Edmonton and Vancouver

Last Monday we flew to Edmonton to spend some time with our son Greg and his wife Karen, and grand-daughters Erin and Megan, then Wednesday we drove to Vancouver to spend some time with our other son Jeff and his wife Kerry.  This is a little bit about our first week in the west.

 The first thing that we discovered in Edmonton was that it was VERY hot!  It was like summer, and there were many blossoming trees. 

 We also found lots of ducks on our walks, like this American Wigeon....

 ....and his mate.  She blends in pretty well, doesn't she? 

 During one of our walks we saw a lot of Red-winged Blackbirds.  I have never had much luck taking pictures of these birds until that day! 

They are so pretty

And I love to hear their trilling call. 

We took our "grand-dog", Bella for a long walk one day, and she became quite hot and thirsty.  She had a drink, then lay right down in the water.

 

Another place we walked had this great footbridge over the North Saskatchewan River.

Our grand-daughter, Erin went with us on this walk. 

 


Another beautiful duck.

 

An American Wigeon coming in for a landing.

And yet another duck.

 More beautiful blossoms.

One day we drove south to a town called Airdrie to visit my sister Bev, and her husband Glen.  

 Anna and Rylee, I thought you would enjoy this.  My sister has this bear by the driveway, and some woodpeckers pecked a hole in it and used it to make a home for their family last year.  They have returned for another year.   

 More blossoms.

 On Thursday, we drove our rental car through the mountains to Vancouver.  This is one of the many beautiful mountains that we saw on our drive further west.  It is called Mount Robson.

 On the way, we visited with some friends in Kamloops.  Sue and I have been friends since we were about 15 years old.  It was very good to see her!

 Unfortunately, as we were stopped for a light at a bridge construction site, the truck in front of us backed up, right into our rental car.  :-(

 When in Vancouver, we often visit a duck pond.  Here is a collage of some of the ducks.

And a collage of some lovely wild roses.

Girls, I thought you might enjoy this little drama on the duck pond.  Here is Mama duck having a chat with her babies.  I think she was telling them what to do should trouble arise.....  

 ....and here comes trouble!

But these babies knew just what to do - hide in the bushes.......

 .......while Mama got chased by the mean old duck!

 It was a happy ending, and the Mama came back and found her babies.  This fellow just THOUGHT he was the winner!

There was also a pair of swans nesting in the area.  They are so beautiful!

 Later, we found some harbour seals swimming in a harbour, looking for their fishy lunch.

 Our son, Jeff, plays soccer in a church league, so one night we went to watch him play.

 A "Jeff Collage".

When we are in North Vancouver, where Jeff and Kerry live, we like to walk in the Lynn Canyon, where there is a suspension bridge, and lots of interesting old trees etc. 

This is the suspension bridge.  Have you ever been on one girls?  It's kind of scary, because it moves as people walk on it, and this one is very high above the creek.

Since the creek is water that comes down from the snow-capped mountains, it is very cold, but that didn't stop Kerry from jumping in for a swim!

There are lots of big trees and lots of moss in these forests.  Moss grows on everything because it is so damp.

Later the same day, we took Jeff and Kerry's big inflatable kayak to a park by the ocean, and went for a ride.  It was a bit rough, and we got kind of wet, but it was fun.  Jeff and Kerry paddled and I sat in the middle with my camera.  As we headed for shore, Kerry got to rest as the waves took us in. 

 Later, Jeff bar-b-qued some delicious salmon for our supper.

And was it ever good!

We started off Mother's day with some of Jeff's amazing homemade maple-bacon donuts....

.....so big you could hardly get your mouth around it!

Then it was off for a walk - this time in Lynn Valley.

You can see the moss that grows on old trees and stumps.

 I thought this was cool how the roots of this tree grew right over top of the log. 

Do you see the stump from an old tree that had been cut down about 100 years ago?  It's a stump from a BC Cedar tree, and as they rot, they often act as "nurse stumps" or sometimes logs.  It's usually Hemlocks that use them as a base to start to grow into other trees, as these two have done.

After our walk in the woods, we were ready to enjoy the lovely Mother's Day brunch that Jeff and Kerry prepared for us.  So nice to be able to eat in their beautiful back yard.

Home fries, Eggs Benedict, fruit salad, and orange juice.  Yum yum!

After our brunch, we drove to downtown Vancouver, where we rented bikes and rode for 2+ hours, all around the sea wall in Stanly Park, then over to Coal Harbour.  This is a statue of a fellow called Harry Jerome, who was from Vancouver, and was quite a famous runner. In the background is a Holland America cruise ship, getting ready to sail to Alaska.

This well-known bridge is called the Lion's Gate Bridge, and connects Vancouver to North and West Vancouver on the "North Shore".  It actually spans the Burrard Inlet, not a river.

As we rode around the sea wall, we passed under the Lion's Gate Bridge, and the tide was just coming in after a very low tide.  We saw seagulls munching on Sea Stars that had become stranded on the rocks when the tide went out.

As we rode our bikes by the "Lost Lagoon" in Stanley Park, we saw a LOT of beautiful Wood Ducks.  I think there were more than I have seen in total in my whole life! 

We also saw very many lovely flowers today.  Here is a collage of some of them. 

 That's it for today.  Until next week.......