Wait a minute, who is that, coming down off of Air Force One....why, it is the Captain I think...yes, we are actually at the Boeing Museum of Flight in Seattle, very interesting and outside we have just toured the plane that brought President Kennedy's body back from Dallas after he was assassinated. Just imagine that he and Jackie used this plane to travel in, small by today's standards and not at all glamourous, but historical and fun to see.
Toured the Concorde which is tiny inside, very narrow and small and you had to pay $5,000 for a one way ticket to Paris. The problem with it was it used too much fuel and became so expensive that they had to take them out of the air...the plane went so fast that the outside temperature of the Concord was almost the boiling point of water. I had to get off it because it was so tight and narrow I was beginning to feel closed in on it. Only 2 seats across on each side, so didn't hold many folks either.
Brad Pitt you say...?? Wow, huh...I thought so for a moment as well...this large photo is in the WW2 section of the Museum of Flight and he was one of those very brave fighter pilots like my Uncle Donnie, who was shot down during the war, but wow! Doesn't he look like Brad Pitt? We were both stunned when we saw this photo, it just looks so much like him, especially those pouting lips.
All sorts of examples of planes from all the wars and engines and the history of aviation and how Mr. Boeing started his company in an old barn on the outskirts of Seattle. Really nice museum and lots to see there, spent the whole afternoon enjoying all the exhibits.
Now we head out to the island of Vancover and to Victoria, BC. on the Victoria Clipper ferry boat. Nice scenery and ride through the Puget Sound and the Juan de Fuca Straight over to Victoria. Did lots of sketching on the boat and looking out the window for orcas.
After we pass through Canadian customs, we hop on a coach that takes us on a city tour of beautiful Victoria and out the 14 miles to the beautiful and famous Butchart Gardens. I have known about these for years and was so excited to tour all the gardens there. This was the sight of a concrete company at the turn of the century and after they were through digging all the limestone out of the quarry, Mrs. Butchart planted a garden there because she thought it looked unsightly seeing that big ugly rocky hole, even hanging down the sides of the quarry on a bosun's chair to plant ivy to cover up the sides of the quarry walls. It is just spectacular and we started off without the rain but soon there it was again. But, these gardens are so incredible and they get some nice rainfall there, so the plants just love all the moisture. I could not get over how far North we were and how so much was still in bloom including roses and dahlias...it is because it is such a warm climate there that they have a longer growing season than we do in the Northeast. Easily spent 2 or 3 hours wandering around with my umbrella and my Captain just absolutely dazzled by the beauty and the layout of these magnificient gardens.
This railings for the walkways are made out of concrete and then was scraffitoed in with lines to make it appear to be wood . They use that technique a lot in the gardens on various items.
Begonias....
Cleomes and mums....
Button Dahlias....
more dahlias...
The Butchart home, now a tea room and restaurant...note the colorful mums...
Look at this layout...isn't this so pretty...no wonder it is so green with all the rain...so lush and full...
Smiling in the rain...it was a light rain, anyhow, but the gardens were so pretty that I was just so happy seeing it all..
more potted flowers behind the tea house...
Mrs. Butchart's personal garden behind her house...
just a sea of cranberry colored mums...all tucked into one another...
great setting for a wedding...
wonderful totem pole by some of the "First People" of British Columbia.....
really starting to rain now, so we duck inside for a spot of tea....
sat inside the warm and cozy tea room drinking my Earl Grey and did these sketches of the flowers and potted plants out the window.
nice day,
more later,
carol
I've been to many of the same fantastic places in Victoria, aren't they wonderful!? Especially Butchardt Gardens. I thought that was the most amazing gardens I'd ever visited, until I had the pleasure of visiting Monet's Garden this spring. Sigh. I did not, however, go to The Empress for tea as I was dragging some raggedy, bouncy boys along on my visit. I hope to go back again and correct that with a visit, perhaps just hubby and moi.
Posted by: Laume | October 18, 2008 at 08:33 AM
Beautiful images Carol. Reading you from Turin, Italy. Looking for inspiration for next year's flower borders.
Posted by: Laura | October 15, 2010 at 05:27 AM