Canada looms above the United States with more land mass (slightly, even adjusting for bodies of water) but with only one tenth the number of people to inhabit it. Canada around 36 million plus a skosh, and the U.S. at over 324 million*.
*(Geopolitical note: these figures may change abruptly, even reverse depending on the US election results come November as many Americans threaten to leave the US in the highly unlikely event that Donald Trump wins the presidency. I think to date at least seven (7) people have threatened to move out when Hillary moves into the White House. (Bye, Felicia!)
Setting politics aside for a moment let’s talk about Victoria, British Columbia. Wow, what a city! Visitors to Victoria cannot be faulted for imagining that most of the 36 million Canadians are visiting downtown Victoria on any given summer day. Canadians don’t have Hawaii but they do have Vancouver Island (where Victoria lives) and sometimes they even call it, “the Maui of Canada”.
Currently – perhaps the decline in the Canadian dollar is to blame – the Canadians are spending their tourist dollars locally and thus, the hoards had descended upon their glorious version of tropical paradise just in time for Desto’s visit. We didn’t exactly see the Hawaii comparison. Desto found it more like the little town of La Jolla north of San Diego. La Jolla in Spanish means “The Jewell” and much like Victoria, it is bustling with tourism and pretty over-crowded any place you think you should see. Both cities have attracted a full time population of retirees or pensioners for a similar reason – a relatively good climate with no pesky snow to shovel.
It was our observation that the geezers are sequestered someplace safe in Victoria, as they are in La Jolla. Even though the census figures report lots of them, they aren’t cruising the nightlife. In fact, because both cities are close to a number of colleges and Universities there’s a disproportionate number of young people out and about. If it wasn’t for the ubiquitous bumper stickers in La Jolla claiming, “LA JOLLA, home to old people and their parents”, and the casual nickname for Victoria, “Victoria, home of newly weds and nearly deads”, you COULD think both cities were almost diverse (age wise anyway – both of these cities are painfully not diverse culturally or racially). We think Victoria must hide their oldies, too. We didn’t see one walker in 4 days total. Truthfully, the only old people we saw were, like us, on bicycles, so maybe the city screens for “fit” citizens, no matter their age.
Speaking of fitness, lots and lots of people bike there. The whole of the island is bike friendly and getting even more so by the day. And biking was why we went. We met up with some locals (two young couples from a previous bike trip in Normandy/Brittany last fall – Hi, Tom, Lu, Nancy and Alex!) We had three grand rides in just three days, most of it on car free bike paths.
Eating was our #2 priority and we did plenty of that. (See trip notes for recs.)
We didn’t “do” the Butchart Gardens. We just didn’t. Sue us. (You’ve seen one spectacular city garden, you’ve seen them all.)
One day we spent a better portion of the afternoon watching (with a few hundred other bystanders) the greater Victoria B.C. Fire Department liberate a scared raccoon from a treetop in the city center of downtown Victoria. No fewer than a dozen buff fire personnel and a full-length hook and ladder were employed in this endeavor. It was a lot more entertaining than you might think. Really.
A tiny note of trivia, maybe true, maybe apocryphal, Vancouver Island has no sewage treatment plant. None. Of any kind. They just release their sewage into the ocean like a third world country. Think about that while you chew on your very delicious oysters from the many oyster bar options.
Next edition: the Gulf Islands. Stay tuned.
