Western Canadian Geology

As mentioned before, I'm a bit of a geology buff -- but far from being an expert. We began our two-day train trip across Western Canada on the dry side of the mountains. That will be obvious enough from these photos. I was impressed by all the outcrops, upthrusts and places where erosion shows us what lies beneath the surface.

In this picture, notice the different colors in the rock: iron and copper for sure, but there are probably others. Marc's the chemist in the family, I'm sure he could tell us more.

Here, you can see a bit of outcropping where the soil has been eroded away to show the rock beneath.


Here's another example.










Mountains are formed in a couple of different ways. These are "upthrust" mountains formed when two tectonic plates press against each other and causes "wrinkles". You can see how the rock has been pushed up at an angle.


I love this shot that shows the different types and colors of rocks exposed by the water's cutting path.

"Whale Watching" Trip

Part of our trip included a whale watching tour. This was something I was really looking forward to, though we were only likely to see Orcas, not any of the larger whales -- but that was ok. I just wanted to see whales!!

Of course, the first thing we saw were Bald Eagles -- a lot of them on this trip. However, as I was later to discover, we were mostly moving the whole time, so not all of the photos turned out this well.

We saw three types of "seals". These are Elephant Seals. Awww, what a sweet picture of cuddly seals.

This next bunch are Harbor Seals. They really blend in with the rocks. I call this "What I did for my summer vacation" -- just lay around and blend in with the surroundings. [grin] Note the one seal in the water -- if you can find him!

The third type of seal we saw was the Northern Sea Lion. I have cropped out this one individual from the herd on the rocks. It may not be obvious from the photo, but what really impressed me was the coloring on these beautiful animals. From their dark brown flippers (and wet underbellies) to the very light tan on top, they seemed to display every shade of a rich brown. I just thought they were really beautiful.

We were able to add another bird to our life list. I saw these birds everywhere, but couldn't quiet identify them, so I got some help from one of the crew. These are Pigeon Guillemots. Note the red feet!

And of course, leave it to me to spot the raccoon climbing up the rock face.





Here's a close up.

Now, if you look through all these photos again, you'll notice that there is something missing. Yep, that's right. We did not see a single whale of any kind on our "Whale Watching" tour. Sigh. Well, sometimes that's just the way it goes.

Butchart Gardens

Our first day activity on the island was to visit Butchart Gardens. These gardens had been the personal project of a wealthy Victorian lady to cover up an ugly quarry that was the family's business. Over the years, the gardens grew to become the new family's business.

April is still early spring in Canada, so few of the mid-summer type flowers were blooming, but there were lots and lots of tulips and other bulb-type flowers. Red, of course is a popular color, here matched with white bachelor buttons.

I also found these black tulips to be interesting. As you are probably aware, black flowers do not occur naturally (that I know of). Most "black" flowers are a very dark blue, red or purple. Either way, they catch the attention.


Something you find in a lot of formal gardens are fountains and statuary. Butchart Gardens is no exception. I particularly liked this statue of a boar. It is considered good luck to rub the boar's snout -- that's why it's remained so shiny.

Fish always make a good match of statuary with a fountain. Though I must admit, the boar is still my favorite.













I took this next picture in the original garden designed to cover the quarries. I love the juxtaposition of nature and technology. I call this photo: "Nightshade Unplugged".


Here's a shot of the "Rose Garden". I was a little sad that we were too soon to see all the roses in bloom. The fences around the garden were all "rose fences" with the rose canes trained to follow the fence wires. I'll bet this garden is spectacular in mid-summer.

Here's an overall shot of another of the gardens at Butchart. Hmmm..., I don't remember exactly which garden this is -- it's lovely, though!

Finally, as we were finishing our garden tour, we looked back at the last garden (the Japanese Garden, if I recall correctly) and could see the harbor through a break in the trees. This sudden jolt of real life in the midst of the idyllic gardens really struck me. It seemed to bring about a completeness. I think it also reminded me that the next day we would go whale watching -- something I was really looking forward to! But that's for the next post...