White Rock

Donna and I headed back towards the beach of White Rock for some breakfast. It was about 7:00 AM, so except for several joggers we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. I got a couple of nice photos of the town’s namesake without the graduating hooligans standing on top of it. The rock is the reason the town of White Rock, BC got its name when it incorporated 50 years ago. I guess it was white-ish in the beginning, but now they paint it white every year. Perhaps because it is still off season here there was only one place open, so that is where we ate. Both had a ham, egg & cheese bagel, not too bad, but we probably won’t eat there again next time.

Then it was off to Tsawwassen to catch the ferry to Swartz Bay. We meet Jim, Linda & Jennifer at the port and rode the boat over together, only to split up on the other side so that we could take the back roads while they took the main road. Donna and I originally intended to see the Butchart Gardens, but didn’t feel up the sun because it was already midday, so instead we went indoors and visited the Victoria Butterfly Gardens. Awesome place. If you stood still the butterflies would land right on you. It was only a couple kilometers down the road before we realized we should have taken Gnorm in with us. Dang.

Last night we visited Donna & Jim’s father’s cousin, tonight we all went over to meet and eat with Linda’s father’s cousin, Keith Walker. He, his wife and their youngest daughter treated us all like royalty. Like last night the stories flew, and while like last night I couldn’t always follow the family connections, it was great to get a sense of history these folks imparted.

Tomorrow we separate again when Donna and I head to the Olympic peninsula, while Jim, Linda and Jenn spend another day in Victoria. We meet up again on Friday night at the airport Marriott at SeaTac.