Going Along The Pacific

Victoria

Victoria is actually a city on Vancouver Island, in Canada. From Seattle people often go there by ferry.

When we were returning from Alaska , we stopped in Seattle for 2 -3 days. We stayed at a B & B near university area. It was managed by a very strict lady. 

She would allow visitors to use phone only by those who had Phone card. We didn’t have that. We could not talk with our daughter who was in Atlanta with her friends.

After roaming in the city we wanted to go to island VICTORIA. While roaming in Seattle one day we were sitting in the tallest building of Seattle wondering how to make booking for 2 nights in Victoria. The lady who was running the B & B had given us a list of acomodation in Victoria. We had decided the place where we would like to stay. 

Suddenly I thought, why not talk to the owner directly thru operator. Operator can explain our situation. He connected the phone of the owner, as we were telling him that we like to stay in their place but do not have card or enough cash to continue talking. The lady immediately recognised an Indian voice, and decided to accept us for stay at her B&B. So next day we took a boat and reached there. She told us that their car mechanic was an Indian but they  never had any Indian client - so they were excited.

When we reached there a group of Canadian family were there and leaving after breakfast. One of them was a painter. The name of the house was “ SONIA By the SEA ”. We liked the place and the hosts. So we stayed with them. 

Butchart Gardens

Our main interest was only in the Butchart Gardens. 

The story of the garden is quite interesting. In the early 1900s, a couple named Robert Pim and Jennie Butchart had a limestone quarry on their property. When the stone was exhausted and the quarry became an empty pit, Jennie Butchart decided to transform it into a beautiful garden instead of leaving it barren.

She gradually created what is now called the Sunken Garden, which sits in the old quarry. Later more gardens were added, and today the whole place covers about 55 acres.

The gardens are divided into several themed areas:

• Sunken Garden – the original quarry turned into a dramatic flower garden below ground level.

• Japanese Garden – peaceful paths, small bridges, and ponds.

• Italian Garden – formal layout with fountains and symmetry.

• Rose Garden – hundreds of varieties of roses in summer.

What many visitors remember most is the extraordinary color, thousands of flowers arranged in large patterns. Because the gardens are near the sea, the climate is mild and plants grow beautifully. People often spend hours just walking slowly through the paths, enjoying the flowers, ponds, and quiet corners. In the evening during summer they sometimes even have lights and music.

Next day we were leaving. We didn’t have a vehicle, so first we walked around their area. When we were departing she nodded to her husband and she took us around to the top. Later she dropped at the harbour. How kind of her.

Mount St. Helens.

After returning from Victoria next day we drove along Pacific coast looking for a hotel. The State property was full - we stayed for one night at a small property with independent rooms. The owner warned us that at night they were having country music.

Next day we drove further down to go to see Mount St. Helens. It had a major eruption in 1980, one of the most dramatic volcanic eruptions in modern U.S. history.

For many years afterward it was still described as a recently active volcano, and visitors were very curious to see the devastated landscape. The arrangement at the visitor’s area were perfect. It told the history and other details how it felt when the eruption ocurred. The eruption of Mount St. Helens is one of the most dramatic volcanic events in modern U.S. history. It happened on May 18, 1980, and completely changed the shape of the mountain and the surrounding landscape.

What happened before the eruption

In March 1980, scientists began noticing unusual activity around Mount St. Helens in the Cascade Range. There were many small earthquakes, steam explosions from the summit and a large bulge forming on the north side of the mountain. The bulge kept growing because magma was pushing upward inside the volcano.

The day of the eruption

On May 18, 1980, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake triggered a massive landslide. This landslide removed the weakened north side of the mountain. When that happened, the pressure inside the volcano was suddenly released.

Instead of erupting straight upward, the volcano exploded sideways in what scientists call a lateral blast. The results were enormous. The top 400 meters of the mountain blew away. A huge ash cloud rose about 24 km into the sky. Ash fell across several states and even reached parts of Canada. Forests over 600 square kilometers were flattened.

Impact on the landscape

The eruption:

• destroyed millions of trees

• buried rivers and valleys with ash and mudflows

• created a large horseshoe-shaped crater

Even decades later, visitors can clearly see the devastated area and the new crater. Today the region is protected as "The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument" so people can study how nature recovers after such a disaster.

A remarkable recovery

One fascinating thing scientists discovered is how nature slowly returned.

Plants began growing in the ash, animals gradually came back and the forests are slowly regenerating. So when we visited Mount St. Helens, we were not just seeing a volcano, we were seeing a landscape that had been completely reshaped by one of the most powerful eruptions of the 20th century.

Crater Lake National Park

Once we were at our friend’s house and decided to go to see the Crater lake. We entered from North gate. Weather was still mildly cold and both sides of the road were covered with fresh snow.

A few things make Crater Lake very special. It was formed after the collapse of an ancient volcano called Mount Mazama about 7,700 years ago. The lake sits inside the huge volcanic crater (caldera) that remained. It is the deepest lake in the United States (about 594 m / 1,949 ft). The water is famous for its extraordinary deep blue color because it is fed almost entirely by rain and snow. In the middle of the lake there is a small volcanic island called Wizard Island, which rises like a cone from the water.