Time to say goodbye

After another walk in Stanley Park and a little time to do some shopping it was time to go to the airport.



Time to say goodbye to Mattie, before the long flight home. We had a wonderful holiday and I hope we will go back again some time!

Bike Ride in Stanley Park

It seems that the only way to travel in Stanley Park is by Bike! Here is our collection. Mine was the Pink one and the Yellow one is Mattie's pride and joy. I am not very good on a bike but when in Vancouver........at least the cycle tracks in the park are largely free of traffic, even if they are very busy with skateboarders, skaters and bikers.

I even got to try out Yellow Bike!

Stanley park has a collection of Totem poles.


Only part of the seawall ride was open when we were there as it had been badly damaged in the winter by a freak storm that felled a lot of trees and washed away part of the sea wall.
I managed not to fall off or damage the bike and I did enjoy it!

The Vancouver Maritime Museum

Our next stop was the Vancouver Maritime Museum. The Main Exhibit is the restored St Roch. The ship is tiny but it was the second ship to sail through the North West Passage.

Its hard to believe just how tiny this ship is.

Class: Auxiliary Police Schooner
Launched: May 7, 1928
At: Burrard Shipbuilding & Drydock Company, North Vancouver, B.C.

Length: 104 feet, 3 inches
Beam: 24 feet, 9 inches
Depth of Hold: 11 feet
Draft: 12 feet, 6 inches
Displacement: 323 tons
Rig: Originally schooner, now ketch


Built for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force to serve as a supply ship for isolated, far-flung Arctic RCMP detachments, St. Roch was also designed to serve when frozen in for the winter, as a floating detachment, with its constables mounting dog sled patrols from the ship. Between 1929 and 1939 St. Roch made three voyages to the Arctic. Between 1940 and 1942 St. Roch navigated the Northwest Passage, arriving in Halifax harbor on October 11, 1942. St. Roch was the second ship to make the passage, and the first to travel the passage from west to east. In 1944, St. Roch returned to Vancouver via the more northerly route of the Northwest Passage, making her run in 86 days. The epic voyages of St. Roch demonstrated Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic during the difficult wartime years, and extended Canadian control over its vast northern territories.

Retired after returning from the Arctic in 1948, St. Roch was sent to Halifax by way of the Panama Canal in 1950. This voyage made St. Roch the first ship to circumnavigate North America. Returned to Vancouver for preservation as a museum ship in 1954, St. Roch was hauled ashore in 1958. Housed over in 1966 and restored to her 1944 appearance by the Canadian Parks Service, the ship is the centerpiece of the maritime museum complex at Kitsilano Point.

RCMPV St. Roch is a Canadian National Historic Site.
The Panipakuttuk family joined the ship to act as guides, interpreters and hunters.They lived on deck in this little tent.

Queen Elizabeth Gardens

We had another very hot day and in the morning we went up to the Queen Elizabeth Gardens. Whilst we were waiting for a cab we peered through the Windows of a small museum that houses one of Canada's famous Locomotives. CPR374 Was the first Locomotive to make the Journey over the Rockies. The Museum was closed but we managed to get a photo through the window.
The Gardens have wonderful views over the City and although parts were closed because of the Council workers strike we had a pleasant stroll around them.

Granville Island

Well we made it back to Vancouver and we have a couple more days of our holiday left. The temperatures soared this last weekend and it was very hot. Granville Island is a medley of small shops, art galleries, food markets and museums. On every corner there are street artistes. it is packed with Vancouverites and holiday makers especially on a Saturday , which is when we visited. We sampled a Canadian specialty here, Buttertarts, they are like a very rich treacletart! There are two ways to get to the Island one my road crossing the Granville bridge and we came this way, but after several hours we returned by water ferry.
Granville Island was originally reclaimed from swampland in 1917 and used as a site for an iron and ship building works. By the 1960s it was a derelict wasteland and rubbish dump.In the early 1970s work began to restore the Island and it is now a thriving market place

heron

Afghan Hounds




Relaxing on Granville Island


Street Artistes


Cement transporters

Brackendale

Our final stop was at Brackendale

Every winter, thousands of bald eagles congregate on the shores of the rivers surrounding Brackendale to feed on the abundant spawning salmon. Hundreds of eagles at a time can be seen from the river dikes, feeding along sandbars or roosting in nearby cottonwood trees. Two dozen or more in a single tree is not uncommon. Eagle season in Brackendale is from mid- November to mid- February, with prime viewing in December and January.

No eagles for us , but we did sea a couple of seals in the river and watched them for a while

Finally after a long drive we reached an RV site just outside Vancouver, tomorrow we return the RV which did manage to get us there and back in one piece albeit with several problems. We now have a couple of days in Vancouver before flying home.

Whistler

Past valley lake and onto Pemberton

Our next stop was at Valley lake, there was a huge log jam here.


We continued driving along Highway 99 towards Pemberton. Once agin the sun has come out and the scenery is very pretty, we are passing lakes and mountains all the time as the road climbs up and down.

We still have about 200 miles before we get back to the outskirts of Vancouver.

From Cache Creek to Lillooet (Sept 7)

We were up early and on our way, we still have a long way to go. We stopped briefly at Skye Blue Lake, but the early morning weather was dull and the Lake had none of the blue colour we remembered from our last visit. However we did catch this wood pecker drumming away.

On our previous trip we had camped at Lillooet on our second night out and we decided to stop for breakfast in the little town.. Most of the land around here is Reservation land and many of the First nations Peoples look for jade to make souvenirs from.
The Rocky landscape and fast flowing streams are good for rock hunting.

Lillooet itself is a very small settlement . But we managed to find a nice cafe serving breakfast.

Several posts in the town had large lumps of jade on them and you know you are in rock country. Mattie bought me a small Jade bear here and we chatted with the carver for a while, Just as we were leaving he came over to us and gave Mattie a small piece of unworked jade for his rock collection.
Now we are making our way towards Whistler.

(Canadian Hols start on Aug 24th)

This is Salmon Arm

Kamloops This is the first big town we have seen since we left Vancouver

Kamloops Lake

This is the desert like region around Cache Creek.