May 26, 2016

May 26  evening flight to Vancouver

   

   It was a cloudy morning at 11 C and no wind. We had breakfast with Bob since Margot had gone to the mainland early in the morning.  We got caught up on posting the blog.

   Then, Bob took us on a long walk past Uplands Golf Club north to the University of Victoria.  We walked on some paths through wooded areas and along sidewalks. At the University of Victoria, we walked through the campus and the Finnerty Gardens.   As we walked through the campus we encountered two fifteen metre high totem poles not far from the Finnerty Gardens. The rhododendrons and azaleas at the Finnerty Gardens were still in bloom in several different colours. There are trails to follow to direct you to many mini gardens and some ponds. We spotted a deer nibbling on a bush on the outside of the fence that surrounds the garden.  When we returned to Bob and Margot’s house about noon, we had walked over eight kilometers.  The wind was stronger at 25 to 30 kilometers from the south and the sun had tried to pierce the clouds a few times but never successfully.  The temperature was a few degrees higher at 15 C.

   Later in the afternoon Bob drove us to the airport and there were some sunny patches. The temperature had reached 28 C.

   We took the 7 p.m. short flight to Vancouver, the plane had to circle once due to air traffic and we landed about 7:30. The plane was Bombardier Q 400. We collected our luggage and found the route to the rental car counters.  The gray clouds looked like it could rain soon. We set the GPS to drive to our hotel.  As soon as we left the car park we encountered a steady rain.  After a false start, we found the hotel and were checked in by 9 pm.  We found a Greek restaurant within a five minute walk from the hotel in a light rain.  The Greek Salad was delicious and it was made authentically, with no lettuce.

    Total distance walked 10.46 km