In 2009, my parents and I took a road trip to British Columbia to visit our friends. We spent a week driving and sightseeing in Oregon and Washington. Upon arriving at Port Angeles, Washington we took a ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC.

Victoria is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. The ocean, the harbor, the town and the greenery are all so breathtakingly beautiful. There’s a lot of attractions in Victoria. Something spectacular, but pretty expensive, is whale watching. We got up early in the morning and head out onto the water to hunt down whales. We saw a bunch orcas and got a call about some humpback whales off in the distance. It was so cool getting to watch these giant creatures in the wild and even more cool, and kind of scary, when they got really close to our boat. 

My other favorite attraction was The Butchart Gardens, a whole 55 acres of garden displays, including the Sunken Garden, the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden. There are hundreds of different types of flowers, and I took a picture of practically every one.

After a few days were spent in Victoria, we took a ferry over to Vancouver, where our friends live. There, they took us to all the best sightseeing spots, one of the most popular being Stanley Park. This park is huge, 1,001 acres to be exact, so we didn’t get to see all of it. But we did get to see some pretty cool and unique things such as:

The totem poles,

Prospect Point,

and the Lions Gate Bridge.

The park was a nice place to sit down, take in the environment and people watch. It was very relaxing and peaceful.

Lastly, the must go-to place in Vancouver is Japadog. Japadog is a hotdog stand chain located only in Vancouver and New York City. Their specialties are hot dogs with Japanese toppings such as seaweed, teriyaki, radish, soy sauce, tempura, and kimchi. This isn’t something for everyone but it sure is popular in Vancouver. The size of the crowd and lines at these tiny stands are ridiculous.

Our trip to Canada was surely an experience. We loved it so much that we went back two more times. I love Canada not only because our friends live there, but because I love being surrounded by nature. It has a calm and peaceful atmosphere and makes you appreciative of the world we live in. My three trips to Canada were a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go back.