By far the coolest critter there, though, was the giant Pacific octopus. The diver came by about once an hour to pester the octopus. The head of this octopus is about the length of my arm.

You can understand how this beast would inspire stories like The Call of Cthulhu.

Making good use of my camera's talents – this is a close up of the octopus' suckers against the glass.

The main goal of our trip, though, was the Butchart Gardens. This is the main room of the display garden, pieced together from six photographs. The full resolution image is here.

Grandma looking at the flowers hanging from the celing.

How do they get their begonias to grow this big?

I have to admit, a non-stop begonia larger than your hand is impressive.

... and a whole garden of them is even more impressive.

I like the way the water droplets show up in this photo.

White with just a hint of pink...

This is my favorite begonia photo, though.