Afternoon Tea at The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia
The Olympic Peninsula of Washington is conveniently located across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from British Columbia, Canada, and in particular, Vancouver Island. It's a short 1.5-hour ferry ride from Port Angeles, Washington, to Victoria, BC. My mom and I were planning to spend a day in Victoria by catching the ferry at 8:45 am, but it turns out the ferry left at 8:15, not 8:45...so it wasn't there when we showed up! We had to wait for the next ferry, which didn't leave until four hours later. So, we spent the morning in Port Angeles, enjoying a long breakfast and then exploring some of the local shops.
You may remember that I first visited Victoria almost two years ago with my boyfriend and his family. We were there at the same time as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (though we were in a nearby town visiting family when they were actually in Victoria). Even though we wandered a bit around downtown during that visit, we didn't really do anything besides walk around and look at things due to time constraints. My mom and I were planning to explore downtown and make a trip up to The Butchart Gardens, but with our day trip cut to a half-day trip after missing the morning ferry, we spent the entire afternoon at The Butchart Gardens. It's located about 30 minutes north of downtown Victoria.
My mom scheduled afternoon tea for us, and you guys. I highly recommend doing that if you stop by the gardens and have enough time. (Though you may need to make reservations in advance; we had reservations for early afternoon but were able to change it to later in the afternoon.) It's kind of expensive, but I think it's worth doing at least once. Each person receives a small pot of tea and an assortment of small sandwiches, cakes, pastries, and other treats; it's a ton of food! We also ordered a couple glasses of wine because why not? ;) The weather was perfect, so we sat outside overlooking a courtyard and really enjoyed the spread. It was my first time having "proper" afternoon tea, haha! I'm not sure that my etiquette was proper, though...
After tea, we had about an hour to wander around some of the gardens before heading back to Victoria to catch the ferry. We stopped first at the Sunken Garden—absolutely beautiful and otherworldly; I was almost expecting to see fairies. ;) We smelled as many roses as we could in the Rose Garden, and then finished by walking through the Italian Garden on our way out. We didn't have time to visit the Japanese Garden or Mediterranean Garden because my mom wanted to show me her favorites. Now I have an excuse to go back, though!
For my trip, I brought a mix of clothing options to suit both the activities I did with my parents and the work meeting I had to attend later in the week. My black ponte pants don't get a ton of wear at my new job due to the way they fit and my lack of tunic-length tops and sweaters, but I decided to bring them along because they're comfortable and chic. My wrap cardigan worked perfectly as a finishing piece over a simple striped tee shirt. The flats were rubbing my feet a little bit by the end of the day, but that didn't dampen my feelings on this outfit at all. I loved it! :) And I didn't need a coat or jacket!
OUTFIT DETAILS
Grana cardigan / exact (receive 10% off your first order with my referral link)
LOFT tee / old; similar by Who What Wear for Target or similar by Caslon
J.Crew pants / old; new version
J.Crew flats / old; J.Crew Factory version
Kate Spade necklace / exact
Halogen bag / old; similar by Nordstrom
Moorea Seal sunglasses / old; similar by Le Specs