(no subject)

[reldnahkram]

Travel & Day 1
We were originally booked to fly out on Monday and arrive very early Tuesday morning. However, there were some serious thunderstorm cells blowing through, and our flight to YYZ (Toronto) was canceled. We came home, resolved to wake up at 3.45 AM Tuesday to catch our rescheduled flight. I went to the library to get Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, which I hadn't finished (more later) for reading material. I came back to chaos, as a shattered pipe in the air conditioning system was leaking into the living room. No major damage, and we ate dinner as a family while watching The Triplets of Belleville and City Slickers. Short sleep, then flight to YYZ. Evidently, while we were in route, Air Canada discovered that we were going to be late for our connecting flight to YVR (Vancouver), and so they moved us to a flight an hour later. For those of you keeping score, we've now been booked on five flights. Anyway, we arrived in Vancouver and took the ferry to Salt Spring Island, one of the islands between Vancouver Island and the mainland (Vancouver is on the mainland). The Canadian islands are the northen extension of the US San Juan islands. The view from the B&B was fabulous.





Day 2
The B&B where we stayed had a number of hummingbird feeders outside. I spent a while trying to get good pictures. The little guys are hard to grab. Here's the best of what I could get.





The main town on Salt Spring Island is the town of Ganges. While walking around town we saw this - it's a 30-seat bicycle that groups can rent out for fundraising.



Things on the island we continually admired were this houseboat and this church.





There were also plenty of Bambi sightings. This is from the B&B





Day 3
We started out hiking in Rucker Park, a provincial park in the Southeast corner of the island. There, among other things, was a little lighthouse indicating the location of the point. Also, there are, evidently, lots of slugs on the island. This is a black slug, but the locals said there are also banana slugs all over the island. We didn't see any.





On the way into the park, we saw this. I had to stop for pictures on the way out. I think it speaks for itself.



We spent the afternoon kayaking. Sorry, no pictures, but much fun was had. The harbor has very purple starfish all over the bottom, and the water was clear enough to see them. They were quite cool. That evening, I fooled around with the camera and took this picture of the ferry.





Day 4
We had to leave Salt Spring Island. But before we left, we tried (and failed) to hike to the top of Mount Maxwell, the highpoint of the island. So we drove up. Here's the view south.



We took the ferry back to the mainland and Vancouver.



Day 5
We went to Dim Sum in Chinatown, then spent a while wandering in the Sun-Yat Sen traditional Chinese garden. There were big fish in the pond, and a lot of really scenic views throughout.











A sudden downpour afforded the opportunity to again play with the camera, trying to capture the "beaded curtain" effect that the rooves of the buildings were supposed to create during rainstorms.





Day 6
One of the things that really distinguishes Vancouver is a number of very nice, large parks. The most known is Stanley Park, which was about two blocks from where we were staying. The "miniature railway" was very dissapointing - basically a kids' ride.



There were all sorts of critters to be found, though.



This was located next to a kids water play area.



Leading from Stanley Park (and downtown Vancouver) to the North Shore is the Lion's Gate Bridge.



The park has facilities for those who want to attempt to hit Ewoks with small balls.



Also a small totem pole collection.



And, being on a peninsula, the occasional sea-plane overflight.





Day 7
Vancouver's Rail Rapid Transit system is the SkyTrain, which was one of the first completely automated rail systems. We rode out to New Westminster Quay and had lunch at a public market. There were train tracks between the SkyTrain station and the market, so of course I took pictures. I think these are CN GPs, but don't quote me on that, I'm not really up on my diesels.





In one of the oldest parts of Vancouver, Gastown, there's a clock that uses steam whistles to sound Westminster Chimes (same as the Swat bells) every 15 minutes. I have a video of the :45 chimes, but no sound. I'll find another way to share that.



Another one of the Vancouver parks is Queen Elizabeth Park. It's located on an old Volcano and has two abandoned quarries turned into gardens. There's also a flower conservatory, which is the triangular-paneled dome.





Would you like to buy a duck?





Day 8
Out to the grounds of Univ of BC, which is surrounded by a gorgeous park. We walked for about an hour-and-a-half in the park. At one end of the walk, we got this view of logging on the Fraser River.



We then went to a traditional Japanese garden on the UBC campus.





'Ford apparently isn't the only place in the world with these things, Vancouver also has black squirrels.



The highlight of UBC is the fabulous Anthropology museum, which has a large collection of Pacific Northwest First Nation artifacts, including a number of totem poles.







Several things in the collection, including the houses above, are creations from within the last fifty years by Bill Reid and other contemporary First Nation artists. This is the centerpiece of the collection, Reid's depiction of the creation of Man.



I really like this piece (and one other, not pictured) of First Nation-style art rendered in modernly in metal.





Homeward Bound
We left YVR at 2350 PDT on Tuesday for YYZ, arriving at about 730 EDT. We left at 1130, and arrived at PHL at 1245. After getting bags, we couldn't get through to Pacifico, where we had stored the car (they come back and pick you up). We went out to get a cab, but we were told that 1) they weren't going to take us because it was too close, and 2) you can only put three people in a cab. The person behind the cab desk offered to call Pacifico for us, and got through. We got the car event-free, drove back via my uncle's, who had borrowed the Infiniti for the week, which I drove home. Of course, I got detoured by police activity on County Line Rd, so I didn't get home until about 3.


We'll see how long I stay up - I think if I can crash in the 11-12 range, I'll have jet lag beat. We'll see.

Comments

[sildra.livejournal.com]

Actually, banana slugs and black slugs interbreed; the only difference between them, as far as I know, is their coloring. The one in your photo is what my mother would call a ripe banana slug.

[alwaysregal.livejournal.com]

Great pictures!

[kyree.livejournal.com]

I love the pictures! I'd name particular favorites, except that I'd end up listing half of them.

(There are lots of black squirrels in the D.C. area, too. Apparently they were introduced in the early 1900s to revive the flagging grey squirrel population, which people feared might peter out completely. My, how times have changed!)

[uncleamos]

All very cool. At first I was keeping track of which my favorite pictures were, but there are simply too many good ones!

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

Ooh, nice pictures!

Do all Canadian airport codes start with Y? (Dorval in Montreal is YUL.)

There are also black squirrels in NYC.

[aryky.livejournal.com]

Heh. My main amusing squirrel memories from Canada feature, rather than black squirrels, albino squirrels - there seemed to be something of a population of them. Of course, even though I can't remember which city that was in, it was certainly on the East Coast.