We are thinking about the Wedgewood or Magnolia Hotels in Victoria for 2 days than rent a car to visit Sooke and end up at Brentwood Bay for 2 days to enjoy the gardens and wine country. Is Vancouver worth visiting another 2 days? What is the easiest transportation to get there? Then back to Seattle.

I'm a little confused by your post - the Wedgewood Hotel is in Vancouver, not Victoria.

Brentwood Bay is pretty far from Sooke; it's about an hour away. I think you might be better off staying at one of the pleasant B&B's here in Sooke for one night, rather than spending 2 nights in Brentwood Bay. If you're driving to Sooke and then directly to Brentwood Bay you're going to spend a lot of time in the car.

I'd send as long you can in Sooke. It is a great place - has a good balance between civilisation and the wilderness - good places to eat and the sea shore at low tide could keep you busy for a least a day.

we were there for a week recently and it is the sort of place that you start to sink into and find it hard to leave.

Meesthare - has the weather improved ? - we saw clouds in BC for 2 weeks in June?

I am also confused by your post, gaymaloney.

How are you getting to Victoria from Seattle? You can easily take the bus/ferry to Vancouver from Victoria but then you have to figure out how to get back to Seattle.

As far as I know, the 'wine country' on the island is north of the Malahat, which is not exactly handy to Brentwood Bay.

I thought Brentwood was close to the gardens and to the wine country, Are the gardens worth going to at night...are musicians there all during the week.

There a couple of wineries near Butchart Gardens but not as many as in the Cowichan Bay area further north on the Island. The Gardens are beautiful at night. If you go on their website you can find a schedule of entertainment. I believe they have some sort of musical program every night.

markrosy - we're in the midst of a heat wave throughout most of BC. Temperatures on Vancouver Island and mainland BC well into the 30's Celsius - many reachings 37, 38 degrees Celsius and higher.

Markrosy - the temperature was, as Carmanah says, very hot recently. Yesterday it was well above 30 degrees. One of our friends who has access to some sophisticated meteorology websites told us "Cooling breezes tonight!" We didn't believe him because at 7 PM the air was so still it was eerie. However, a lovely cold breeze started up around midnight and by morning it was about 13 degrees here in Sooke. You probably know, having been here recently, that Sooke tends to be cooler than downtown Victoria. This is a blessing at this point because it was lovely today, a little hazy but cool and pleasant, while downtown was very hot and sunny in the afternoon. Typically the summer is mild and sunny, and that's how the forecast looks at this point!

Oh Meesthare, it sounds wonderful out there in Sooke. I'm glad you got some relief from the heat. We did too back east.
I'm glad you are enjoying BC so much.

Hi, Kodi - it's wonderful indeed! I'm glad Ontario is getting a bit of a break from the heat - I don't like to think of my kids and grandkids breathing in too much of that smog.

I'm always happy to hear people singing the praises of Sooke (thanks, Markrosy!) - we love it. Every once in a while when we're driving or walking along on a particularly pretty day, we'll exclaim "We live here!"

Meesthare - we have visited 40 plus countries and probably 10,000 + towns. Sooke comes in at number two for what we like in life - I am sorry nothing yet has topped Beaufort SC. For that you would have to have dolphins that swinm with you and eat fish out of your hand! but still very jealous - you live in a great place.