Hatley Castle is a short drive from Victoria, BC and is on the campus of Royal Roads University. I must admit one of our main reasons for making this stop on our west coast visit was that I used to watch the TV show Smallville. Hatley Castle was Lex Luthor’s mansion in the TV show and being a huge fan of the show I had to stop by and see it first hand.
One of the things I like to do the most when travelling is taking road trips. Road trips allow you to see things that you wouldn’t get to see if you stayed in a major city hub. You can travel at your own pace, stop whenever you want, and spend more or less time at a location. This is one of the major reasons we often try to see things independently without a tour group.
When we visited Arizona and Utah we were treated to some really nice scenery. Here are a few of the photos I was able to capture while on our road trip. I was surprised at the beauty of the landscapes in Arizona about a couple hours beyond the Grand Canyon.
About 50 minutes from Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island is the city of Duncan. I had researched the Pacific Northwest Raptors a while back and knew that this was something that I wanted to see. I mean, who doesn’t want to see birds of prey!!!
We were lucky that we went on a weekday in early September because I imagine it gets really busy in the summer. There were many exhibits around the site, but what I was really looking forward to was the bird show. I’ve never seen one and spend so much time watching nature shows, I was very excited.
The Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular places that I’ve been to. We drove out from Vegas and it took a little over 4 hours to get there. If you are into wildlife, landscapes and natural wonders you must visit this place at least once in your lifetime.
The Narrows is one of the most popular hikes in Zion National Park. I’ve seen many videos on You Tube and I was inspired to try it out. Unlike all of the other hikes that we have done, this hike would be through the water. Unique with a strong hint of challenge…right down our alley.
Sunset at Zion National Park
Zion National Park is a place that I have wanted to visit for a long time. I’ve seen so many pictures and read so many stories that I knew that this was a unique place that couldn’t be missed. I’m going to do another post on “The Zion Narrows”, so check back in a few days for that one.
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It was a beautiful morning in Ucluelet BC (Vancouver Island) and I was excited to see some wildlife. There is no place in the world quite like the west coast of Canada. We booked our Whales, Islands and Bears tour with Subtidal Adventures in their zodiac. There was a slower 4 hour boat tour but we wanted the faster moving zodiac ( 3 hours) to be able to keep pace with the wildlife.
One of the things that I forgot when I booked this tour was that I don’t handle ocean waves very well, meaning I get seasickness pretty easily. So I made sure to tell Charlene that I might lean over her side if I felt a tad queasy.
One of the highlights of our European trip last year had to be the Loire Valley Castle Tour. I found out about it from Jeff at Eurotravelogue.com. We did the tour through Paris City Visions and it was a day well worth it.
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