Nature day

This is the last day for travel photos. It was the best day that we had, though. Early in the morning, we checked out of the hotel and drove over to Finnerty Gardens at the University of Victoria. It is beautiful right now with many of the 1500 rhododendron and azaleas in bloom. If I were a student here I think I'd like to spend a lot of time in this place.


This is just one of the rhodies...


There are lots of other flowers in bloom as well, like a bleeding heart shrub...


And clouds of forget-me-nots...


And woodland stream banks covered in flowers. This garden is well worth a visit - I could have stayed all day as this bunny intended to do. I don't think Mr McGregor knows he's visiting.



Our next stop was Swan Lake which is a nature park of marshy lake and rocky hillside right in Victoria. The day was still and warm and all we had to do was listen to the birds sing.

The redwing blackbird on his cat-tail stalk...


the marsh wren on her grass stalk...


and a pair of cinnamon teal who didn't do much singing.

We also visited the nature house with all those neat teaching games for kids. We got pretty engrossed in listening to what a snake hears. All of a sudden, we looked at our watches and, like the White Rabbit, we were late!

Our mini-vacation ended with lunch on Haliburton Hill with Joanna and her family. It was the best day.