Family Outing: Fort Rodd Hill, Victoria BC.

I may be a bit behind in writing about our family adventures, but I hope it is not too late to write about them (even if they are not fresh in my mind).

Last month, in April, we planned a nice week long vacation to Vancouver Island. This involved visiting our friends for 3 nights in Victoria and then staying 4 nights in Tofino. One of the activities I wanted to do this time around was to visit Fort Rodd Hill, a National Historical Site that was built in the 1890s to defend Victoria and the Esquimalt Naval Base.

The great thing about Fort Rodd Hill is that because it is a Canadian National Park it is part of the 2017 Parks Canada Discovery Pass; which allows for Free Parking and Free Admission to certain parks. Fort Rodd Hill is a great place for family to spend a nice sunny day too. It has large open areas that the kids can run around and explore. It is also a place I remember fondly growing up as a kid in Victoria.

Just remember to pack a lunch, snacks and water! There are washrooms on site and the majority of that park is stroller friendly.

About halfway to Fort Rodd Hill did I realize that I forgot my dSLR at our friends’ house. I was a bit disappointed about that as I have been wanting to take my camera to Fort Rodd Hill ever since we started going over to visit our friends on the island. The one time we made time to go, I forget my main camera. I was looking forward to using my lenses and my polarizer but I sucked it up and just dealt with having to use my iPhone 6 for the photos. Yes, the iPhone has a camera, but it has limitations which can be a bit annoying such as focal length and shutter speeds. For the most part, I have been using it more lately, but shh don’t tell my Nikon that.

Anyway, on to the photos!

Did I mention the large artillery guns? They are still fun to play with being an adult as they were when we were little. Now I get to watch my kids enjoy them as much as I did.

This one was great fun for the kids. They could rotate the gun 360 degrees. Too bad the elevation control is locked down, it be neat to see them rotate and then raise or lower the barrel. Pew pew pew!

I normally edit my photos but these are stored on one of my NAS devices. I can usually pull more details out of the shadows but that’s just me. I’m still trying to work out a mobile workflow for the blog. I find with an iPhone 6 with only 16GB of storage I get the dreaded Out Of Space message hourly.

Once we got closer to Fisgard Lighthouse, we stopped to have a quick little lunch. The kids played on the shoreline while the parents just hung out and had snacks. ‘W’ kept trying to head into the water, she LOVES the water.

Overall I think we spent about 3-4 hours at the park. A bit longer than we expected but it was fun. The kids all enjoyed the park and I definitely liked showing my kids a place I used to play when I was their age. I cannot wait to go back year after year.

Do you have a 2017 Discovery Parks Pass? If so, have you used it? Fort Rodd Hill in Victoria is one place you can use the park pass for free admission!