Tourists

Butchart Gardens

Jon's mother and her partner were with us last weekend, and they had the special honor of being our first guests out west! It was so so nice seeing them and catching up while finding new restaurants, showing them around town, and exploring new (to us!) parts of Victoria. Jon and I haven't done much of the tourist-y stuff so far, so it was great getting to explore some of Victoria's well-known gems. Typically when people get here they do two things: have high tea and the Empress hotel and go to Butchart Gardens. I was happy to check both of those things off my "to do" list, but I'm sure we'll be back to both places as other guests slowly trickle in and out of the region. That being said, it was magical to have those experiences for the first time, and I'm so happy we had Laurie and Ralph to join us. 

We also got to watch the salmon swim up stream to spawn, which is something while not super tourist-y, was still very interesting and exciting. It was sobering to see some of the fish struggle up the river, and some of the fish who weren't as fit laid on the river banks dead. I went to the stream a few days later with another friend only to find more fish expired along the edges of the river, signifying that their trip uphill was possibly wrapping up. Jon had some morbid philosophical ideas and thoughts about the whole process, but I'll leave that job to him.

Our lovely guests

The Japanese garden