July 2-5 July 6 July 7 July 8 July 9 July 10 July 11 July 12 July 13 July 14 July 15 July 16 July 17 July 18-21	Friday, July 17 I got up early and had a quick bite to eat downstairs - I had run out of muffins... We met in the lobby at 7 to go back to Government House for earlier light, since we found out it opened at sunrise. It was still pretty sunny by the time we got there, but we did get some more flower pictures. Linda brought out the straw hat again this morning as she had spotted a perfect bench for it. The three photos above show the hat on a bench near some huge hydrangea bushes. Julie picked some fallen blossoms to decorate the hat brim for part of this sequence. Some of the closeups I took this morning are shown above. The photo on the left has three clematis seed heads glistening with dew. The remaining two photos show a white poppy. While wandering the grounds, I startled a deer in the roses ambling slowly down the row, eating breakfast. Deer love to eat roses. the photo on the left above shows her munching on roses. The center photo shows her reaction to having her picture taken... The photo on the right shows her taking off through the bushes. She finally headed out of the Rose Garden and climbed a small hill in the center of the main front yard garden. The photo on the left above shows a quiet bench in the Herb Garden at Government House. The center photo shows some of a series of stones that were located in the Terraces section of the gardens. I couldn't find out what the stones were for. From the names on them, I think they may commemorate former pets? The photo on the right was taken straight down looking at a geranium resting on a stone wall. Then we drove back to the hotel to finish packing. We loaded up the cars and checked out, but left the cars in the parking garage while we walked over to the totem pole park. On our way to the totem pole park, we passed behind The Empress Hotel and saw the Victoria Conference Center located there. The three photos above show the contrast between the old Empress and the new Conference Center and some of the wonderful landscaping that decorates the grounds of both. The four photos above show some of the totem poles and details of some of the totem poles located in the totem pole park. The four photos above show some more of the totem poles and details of some of the totem poles located in the totem pole park. The three photos above show some more of the totem poles and details of some of the totem poles located in the totem pole park. The center and right one include The Empress Hotel in the background. From there, we walked over to the Parliament Building to shoot the grounds there. The four photos above show different views of the British Columbia Parliament Building. The photo on the left emphasizes the domes. The left center photo shows some of the statues of founding fathers that are installed near the top of the back side of the building. The right center photo shows a lamppost, Canadian flag, and the back of the building. The right photo shows another lamppost and its shadow on the walls of this building. The three photos above show a fountain that's located behind the Parliament Building. The sea otters that frolic around the base represent the fur trade that helped settle this area. While we were there, I overheard a tour guide telling her group about the statue of Queen Victoria that stands in front of the building. It was commissioned, designed, and cast in England, then got lost in shipping. Yes, Queen victoria was lost in the mail... By the time they had found it and were ready to install it, there was a debate as to how to position the statue. The artist had designed it to be placed so that Queen Victoria was facing the building, symbolically keeping an eye on the what was going on in Parliament. Well, that would put her back (photo on the right) to the harbor. The city fathers decided that they really didn't want newcomers first view of the statue to be the queen's rear end, so they installed it facing the harbor. The artist was so offended that he skipped the dedication! He complained that there was no way to easily see the front of the statue (photo on the left) at a good angle without standing in the street and getting run over... Interestingly enough, another statue of a founding father (standing in front of The Empress Hotel) has his back to the harbor. Evidently, city fathers weren't concerned about him mooning new arrivals... We grabbed a quick lunch at Milestones again. I had a grilled chicken salad. Then we walked back to the hotel to claim the cars and drove the two blocks to the ferry dock. We got checked in there and waited. Cars are to be on the dock (and all passengers in their cars) for the officials 1.5 hours before the scheduled sailing. We made it with about ten minutes to spare. Canadian Border Patrol checked the passports and whether we had any food that we were taking back, purpose of the trip, length of the trip, etc. Then had Marie, our driver, take our three passports over to Passport Control to be scanned. The passport inspection portion seemed to be controlled by US officials. It got hot waiting there in the sun. There wasn't much of a breeze. Most people stood near their cars, once the officials were through with them, attempting to catch what breeze there was. The Coho pulled in right on time and unloaded. We finally got parked aboard. Shade at last! However, we were so close to the wall that Marie had to climb over the center console - she couldn’t get the door open far enough to get out the normal way. I could just barely squeeze out of the backseat. The cars were really crammed in there. I saw some rather hefty people going up the stairs to the main level and wondered what they would have done in the same situation... It was another calm crossing. As we neared Port Angeles, we said goodbye to half of our group. Terry, Julie, and Linda planned to continue to Hurricane Ridge, in Olympic National Park, for a quick stop there before driving back to Seattle. John and Marie had reservations for the ferry back to Whidby Island, and Mom was expecting me for dinner, so the three of us headed east. They dropped me off at the original hotel where I moved my stuff from their car to the rental car. Then, I drove on to Mom’s. Mom’s breathing sounds a bit better. We had a quiet evening here. Things we learned about aspirating anything. If you can't cough it back up in a reasonable amount of time, seek medical attention. They can determine if it's a problem or not and, if it is, they can usually remove the aspirated item with a bronchialscope. Once the bronchial passages become irritated, there's a possibility of pneumonia! Mom had to put up with the severe coughing (painful at times), the wheezing breathing, and the general tiredness from being unable to take a deep breath for a total of two weeks before she was finally able to cough up those stupid pills. Once those were out of the bronchial passages, she recovered quickly. Next...