Good day in North Van

Today started out as another rainy day, so we took a Tim Hortons to Jeff and his boss at "IN-PRINT". And who should be there but some friends who lived in Cobourg many years ago - Doug and Jewel Taylor.  They work in real estate and "food tours", and have all their printing done there.  It was really nice to see them.

Sorry, I couldn't resist - he was enormous!

After a jaunt around the Cap Mall, since the sun had come out, we took a walk at the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge.  What a pretty day it turned out to be!

It's so wet in the canyon that it's almost like a rain forest - lots of interesting things to see.

A very old, hollow tree stump.

It's funny how the roots of the trees grow over top of the rocks.

I loved how these trees grew all twisted together.  And everything is covered with moss.

This is a nurse log.  Trees take root in the old dead log, spread their roots over it and down to the ground, and gradually the log rots away and leaves the roots above ground.

Nice smooth even path to walk on!

Another old stump.

Karen, this one's for you.  The cherry trees in Vancouver were pretty well done, but up here on the north shore, higher up, they're pretty much at peak.

Tonight we went with Jeff to see him play a soccer game in Burnaby.  He plays in a church league, and plays for Cap Community Church.  They were pretty short players, so he played the whole game.  I don't think we'll have to rock him to sleep tonight!

Rainy day in Vancouver

I was a little disappointed today.  It was raining when we got up and rained all day.  So much for our last day of biking.  :-(

 We did get to go to a rather fancy (read over-priced) restaurant - part of the WagJag deal.  We were seated in a loft area, looking down on this central part of the restaurant, and it was quite entertaining to watch the sushi makers, oyster shuckers, etc.

My meal involved tiger prawns, and one of them came pretty much intact - eyes and all!

Kerry is somewhere over the Atlantic as I do this, and tonight we watched the video of "Courageous" with Jeff, along with a trip to the DQ.  :-)

Just a few pics from yesterday, since I didn't take too many today.

Jeff gave us some good news tonight - there's a police auction in Vancouver on Saturday!  Yay!  I think we'll go!

Vancouver day 2

It was a pretty cool day today, with much rain early in the day, but it got better, and we were able to head out on the bikes about 11:30.  We rode down Bute St. - so pretty - to Coal Harbour. 

Had lunch at Timmy's across from Canada Place, then wandered around there for awhile.

I imagine the Volendam (Holland America) was the first ship in of the season, loading up for a 5 pm sail-away.

We then rode along Coal Harbour to Stanley Park, where we rode around on the sea wall.  This is a statue of Harry Jerome, a North Van runner who won a lot of races, including the olympics.  Canada Place and the Volendam is across the harbour.

Lions Gate Bridge in the background.

What a treat to see this pair of Common Mergansers in the Burrard Inlet.

I can never resist the urge to take a picture of this - I call it Flower Pot Island, though I know it has a real name - I just can never remember what it is.

There are always lots of these little guys in English Bay.

And there are lots of swans in the Lost Lagoon, nesting at this time of year.

I love the wood ducks - they're so colourful!

And then there was this poor fellow - part mallard I think - not in very good shape.

These mallards were doing just fine.

This heron was on a fishing expedition.

Later in the day, Jeff and Kerry joined us again, and we walked down Granville St. to Gastown.  This old steam clock still works perfectly, and we were there on time to hear the 3/4 hour whistle.

They always serve spumoni ice cream for dessert at the Old Spaghetti Factory.

Later, we bade Kerry a fond farewell, as she is leaving in the morning to study in Prague for a month, after which Jeff will join her for 3 weeks travelling in Europe.  How nice is that!

Well, after all that exercise, I'm ready for bed!

Beautiful Vancouver

Thank you Wag Jag!  We purchased a 2-night stay in an old, recently renovated hotel in downtown Vancouver.  There are several perks with it, but the best of all is bikes to ride whenever we wish - great!  We rode today for about 4 hours, mostly along the seawall by False Creek - so nice!

We rode on the seawall as far as the Science Center.

With a stop at Bo Jangles for coffee of course!

So many flowers!  I think this is a dogwood tree.

These were everywhere, and the smell was amazingly sweet!  I think they are a kind of laurel (sp?).

There are several stops along the way where you can board an "aqua bus".  There are 2 different kinds in this picture.

The cherry trees are past their best, but still nice.

A view of the north shore (actually West Van) from the beach on English Bay.

Palm trees!

This is the way we mostly see herons - this one was on the shores of False Creek.

But right now, the herons are nesting in Stanley Park!  It sure seems funny to see them roosting in trees!  There are dozens of nests!

This pair of swans was also building a nest - right where it should be!

And at least some of the geese already have their babies.

Although the sun was shining most of the day in Vancouver, there were lots of black clouds hanging around the mountains on the north shore.

I always get a kick out of this group of statues - they are all laughing - makes you want to laugh right along with them!

The best part of all today was that Jeff and Kerry joined us for dinner - in a Greek restaurant called Stephos - a VERY popular place!

And now, to bed - it's been an extremely long day!