called Town Center with some larger stores. There was Wholefoods, an organic supermarket, Fry’s Electronics a big electronics store and Borders Bookstore. Along with a whole range of other smaller stores.

Back On The Strip

I got the bus back part of the way and decided to walk some casinos along the way. Below are photos of two of the casinos, New York New York and Excalibur.

There are also some shopping options along the Las Vegas Strip. One I found was a store called Ross Dress For Less. It was a bit of hit and miss finding anything decent, but I did come away with two shirts here.

One other little picture I have for you is from a spot I visited the other day, which is the “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas” Sign. This time a daytime shot which is a little clearer.

There will be one more post tomorrow before activities around the conference over the weekend start. I will be meeting some of the other people attending and doubt I will have much time to write much.

Destinations

Grand Canyon Tour From Las Vegas

Posted on October 26, 2010

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, as the sign on the way into town says. Yesterday was primarily a travel day, leaving Seattle behind and flying into Las Vegas. I took a chance in the afternoon to get a little acquainted with the local area. Also finding my way to a supermarket to get some supplies for the next ten days I will be here.

Grand Canyon Tour

While exploring the area yesterday afternoon I found a stand selling tours and decided on a Grand Canyon Tour. I have already had a little experience with long tours with 10 and 12-hour tours in both Vancouver and Seattle.

The tour to the Grand Canyon is around 14 hours and travels nearly 600 miles (1000km) round trip. To put this into perspective, today was almost like driving from Brisbane to Sydney. There is around 2.5 hours at the Grand Canyon itself, and two photo stops along the way.

First up was a photo stop at the sign mentioned above. The “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas” was funded to be built in May 1959, and soon after was built. It was a brief stop while everyone filed in to have their photo taken with the sign. As you can imagine it was not easy even this early in the morning to get a photo without anyone in front of the sign.

The second stop is a part of Route 66 in Williams, Arizona. Again this is a photo stop with the Route 66 Shield. There is an oversized one perfect for a photo opportunity here.

Grand Canyon

After these two stops, it was non-stop to the Grand Canyon. On arrival, the weather was not the best with light rain, and there was mention it had snowed earlier. However, the weather soon changed and the clouds mostly disappeared, and the sun came through.

Above you can see the Grand Canyon, including both South and North Rims. Most of the pictures are just as spectacular; there are very few bad views of the canyon.

Trail Of Time

With just a couple of hours to fill in, there are limited options for what to do. My choice was to take a walk along a section of the South Rim. The trail is called “Trail Of Time” and each meter equals a million years. The return walk was around 2.5 miles (4km) and was great to be able to stretch the legs after sitting in the bus. Along the path are a series of tokens set into the ground identifying where you are.

Grand Canyon Wildlife

The Grand Canyon is in a National Park and is in the wilderness. As such there is plenty of wildlife around. I got to see some deer, squirrels, elk, wild sheep and many different species of birds. I am just a little disappointed that all the animals were not as keen to pose as this little squirrel.

More Views

One aspect of the Grand Canyon that caught my attention was the range of interesting dead trees. It is easy to understand why they are dead, even though it rained the sun soon dried it up. But they do add a little something to the dramatic views.

Today’s tour was an excellent way to spend a day, even if most of it was on a bus. I still have quite a few things I want to do in Las Vegas over the next couple of days. Including sightseeing, checking out some of the casinos and some shopping. So keep watching for some more updates.

A quick note, though, I am staying in Las Vegas for ten days. However, I do have some plans to attend a conference over at least three days. As such there will not be daily updates over the entire stay. There will probably be two more daily updates and a third post to cover the other days.

Destinations

Exploring Seattle Center & Surrounds

Posted on October 24, 2010

Time sure does disappear when you are having fun. I arrived in Seattle three days ago, and now tomorrow I will be moving on to the next destination. Two great tours filled in most of the time and a future visit still leaves plenty to explore. There were a few places I looked at today, so let’s get into it.

Northwest Chocolate Festival

If there is one weakness that I have it is Chocolate. So when I saw that the Northwest Chocolate Festival was on today, I found it hard to say no.

Unfortunately, I found that for the $15 entry price the value was not there. Essentially it was a market with numerous companies selling their chocolate. There were some small samples around, but not what I was expecting at all.

In some ways, I think it was more focused on people that may be buying wholesale. Mostly the vendors were small boutique chocolate makers. As I was leaving, I did discover some bowls with a lot of chocolate buttons for trying. So at least the visit was not an entire waste of time.

Experience Music Project / Science Fiction Museum

The second place that I visited today is two places, joined together. The Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum. The entry price of $15 here is a much better value than my last stop, with such an extensive and diverse range of exhibitions. **Update – November 2016, a change of name to Museum of Pop Culture and ticket price to $25 **

For anyone, who has an interest in Music or Sci-Fi, this museum is an absolute must visit. There is an extensive collection of movie memorabilia, historical pieces and historic musical instruments. In addition to what is inside the building that houses all of this is itself a piece of art. One of the most unique buildings that I have seen.

While photography is allowed in the museum, it is not entirely practical. The flash may not be used, and the lighting in many areas is quite dim, which does not give great images. However, there was one feature that I like, and that is their Tower of Guitars. The tower consists of over 500 individual guitars and the occasional other instruments. See if you can spot the accordion.

Through the Science Fiction Museum, there is extensive memorabilia. The exhibits include pieces from many familiar movies over the 40 to 50 years. Movies like ET, Star Wars, Star Trek and many other Sci-Fi films. Although I have not seen the film, I did enjoy the new exhibit that opened today around Battlestar Galactica

Although I have not seen the movie, I did enjoy the new exhibit that opened today around Battlestar Galactica. They had various full-size props along with costumes and other pieces from the film. I am not sure entirely if the people dressed as characters from the film were part of the exhibit or just dedicated fans.

Seattle Centre

Seattle Centre is the home of The Experience Music Project / Science Fiction Museum. However, there is also a lot of other things here as well, including The Space Needle and some other facilities like stadiums and sports fields. While walking around the area I also discovered this water fountain; the also plays to music.

Seattle Space Needle

The last stop of the day was the Seattle Space Needle. I had also visited here earlier in the day and purchased a ticket for two visits, so I could return this evening. Today was not the ideal time to visit, due to overcast and rainy conditions. However, the view is still quite breathtaking, even considering this.

The view of Seattle are all around and from a height of 520 feet above the ground, can extend some distance. With a clear day, I have no doubt there would be some stunning views. But of course, it is hard to ensure good conditions when you have such a small window of time to visit.

Over the past three days, I have been lucky to see a large number of things in Seattle. However, there is just so much more on offer around Seattle for a future trip. Tomorrow I will be leaving Seattle and travelling onwards to Las Vegas.

Destinations

Seattle Day Tour – Mt Rainier National Park

Posted on October 23, 2010

When researching my visit to Seattle, I found a tour that sounded fascinating to me. The tour was a full day tour to visit Mount Rainier National Park. I must say that this tour today was outstanding, and I am sure you will agree when you see the images of Mt Rainier.

Mount Rainier

Standing at 14,417ft (4,394M), Mount Rainier is the 17th tallest peak in The United States, and the tallest in Washington State. Located around 60 Miles (96 KM) from Seattle as the crow flys, but more like 110 miles (176 KM) by road.

Getting To Mt Rainier

I always enjoy tours that have a longer driving portion to get to the destination. A long drive gives you an excellent opportunity to see so much of the countryside. Once the city is left behind, there is so much beautiful countryside to see.

As you can imagine with a high mountain peak like Mt Rainier it is a considerable distance beforehand you can see the peak. Well, that would be the case if the clouds were not hiding it early on. Of course, there is plenty more to see along the way. With one of the first spots, that caught my attention being Alder Lake which forms Alder Dam.

There were a lot of trees cleared in the area to build Alder Dam, which has left a lot of stumps behind. When the Lake is full, these stumps would be submerged. However, at the moment the lake is at a very low level since it is getting close to winter and they are all visible. It is intentional that the lake level gets decreased in preparation for winter.

Mount Rainier is a National Park, and it is interesting to see the different type of trees. Living in Queensland, Australia I have visited lots of bush and rainforest and there many different trees here. Additionally, as you approach Mount Rainier and gain elevation there is a point that the trees thin out drastically.

Some of the trees within the Mount Rainier National Park are of a significant size. When I did a little more research, there are large areas of the national park listed as old growth forest. With some of the stands of trees estimated to be up to 1,000 years old. I cannot be sure on specific details for these trees photographer below, but there are some enormous trees here.

Approaching Mt Rainier

Not long after entering the Mt Rainier National Park, the cloud cleared, and there was a view to the peak. Mt Rainier has approx. 35 square miles of permanent ice and snow. So it is a peak which always has a white top. (Ref)

The next stop on the tour was the first waterfall for the day. Christine Falls has three separate drops, but I could only get one into the picture. There are two drops above, and this is the lowest drop which is almost directly below the road.

Mt Rainier gets more than two million visitors each year. Around 10,000 visitors climb the mountain with about half of them reaching the summit. When you see the views and the surrounding area you can easily imagine why so many people visit.

Paradise at Mt Rainier

The highest elevation the tour visits is around 5400ft, which is also the highest point for vehicle access. The peak itself had once again become hidden by clouds. This location is named Paradise and is home to a visitors centre as well as some accommodation options.

There is another waterfall here, Myrtle Falls. I can imagine that this waterfall would change significantly with the seasons. Likely frozen in winter and flowing with significant volumes of water as the snow melts in spring.

At this elevation, there is a limited number of full-size trees. However, there are still many smaller trees and shrubs. With the time of hear being Autumn, the reds and yellows are very prominent as your walk the trails around the area.

After leaving Paradise, the tour made a stop at Buck Canyon. Through the canyon runs a river named Muddy Fork Creek. The water which runs through here is predominantly from the melting snow and ice from the glaciers above. The colour is a result of the glacier’s grind against the rock beneath leaving a fine sediment in the water.

There was one last stop before starting on the return journey to Seattle. The spot lake is known as Reflections Lake. With the right conditions, I understand that you can see a reflection of Mt Rainier in the lake. However, with the clouds that have hidden the peak today this was not possible.

Today’s tour was an excellent way to spend the day and to see such a beautiful part of the world. I can see myself visiting the area again in the future to explore further.

Destinations

Seattle City Tour

Posted on October 22, 2010

Today is my first full day in Seattle and I have managed to pack a bit into today. I had two tours booked, the first is a city tour, visiting the main sights and the second an underground tour. Unlike yesterday the camera got a real workout today and the results are below.

Photographing The Space Needle

One of the iconic structures in Seattle is the Space Needle. I had wanted to get a photo of the Space Needle from my hotel before departing on the tour this morning. However, as you can see below, there was heavy fog and at 1 block away you could not see much.

The tour started at 10am with a runtime of about 3 hours. The last stop is a lookout that overlooks the city and I was happy to find the fog had burned off. The Space Needle sits a little more prominently against the skyline of the city.

Seattle City Tour

Pioneer Square is the first stop on the tour and is the original business district of the city. There are a number of interesting features around this area. It is also where the city tour ends and the underground tour begins.

One is the Klondike Gold Rush Museum, which I had a few minutes for a brief look. It is said that the Klondike Gold Rush is one of the reasons why Seattle grew as quickly as it did.

Finally, I took a look at the Firefighters Memorial in Occidental Park. The four bronze statues are inspired by four firefighters who lost their life fighting a fire in 1995. However, the memorial is a respectful tribute to all 31 firefights who have lost their life in Seattle since 1889.

There were only two official stops on the tour, so photos were a little more difficult. However, this is one of the gates in Chinatown as we passed the area.

Lake Union Locks & Flood Gates

The tour’s second stop was near the locks and floodgates that control access to Lake Union. The lake and shipping canal is maintained at a specific level, above that of the water in the bay. To maintain this level there are two locks (a small and large) to allow boats in and out. Additionally, there is a series of floodgates similar to what you may find on a dam. While these are used to control the lake level, they also help to maintain the separation of fresh and salt water.

Seattle Underground Tour

After the city sights tour it was onto The Seattle Underground Tour. This tour takes you through a series of area’s in the underground sidewalks in the Pioneer Square area of Seattle.

I would not want to spoil the experience for others so will only briefly cover the history here. In the early days of Seattle, due to the lay of the land and other factors the street level was risen. In many areas this was a whole level of a building off the existing ground. Today some of these areas have been maintained and subsequently result in the underground tour.

I did find this tour to be quite interesting, at least some of the history behind it. In some respects, though I think it was a little over the top. With much of the area just looking like a messy building site, with few exceptions. While interesting from a history point of view, I was a little disappointed in the visual component. Based on the tour description I did expect a little more from the 90-minute tour.

The first image is a restored frontage of a building. With the second image one of the underground passages.

Seattle Space Needle

Come the end of the day I was able to capture the picture I had been hoping for this morning. A close up photograph of the Space Needle.

I am quite excited for the tour which I have booked for tomorrow. I think that there will be some great spots to share with you so be sure to check back tomorrow.

Destinations

Travelling Vancouver To Seattle

Posted on October 21, 2010

Today was quite an early start, with a 5 am wake up. I had all the packing finished last night and just had to find my way to the Vancouver Train Station. Like this morning I am heading from Vancouver south to Seattle.

Vancouver To Seattle

Getting to the station this morning I opted for a Taxi. It was a little more expensive, and I likely could have walked. However, being so early in the morning I decided on taking the quicker and safer option.

In the end, I arrived a little early to the station, but I prefer to be organised and early. The train journey takes around 4 hours and crosses the border between Canada and the United States of America. I was hoping to see some of the beautiful countryside along this route. However, there was so much fog even up to the arrival into Seattle around 11 am.

Even though I had all of my luggage, I decided on walking from the train station to my hotel. The hills were not something I had bargained for in this process. When I discovered the monorail around half way, I was happy to take advantage of this. It saved considerable time in the end and got me right near the hotel.

Seattle Walk

After checking into the hotel, I took the monorail back down to explore just a little. I wandered through some of the shopping area in downtown and across to Pike Place Market.

I did not spend too long looking around and opted to head back to the hotel early. I have had a couple of big days and with the early start, today wanted some rest.

Seattle Hotel

The hotel here is more than I was expecting. It is a nice big, spacious room, with free wifi and free breakfast in the morning. The staff are so friendly and ready to help in any way they can.

Not a big update today. However, I do have a city tour booked for tomorrow to get out and see some of Seattle. As I only have around three days here I wanted to maximise my time.

Destinations

Last Day In Vancouver

Posted on October 19, 2010

With today being my last day in Vancouver I needed to cover off any last things I wanted to do. Ensuring that I leave enough time to be back at the hotel to do some washing and pack my bags.

I did consider the option of a seaplane flight. There are some different options for a sightseeing flight from Vancouver. However, I found out that you need to book in advance. They have a capacity of 14 people and the flights today were fully booked.

While walking the water’s edge, I happened to find a harbour cruise available. I looked into this earlier in the week and thought I had missed my opportunity. However, it was my lucky day as they had a boat departing at 1.30pm. It may have only been a 1-hour cruise, but it helped me tick something off my list.ive.

Vancouver Harbour Cruise

The boat for the cruise that I took is a paddle wheeler named the Constitution. The first sight on the harbour cruise is not what you might expect. It is a petrol station, and if you have a boat, this is where you come to refuel, in the middle of Coal Harbour.

The most prominent feature of the Harbour is the massive cranes for loading and unloading the container ships. There are two different area’s with multiple cranes just like these. Cranes are one thing, but there are some features around the harbour that are all very industrial.

On the Northshore, the most prominent feature is the sulphur loading dock. There are also a lot of boats and barges anchored or docked over this side and the Vancouver Dry Dock.

Finally moored on the north side is a boat which has famous roots starring in the movie Overboard. Later after a full refurbishment also used in Indecent Proposal. It looks entirely different, however, this is apparently the boat below.

Farewell Vancouver

The harbour cruise was the last thing that I had wanted to do in Vancouver. However, that is not to say that I have not discovered other things I would have like to do. Vancouver does seem like a place that I will return to explore further in the future.

I spent some time at the hotel this afternoon getting a little washing done and packing. Tomorrow is a relatively early start in the morning for the next step in my journey. It is a short trip across the US Border and into Seattle for a few days. Of course, I look forward to sharing more with you tomorrow from the next destination.

Destinations

Day Trip – Vancouver to Victoria, BC

Posted on October 19, 2010

Over the weekend I realised that I had a few more days in Vancouver, and wanted to do something a little different. So a little research turned up the option of a full day tour to visit Victoria on Vancouver Island. I had no doubt that it would be a great day out and booked without hesitation.

The tour time is just over 12 hours. Leaving Vancouver around 9 am and returning about 9.30pm. Part of the time here is getting to Vancouver Island. It starts with a 40minute drive south of Vancouver to Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal. The drive gives you a chance to see a different aspect of Vancouver. Following is a 90-minute ferry ride from Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island.

Butchart Gardens

Victoria was not our first destination, with a stop and some free time to explore Butchart Gardens first. The gardens were created over 100 years ago and currently cover an area of around 55 acres. In this area, there are some different types of gardens displayed.

The first garden which I explored was the Sunken Garden. There is a range of flowers, trees, lawns and waterways on display. The garden is primarily green. However, there are a few of the autumn colours pushing through at the moment. You can imagine in full bloom just how spectacular it might look.

There are some other attractions at the gardens as well. With numerous water features, two totem poles, a concert lawn and stage, and an area for fireworks. There is also a beautiful carousel, “The Rose Carousel.”

The second main garden is the Rose Garden, which would look amazing in full bloom. However, the timing is far from right, and there are just a few bushes with an occasional bloom.

Another garden and possibly one of my favourites is the Japanese Garden. The Japanese Garden is a maze of walkways, with water running and some small waterfalls. There are also a lot of sculptured plants and small bonsai-like trees. Although they do seem on a slightly bigger scale, then Bonsai would normally be.

I hope that my words and images have done the gardens justice. However, if not it may just have to be on your list of places to visit in British Columbia. I must say the gardens and the general area around Vancouver and Victoria are well worth the visit.

Victoria City

The next stop was in Victoria, with most of the time here to spend as we liked. After a brief introductory drive through the city, we were dropped at the Chinatown end of the city. I choose to wander down through the public market, and soon arrived near to the Empress Hotel. From here there is a beautiful view out to the harbour and across to the Government Building.

As I was walking through the Empress Hotel, I noticed a promotion for a place named Miniature World. Although I have not had the time or inclination to build many models, they do capture my imagination. It seems Miniature world did not disappoint with dozens of miniature dioramas, buildings and doll houses. Many were very intricate, and some were rather large and detailed considering their scale.

I have mentioned it a couple of times now, so suppose I should share an image of the Empress Hotel. The building is a very beautiful building and looks even more interesting with the plants growing on the outside.

The time in Victoria just was not enough. I did get to enjoy a couple of great places in Butchart Gardens and Miniature World. But to be honest, I think it would be possible to spend a few days here exploring and find a lot more.

Returning To Vancouver

The ferry that runs between Vancouver and Victoria is no small ferry. The tour bus can drive straight on along with some 400 over vehicles and up to 2100 passengers and crew. These are almost like little cruise ships. There is just about everything you could need, a cafeteria, plenty of seating, workstations and free wifi.

I could not imagine commuting between Vancouver and Victoria on a regular basis myself. Especially considering that it is 90 minutes each way just for the ferry journey. Which excludes getting to and from the ferry terminals. However, with the facilities on the ferry, I can see that it would not be the worst option. With the potential to work or combine meals with the journey.

It was most definitely a long day, with a lot fo sitting. But the destination was most definitely worth the wait. Tomorrow is my last day in Vancouver and not entirely sure what I have left to do around the city.

Older Posts

Newer Posts

Steve Pavlina Conscious Growth Workshop

Eating Out

Seeing the Sights

Future Las Vegas Visits

Lake Mead

Hoover Dam

Inside The Hoover Dam

Heading Back To Las Vegas

Fremont Street

Getting Around Las Vegas

Outlet shopping

North To South On The Las Vegas Strip

Back On The Strip

Grand Canyon Tour

Grand Canyon

Trail Of Time

Grand Canyon Wildlife

More Views

Northwest Chocolate Festival

Experience Music Project / Science Fiction Museum

Seattle Centre

Seattle Space Needle

Mount Rainier

Getting To Mt Rainier

Approaching Mt Rainier

Paradise at Mt Rainier

Photographing The Space Needle

Seattle City Tour

Lake Union Locks & Flood Gates

Seattle Underground Tour

Seattle Space Needle

Vancouver To Seattle

Seattle Walk

Seattle Hotel

Vancouver Harbour Cruise

Farewell Vancouver

Butchart Gardens

Victoria City

Returning To Vancouver

Pin It on Pinterest