If you should be coming the weekend of May 7&8th, the Victoria Conservatory of Music has lined up 16 private gardens to visit for a nominal charge of $25. This event takes place every year and the gardens change every year. I have now attended three of these events, and most of these gardens are really superb, full of flair and innovation. I second Royal Rhodes garden (free), the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific gardens (small admission charge)and UVic's Finnerty Garden (free). Also, UVic has a wonderful facility to the north of the peninsula called Dunsmuir Lodge with breathtaking scenery from its dining room which features a fabulous buffet for lunch and a great menu for dinner. It also has accomodation and is just a bit north from the route you would take to Butterfly World and Butchard Gardens. It is a wonderfully quiet location, perched next door to John Dean Park with lots of hiking trails. Another restaurant no one has mentioned and one of my favourites for great cusine is Camille's in downtown Victoria. I believe the Carden Street Cafe was closed the last time I drove by. On some of our little weekend get-aways, we have stayed at some absolutely wonderful B&Bs, and really recommend this as a great way to get information about things to do and places to go. If you are going to Tofino, the Wickaninnish Inn (if it is in your budget) is a truly wonderful experience. Each room has a private balcony where you enjoy the roar of the breaking waves on the beach and romantic sunsets. The dining room features all organic and unparalled cuisine, a wonderful private dining experience and the most impecable service. Enjoy your visit to the island..we did and moved here 13 years ago!

You're absolutely right on with many of your comments, Nancy. We too figured it was $200K to get it to what we really want. On the plus, being built with SIP (structurally insulated panels), the entire structure is super insulated from the start. Windows are I believe dbl pane, not triple. But not having a garage, is a huge minus, also the house would have to be added on to. The architect who designed it drew up plans for a good addition which we like. But this most likely won't be the house we'd purchase. It was enough to get us seriously putting pencil to paper as to what we do need, and whether we can find it. On our key list of area wants/needs: - NOT lakefront. Lake Michigan is too windy at times, Other lakefront still is a huge premium. We can't afford it. We'd rather have more land. - 2-5 acres. Something more than a city lot but less than a gentleman farm. - within 1/2 mile or so of large body of water (choice #1 Lake Michigan, choice #2 Lake Leelanau, Lake Charlevoix, Glen Lake, etc., especially if it has passage to Lake Michigan). We're 3 blocks from the Pacific Ocean now. We see it daily from our windows. I don't "have to have" a view, but I have to be able to get there by walking. That's our life. This also drives up the cost of the property considerably, I've found. So a 5-acre farm with a great house 20 miles inland from Lake Michigan is a huge difference from one that's 1/4 mile away. We're willing to give up a great kitchen for that! - within very short drive/long walk to a village... something like Leland or Sutton's Bay, quaint but with a decent school, real necessities like grocery, bank, gas station, library, community center, at least one decent restaurant, a breakfast or coffee house type morning hangout, but not as big as TC or Charlevoix. - within 20 miles or so of a city center... T.C., Charlevoix - reasonable property taxes. Grand Traverse county is double of Leelanau... that's something to really consider for our retirement years. On our key list of specific property wants/needs: - buy existing house (DH's requirement, not mine, but I understand and respect his reasoning) - some fixing/changing/adding on is ok. - NOT a summer cottage. We want a home that was built as a year-round home. - My dream home would be an older farm house that someone else has already put the money to insulate, upgrade windows, etc. without totally ruining the integrity of the cool old features. I wouldn't mind having to gut a kitchen, or do extensive cosmetic work. - bonus points for separate hobby building(s), such as workshop, barn, greenhouse - has to have high-speed internet access - has to have good well (assuming it won't be on any city water based on our area criteria) - septic is ok, sewer is better - private road is ok as long as it's not too far off the main, is paved and the plowing costs are manageable - would love to have natural gas, but propane is ok (am I boring you yet with details?) I've got access to taar.com (the mls site for NW MI), so I'm getting a fair idea of what costs what. And because we started the search in Leland, I've got comps for everything that has sold in Leelanau county since January 2007, so I've got a good understanding of the state of things there, but not in other counties. In past years, I ruled out Harbor Springs. Too expensive, too pretentious... I don't know any of the villages/towns around Elk Lake, Torch Lake (east of the bay, south of Charlevoix). If you have any other areas you'd think would fit the bill, I'll start doing the research. And yes, we'll definitely be back up there soon (probably March/April) to really pound the pavement. Ann PS pkguy, that website is really bringing back ancient memories (I'm 50, so it's just in early memory!)

Lazydaisy, it was a great trip! A good friend from college organized a 25-year 'reunion' trip for 6 of us. She is originally from Detroit and vacationed on Lake Michigan as a child. None of the rest of us had been to the area. Charlevoix is an interesting little town. We rented a home right on the lake, and were able to walk almost everywhere. We wandered the town, looking at the Young houses and other architecture, shopped, enjoyed the lake views, etc. We went in October, but the weather was fabulous -- clear and sunny and in the 60s and 70s every day. We spent every late afternoon on the porch enjoying a glass of wine and watching the sun set over the lake :) I didn't know much about the area before going to Charlevoix (I was mainly going to enjoy catching up with old friends!) Discovering the Young mushroom houses was a happy surprise. They are very well maintained and each is unique to its setting.

Fran - I'm going to use them as monthly wallhanging on my cubicle at work - a way to bring a little cheer and personality to an otherwise boring work area. The ones not being displayed will fit in a small pizza block and it won't take up too much room. I finished September on Sunday night, took the hoop off and realized I had stitched School upside down AND backwards...thought about leaving it but took it out and fixed it last night. Started on October but had trouble with some of the thread I was using - it was really old and kept breaking - so I tore out a good amount of stitching. Oh well. MI - I got the patterns from HGTV. They still have them on the site if you want to download them - or if you want to send me your snail mail address I can send you the pieces already cut out - save you some time as I will not be using them in the future... Thanks for all the compliments - I don't usually like to do applique but I'm having lots of fun with this project now that I've actually jumped in with both feet. Will post pix of the remaining blocks as I get them down along with the pix of the finished product. Going to get March/April complete before Monday so I can bring it in to the office. Digger aka Marie in Michigan