Ryan's Trip to Canada ~ Spring Break, 1999

My cousin, my aunt, her friend, and me went to Victoria, British Columbia for Spring Break of 1999. The weather was sunny some of the days we were there, and others it was rainy off and on. I brought along a pair of "fun saver" cameras. We took a ferry from Washington to Canada. The bed and breakfast was 15 miles outside Victoria and overlooked an ocean inlet. It was kind of a lake... but the tide came in and out. :P *shrug* We went to the Royal British Museum in downtown Victoria, and we also went to Victoria's Chinatown. My cousin is a Sailor Moon addict, and she was thrilled when we found cans of Sailor Moon pasta in one of the shops. It was made by Heinz. I also saw alot of punk/hippie related shops in Victoria. ^_^ It was cool. I went into most of them. I also picked up a jade ring in one of them. That's another thing... British Columbia is famous for it's jade. Almost every shop we went in in Victoria had a tray of jade rings in various sizes for sale. :) I think the trip to Canada was the best vacation I have ever had. The whole time we were there, we never heard a single police siren. Nobody we met was rude to us. There weren't any jacked-up red neck hillbillie pickup trucks either, which was refreshing. My aunt agreed to that when I pointed it out to her. There were alot of cute girls there too. :D Serious. Maybe it's just the west coast, but about 19 out of 20 girls my age that I saw were cute. :) You don't get those odds here in Oregon. Canadian currency is amazing. they use about 100 different colors of ink on their money. There's no $1 bill or $2 bill, they use coins instead. Queen Elizabeth II is on the front of all the coins, and the front side of their $20 bill. The last time I checked, $1 U.S. was equal to $1.46 Canadian.

Bed and breakfast The bed and breakfast place 15 miles outside Victoria where we stayed.

Craigdarroch Castle up shot A rather scary photo I took of the outside of Craigdarroch Castle, a large stone mansion that sits on a hill in part of Victoria. The propert the mansion sits on used to extend to all the way around the base of the hill, but houses were built on it, and now it sits on about 11 acres. The building was alot newer than I expected it to be; it was built between 1887 and 1890. Lots of stained glass was used in the windows.

Black and white A black and white version of the previous photo.

Another up shotAnother scary photo I took from a different angle. The round stone column on the left side of the building that runs to the top of the roof is part of the stairwell. The attic in this place was HUGE. ^_^

Black and white A black and white version of the previous photo. Scary Larry!! o.o

Craigdarroch from the back yard A photo I took while standing in the backyard. The backyard used to have a rose garden in it. When we first arrived to the castle, we came in the front. When I heard there was a backyard, I thought there'd be a family cemetary in it, but there wasn't. :p I think a big fountain in the middle of the yard would look cool. ^_^

Black and white A black and white version of the previous photo. o.o;

Stained glass window I was disappointed that none of the interior photos came out very well, all except the window parts of the photos. So I scanned the window parts. :) Here's a stained glass window with some plants and a table in front of it.

Another stained glass window Another stained glass window, this one with a rocking chair, a lamp and a table in front of it.

Great interior shot A photo of three stained glass windows, all facing out of the stairwell I mentioned earlier. The stairwell itself had different levels. There was a small pipe organ on one level, and on another was this small statue, and the top was a big chandelier (sp?).

Sea plane flying by the ferry I took this photo on the way up to Victoria. A sea plane flew by the ferry, and I happened to walk outside at about the right moment.

Me standing on the ferry deck My skin is all white because it was March and it was cold out, and living in Oregon, you don't get much sun that time of the year. :}

Cathedral A cathedral in downtown Victoria.

Porche A Porche we saw parked on the street when we were walking to Chinatown. Coo! ^_^