Lake Florence

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We were in Victoria, BC for the wedding of our great nephew Mordecai (Cai) and his partner Gillian (Gil) on July 12 which happens to also be the 80th birthday of Reg's brother Anthony (as a child he was and remains "Tony" to me). It was a fun wedding; we were so happy to be able to attend.

We had rented a hotel room by the inner harbor where we had stayed for Tony and Pat's wedding back in August of 2021 but, having reconsidered, we found an AirBnB on Lake Florence which was much closer to Cai & Gil and Tony & Pat. Had we stayed downtown we would have been closer to Ellen and Ken. Noelle and Grier where there for a week, stayed nearby, and spent quite a bit of time with Ellen.

I am surprised to see that Victoria is a large sprawling city (actually a city of independent towns). Lake Florence is a quiet woodland oasis; you easily forget that you're in the city. It looks and feels an awful lot like cottage country.

The lake is quite small; Kate can easily swim to the other side or each end. Me, not so easily, but I probably could/might make it. Because it's a small lake there are no motor boats; that helps to make it very safe for swimming. Most cottages have a dock that detaches and is powered by a small electric trolling motor. It's quite funny to see a dock putt-putting at barely walking speed crawl across the lake with passengers lolling on a couch or comfy chairs with an umbrella for shade. Our dock detaches as well but we never try it. There's also stand up paddle boards and other toys for us to try. However, we just enjoy the swimming.

Our AirBnB is a private well appointed room on the lower floor of a largeish residence under tall trees. There are several similar units. Our host runs a yoga retreat here. They have a friendly dog and odd collection of garden knick-knacks scattered around the grounds.

A short distance away you're in a California modern setting with shopping malls and multilevel condos. There's a supermarket nearby that we frequent. Cottage country with big city perks!