The Big Vacation - Day Two

Day Two dawned partially sunny and we checked out of the hotel, after having to check out the pool.  We headed into to downtown Victoria to explore the sights.  Much of it is the same as I remember in Grade 6, but still cool.  Except if you're a little boy.  Then it's just "boring.  When are we gonna get to the good stuff?"  The 'good stuff' came in the form of a bmx dirt bike track set up on a floating barge along the wharf.

We did the tour of the Parliament Building

Madison with 'Queen Victoria'.  She acted this woman's performance out at the campsite for the rest of the trip.  I have visions of her future profession in tourism...

The boys staying well away from the tour leader inside the building.  We checked out a lot of the nooks and crannies as we tried not to interrupt her spiel.  Unfortunately, she sounded a lot like the aliens on Galaxyquest (if you've seen that.  And you should.)  Even I had a hard time paying attention to her monotone.  Maybe she had a late Saturday night?

Orca Topiaries outside the Empress Hotel.

By far the highlight of Day Two was our visit to Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse.  If you go to Victoria you just have to stop here.  We wished we had gone earlier in the day as we could have spent pretty much an entire day exploring the tunnels and bunkers and what not.  For $10, your family gets in and receives as many GPS units as you need for older kids who can read.  The GPS then takes you on a 'spy mission' around the old army fort, directing the kids on little mini-missions along the way.  Very interesting things to learn here too.  We loved it!

Shooting the rifles through the outer defense wall.  The kids found it fascinating that the soldiers would wait with their rifles trained through the small slits.  The wall is incredibly thick.

One of the big guns - a good jungle gym for Mac too.

Spencer loved seeing the old army vehicles.

Part of a series of tunnels and stairs.  They housed the artillery in the tunnel areas, then passed it out throught the blue wooden window where it was carried to the big cannons above.

The Fisgard Lighthouse

Clayton dreaming of shooting one of the cannons.

On top of one of the lookouts. 

We had to tear the kids away in order to make it across to the west side of the island to our campsite in Pacific Rim.  So, after a 5 hour drive we were on to Day Three...