We first visited Tacoma, Washington, especially to see the Museum of Glass. There are many stunning creations and works of art and a huge tiered auditorium. The latter focuses on a fully equipped glass studio complete with two large furnaces used by artists and for daily demonstrations. We also took the opportunity to interview with US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to finalize our applications for the “Global Entry”program. This should expedite our entry back into the US on future international trips.
We than took the ferry (about two and a half hours) from Anacortes in Washington State to Sidney (just north of Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. While we were waiting for the ferry we were treated to a very prolonged river otter romance. The pair was locked in a mating clutch for 20 minutes!! and probably longer, but we had to board. A Wild Kingdom experience. We stayed in Victoria at a lovely B&B for three days and visited Butchart Gardens, The Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM), and Salt Springs Island.
The tulips at Butchart Gardens were in full bloom and, because of unique weather conditions during the spring, all the bulb plantings (over a half a million individual bulbs) were blooming simultaneously.
The RBCM has exhibitions of both the natural history and cultural history of British Columbia. We found the cultural artifacts of the coastal indigenous peoples fascinating and stunning and the dioramas and special installation describing native language, dialects and speech superbly presented.
The highlight on our jaunt to Salt Springs Island was the discovery of an indoor/outdoor museum of electrical insulators (mostly glass but with some ceramic). Amazing what captures a person’s passion. Who’d of thought insulators could spawn a museum on a tiny island in Puget Sound. The guy had more than 3000 and none were duplicates.
The ferry ride to Orcas Island (one of the San Juan Islands of Washington State) where we stayed for five days took two hours. Our time on Orcas Island was very relaxing with walks and hiking (in Moran State Park), sightseeing (many deer and bald eagles) and eating out. Lana has been many times but it was Chris’ first visit. We had a condo overlooking the sound and were able to watch the changing light on the water and the geese, loons, and eagles forage around tiny Indian Island a few hundred yards offshore. The weather held nicely so we were able to enjoy daily walks and a noiseless hike around Mountain Lake.
Bridge of Glass 
Glass “Thunderbird Man” 
Glass Salmon 
Burchart Gardens 
Raven Mask, Royal British Columbia Museum 
State Parliament Building, Victoria 
Outdoor Electrical Insulator Collection 
Indoor Electrical Insulator Collection 
Fire Watch Tower, Moran State Park, Orcas Island, Washington State