Rob-n-Hild, oot and aboot eh? Sorry - 2022

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Nanaimo - Victoria (260 km. 4.75 hours. Max elevation 351 m)

Our goal today was to drive south to explore Victoria - and more importantly - visit cousin Lisbet with family. It is always fun to meet other Rygnestads!

We worked it out from the family tree put together by Janet, Hild's mum, and coaching from Vivian, Lisbet's mum. Our great-grandfathers were brothers from the Systog farm in Rygnestad, Norway. Our familial connection probably has some fancy name like 10th cousin trice removed - or some such. We have decided to call each other cousins!

After putting in some early-morning billable hours, we headed south toward Victoria. Weather was reasonable with only some rain drops here and there. On our way south we had planned to stop in Duncan to see the World's biggest hockey stick and puck. It was indeed big and stretched most of the wall of the local community centre. In the photo below you can spot the cars for size-comparison.

As most of you know, Saturday morning means Rob and Hild and JR go to have breakfast at Tim Hortons and shop at Costco in Ottawa/Cyrville. "Two twelve-grain bagels toasted with extra butter + steeped tea + coffee" - always the same. This time we went to the Costco in Victoria - same menu-choices but sadly no JR. Even so it was fun to be back in our traditional ways!

Just as we reached Vancouver last week, Hild ran out of licorice. This is of course the source of much stress and grumpiness. We have been on the lookout for a Dutch community or at least a Dutch store that would import real/salty licorice. Rob - doing some excellent research - found "The Wooden Shoe" store in Victoria that sold many Dutch items and also advertised licorice for sale. We could not have imagined quite how much licorice they had. As you can see Hild was quite flustered with all the choices. We came away with two large bags of licorice. Great car-snack.

We set our noses towards Victoria again as we had decided to check out Beacon Hill Park first. There was plenty of parking spaces available when we arrived to find a park with lots of lawns, trees and colourful bushes/flowers. The trail network was a bit eclectic and not shown on any map so us visitors were left a bit puzzled and "lost" sometimes.

We also had a discussion on what the town meeting would have been like when they decided that the free parking should be valid for 3.5 hours - not 3 not 4 but 3.5! Fantastic!

The park area also includes a Terry Fox monument and the zero-mile point of the Trans Canada Highway. The latter commemorates how Al Howie ran along the Highway from St. John's to Victoria in 72 days and 10 hours in 1991. We'll cover just over half of it (twice!) while sitting in a car.

Walking along the seaside we were happy to find ourselves in the off-leash area for doggies. Oh so many energetic and fun doggies to look at! There was a special water fountain with a doggie bowl attached! That we had never seen before. Another monument remembered the woman (Marilyn Bell) who swam from Port Angeles, USA, to Victoria in 1956. Well done! The view over the ocean was also nice...

Further into Beacon Hill Park we found the world's tallest totem pole (127 feet and 7 inches). Rob helps provide a frame/size of reference. It was impossible to see the top of it clearly - to spot if there was a thunderbird at the top or not.

Even further into the park we stumbled over a small petting zoo. There were several goats, which we can imagine would be fun to pet. We are not sure if the fancy-feathered chickens nor the peacocks were OK with being part of a petting zoo. The peacocks were pretty, though. One had even escaped onto the carpark and was strutting around with his tail all fanned out. He looked good but also a bit threatening so we didn't stop to take a photo - just walked away slowly like we did with the grizzly bear!

The park had beautiful big wild-looking trees as well as some more manicured bushes.

Hild also found the World's Largest Watering Can. It appears it is an actual fountain-like installation with water falling onto those below. Thankfully no one pushed the water-button while Hild posed for the photo. Phew!

We drove along the coast to admire the view as well as to find a picnic spot. At the Oak Bay Marina we found the perfect spot with a big tree providing a natural roof against the rain. More sandwiches, yoghurt, fruit, and the all-important TEA!!

A fun art installation showed dogs running through the park.

Next we went to visit Government House - the estate and official residence of the lieutenant governor. We were there mainly for the many different gardens with colour flowers in bloom. Thank you, Norah, for recommending this stop. We saw several buildings including the main house, the stables, and the washroom...

There were so many flowers in so many different garden sections: English Country Garden, Sunken Rose Garden, Herb Garden, Rhododendron Garden, the Iris and Lily garden - and so much more. We even saw a lizard in amongst the flowers and all the granite outcroppings: another species spotted.

We also saw some peculiar things - like the hydroponics garden growing plants in pyramid shaped stands... and an Englishman with real oak trees!

Heading downtown we wanted to see Parliament House. There was a demonstration at the front, so we explored the side and back for the building. Pretty there too!

There was a monument for the Speaker of the House - with all of the past and current speakers named. We're unsure why they also put an art installation next to the speaker's chair showing a bear and her cubs devouring a salmon. We wonder if the speaker feels more like the bear or the salmon?

We saw a very nice fountain with sea lions, sea gulls, bear, wolf, raven, and eagle

It seemed appropriate to visit downtown Victoria and enjoy watching a bit of lawn bowls... the way you do.

It was fun to watch more seaplanes taking off from the Victoria harbour area. We had been seeing them at the other end in Vancouver as well as in Nanaimo. The restaurant at this end is called Flyting Otter. JR has recommended the Flying Beaver on the Vancouver end. Nice!

Our day ended with visiting cousin Lisbet with David and Kai. We had a lovely time with delicious South India food and many wide-ranging conversations. It is so great to connect with more parts of the Rygnestad family and find instant great friends at different ends of the world. Thank you for having us. See you in Ottawa or Norway!

May/June 2022

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