Lizzie at the Empress

Drove the Harpers boat "Lizzie M" around from Sidney to Victoria on a beautiful, sunny Saturday, the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday weekend. In this bright photo the Olympic Mountains of Washington lie across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

It happened to be Navy Weekend, so we were buzzed by F-18s and rescue planes on our transit.


There were lots of activities and demonstrations in the air and on the water in and around Victoria Harbor. The orange rescue plane dropped a "package" with a parachute, and a zodiac rescue boat retrieved it... pretty cool, although hard to see in these photos.






We docked the Lizzie in the inner harbor, right in front of the Empress! That's her in the center, wedged between the black-hulled boat and the big white one. Note the harbor taxi on the right... this is where Mom and John and I caught a ride on one of those little boats during their visit (and John discovered his perfect job).


The Empress is beautiful right now, cloaked in red and green ivy.


It was also the weekend of the Royal Victoria Marathon, so we were right in the middle of the action. I ran the 10k event. It was rainy and cold in the early morning line-up. Finishers were given white plastic wraps. This lady came in at about 3.5 hours, and the announcer noted she had run 22 consecutive Royal Vic marathons! Amazing. The energy and support among the runners and their families at the finish line was incredible.