Nice Day for a Walk

Great weather today so out we went, to explore some new territory and revisit some favourites.
First stop was Lighthouse Park at Point Atkinson in West Vancouver. New territory for us, the park has a network of scenic trails through old growth rain forest and ultimately a trail to the historic Point Atkinson Lighthouse.

Colourful Vistas 

An interesting "nurse" tree.
It's upper canopy obviously gone, this significant Douglas Fir trunk now supports new life at it's top.

Sisters chatting

Signs of Autumn 

 After an invigorating hike, we drive along the Sea to Sky highway through Squamish to the community of Brackendale. The area is famous for it's population of wintering Bald Eagles. Apparently it's a little early as the wintering Eagles have yet to arrive.    

But the upside of this short stop is a black bear sighting along the shore, just across the river.

From Brackendale it's only a short drive to Whistler, so we decide to continue on to revisit some familiar sights.

More signs of fall's arrival

 Along the drive to Whistler and in the village itself, we saw numerous vintage Rolls Royce autos. Guessing there was some sort of owners club gathering at the village.

Today ends with a family dinner at the Jägerhof Restaurant back in North Vancouver

Grampa and Grandsons

The whole gang.

Well, that's it for Lillian and I on this trip. It's off to YVR in the morning for the flight home.
Pat and Cam stay on for a while yet, before taking on the long drive back to Ontario. Could be some time before they leave though, as apparently there is quite a "grampa do" list to be tackled.

No Bears. No Rain. Doesn't Get Much Better...

Day 3 in the Vancouver area and finally, sunshine. What a beautiful day in a city with so much to offer. For the first time this trip, we crossed the Lions Gate bridge from West Van into the city of Vancouver proper. A lunch cruise through Vancouver Harbour, Burrard Inlet and north into the scenic Indian Arm was to be today's highlight and it didn't disappoint. 

We start with a short walk just at the southern edge of Stanley Park.

We'll spend the next four hours on the Harbour Princess, taking in the sights and enjoying a wonderful buffet lunch.

This is a busy harbour with both cruise and cargo ships and a great deal of air traffic as well.

A Norwegian cruise ship docked at Canada Place. 

A Busy "Airport"?

Coming and going.

Loading passengers

Loading cargo

The Harbour Princess Captain at the helm

Passing under the "Second Narrows" bridge 

 As we pass the Second Narrows Bridge, the scenery changes dramatically.

Note the brown "tower" in the photo below. It's actually an elevator.

This private island home was reported to have been owned at one time, by Steve McQueen.

The girls taking pictures of me taking pictures

The highlight of the tour had to be Silver Falls, near the top end of Indian Arm.

The boat's captain did a masterful job of getting his vessel as close to the falls as possible, as is shown in the next two shots. Remember the third photo in this post? This is no small boat.

 As we return to port, we come across these harbour seals sunning themselves.

Now referred to as the "McBarge", this was one of the most popular exhibits
at the 1986 Vancouver Expo. Any guesses?

Big Mac anyone? Yup, this was a floating McDonalds built specifically for the exposition.

With the boat tour completed, we decide to view some of the harbour sights on foot.

Couldn't afford the fuel for this one, even if we sold the house.

 Anyone remember the silly truck ride carrying Gretzky and the Olympic flame to light this?

Another day in the books with only tomorrow left for Lil and I before flying home Wednesday. 

Tempus Fugit !

Another Rain Soaked Day, But Then...

Rain all night last night and all day today. So a little visit with North Vancouver family, some grocery shopping and a Chef Barry prepared Italian dinner fill out the day. Ya, I know... a Polak cooking Italian style? Finally though, after dinner at around 7pm, it cleared enough to stroll the neighbourhood and really appreciate our surroundings.

But before I go for my stroll, a little more about the Morgan in the garage.
We managed to talk to the owner today who filled us in on the car.
It's a 1995 Morgan +8. He bought it from an estate sale this summer with only 6000 miles on it. Being a +8 of that vintage, it has a wooden frame, a 3.9 litre V8 engine putting out 185 bhp and weighing less than a ton, it can do 0 to 60 in about 6 seconds. He also started it up for us. "Nice noise", even at an idle.

Now for a stroll and our neighbourhood surroundings.

So after a couple days of rain, the stream behind our rental has graduated from a pleasant trickle to a roaring waterfall of mountainside runoff. This is no more than 30 feet from our back door as it roars down the hill. It's loud enough to required raised voices to carry on any kind of conversation standing near it.

As I continue along the trail behind the house and cross the bridge that spans the stream in the photos above, I'm now about 50 feet from the back door of the house. That's when I come across the treat pictured below.

Now I normally wouldn't take a photo of a pile of pooh, but this is no ordinary pile of pooh. It's rather large.

Large enough to remind me of the sign posted along the road down the hill. It read something like "Caution. Bear sighting in this area." So that's why our host suggested to the girls, that if they wanted to go for a walk in the area, they should stick to the roads rather than the neighbourhood trails. And I thought it was because the trails would be wet, slippery and muddy after all the rain.

As the sun was setting and shadows suddenly seemed to be moving, I decided to make my way out of the trails back to the streets where there would be far more pleasant photographic opportunities.

 Not a bad little neighbourhood we picked to stay in, I'd say. 

Cute little homes with a decent view and ok landscaping.

And with all the twisting switchback roads, a pretty nice place to drive a 1995 Morgan +8 too.

  

Lions Gate Bridge glistens through the trees in the foreground with Canada Place across the Burrard Inlet in the background.

Tomorrow, we'll be getting a close up view of the Burrard Inlet as we've booked a harbour lunch cruise. Hopefully the weather cooperates.

Rain Delay

Today's blog post is cancelled due to rain. Didn't think anyone would be too interested in photos of people reading books, playing with their handheld technologies or strolling around Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver.

The most exciting part of the day for me was taking the recycling out to the garage of our rental unit and finding this...

It's a Morgan.

No idea what year or model, but it sure is nice.

Couldn't take it for a spin though because it has no roof....  and it Rained All Day!
And besides that, we didn't think the owner would appreciate us taking it for a joy ride.

Especially In The Rain!

On The Road Again

Pretty much just a travel day today making the 400 kilometre drive from Osoyoos to West Vancouver.     About 300 klm of the ride is along BC Highway 3. A very scenic route but full of twists and turns, descents and climbs.
I was the "DD" for the trip today and noted how the posted speed limit was 100k. But, no sooner you saw the sign and approached that speed, you were greeted with a large yellow "SLOW" marker as you entered yet another switchback curve in the road. The downside of being the DD is my camera stayed stowed for most of the trip.

But as we wind our way through this mountain trail, we find a beautiful rest stop called Manning Park Resort. It caters to hikers, kayakers and during the winter, skiers, and its' Pinewoods Restaurant provides a nice respite with good food for weary travellers.

The main lodge

 The pillars at the entry to the main lodge are carved to beautifully depict the wildlife of the area.

 The Pinewoods Room serves great food and is adjacent to a general store/liquor store and bake shop.

 After a tasty lunch, we continue down the twisting but scenic roadway toward our West Vancouver destination.

Finally in West Van, we check in to our VRBO rental unit. Situated in one of the hillside neighbourhoods, our new location offers some awesome views.

View from our back door.

We occupy the basement apartment of this lovely home.

The view from the driveway. 

We are in familiar territory now, having visited here several times since Lillian's nephew Bill and his wife Michaela, moved out here from Toronto about 16 years ago. We'll be visiting with them again this weekend.