Vancouver Trip...Part 1

First off, there is no way I can write about this in just one brief post....that would be like asking the Pope to loosen up and dance the Samba on Dancing With The Stars. I can almost picture him in the colourful sleeves full of glitter shaking his hips.....ughh, no, let’s not go there. I left July 1st, Canada Day with Westjet which was quite good. I had some jet lag since they are 3 hrs behind but I had a great first day in Vancouver, actually New Westminster where they live. I was looking forward to being with one of my dearest friends, Jeff (not my ex-Jeff) and his husband Kain plus seeing the Rockies. I loved my time with them, I loved the scenery, I loved the transit system which is so much better than the Niagara Region (which truly sucks) and I loved the weather. While my hubby had to deal with 36 to 40C weather plus humidity, I was dealing with glorious temps of 20 to 22C and no humidity.  On with the show....

My friend, Jeff lives in New Westminster and, when he gets off the skytrain, he can either take the shuttle or he can have a beautiful walk home along the Fraser River. There are many condos lining this whole area with flowers, fountains and everyone seems to own a dog. It really is nice. In the distance is a train bridge which is still in operation. He also walks past this spooky island which was home to smallpox victims. They would be sent to this island and not heard from again so this island is reputed to be haunted which I found cool. I wish I could get to this island but, alas, it is prohibited.

On Monday, July 2nd, we ventured to Granville island which is full of shops, galleries and restaurants. It used to be mainly industry and there still is one in operation as you see here. To make the silos look nicer, an artist was hired to paint them up. I found a stamp store and, needless to say, my brain went on autopilot as I bought some nifty stuff. There is a great market on the island with fresh fruit, fish, etc... We ended up sitting down in a square, listening to this musician playing an electric mandolin. I ended up buying one of his CD's.

We took a shuttle across the water and walked along the shore to this nifty sculpture which was supposed to be temporary but became such a hit that these group of nuts, not Jeff and me,  were left. Each have their own goofy expression which does include us.

We took an hour bus ride to the village of Steveston which was a wonderful experience, walking along the water where the Fraser opens up to the ocean. It is a historic site since fisherman used to earn a living here and we could walk in and out of these small homes to catch a glimpse of their way of life. Many Chinese and Japanese people lived here as well and the outdoor museum touched on the racism and the internment of the Japanese during WW2. We ended up having authentic sushi in a Japanese restaurant which I enjoyed. I did a lot of walking but, with my walking poles, I was able to enjoy these many walks. Tomorrow, the trip into the Rockies!

I call these the foothills into the Rockies and it was so visually striking that I took tons of pictures. My friend is the tour director and ventures into this area every week with a new load of chickens, er, um, I mean tourists. I clucked my way on board and sat next to Jeff as he described many interesting tidbits as we drove on the Coquihalla highway made famous by the TV show Highway Through Hell.  When Jeff tried to quiz me on certain information he talked about, I got a royal fail because, unfortunately, I decided to catch some flies while sitting on the bus and fell right to sleep on occasion.

Hope

I do need all the hope I can get especially when I take my first selfie! If I was in Hollywood I would have those teeth all of them have, my nose would be shrunk and I would look like a freak...ok, so I do look a bit freaky but it's all me:) Hope is famous for all the woodcarving done by chainsaws so here are a couple of artistic displays...

This was a short pitstop but I enjoyed looking around before heading onward to catch more flies:)

The turtle looks like he is ready to catch some flies as well:). We stopped at a lovely campground area called the Painted Turtle because of those lovely turtles and had a quick lunch and enjoyed the views before we drove on....Jeff is ready to deal with a major issue soon.

This evening stay was unplanned because there was a major accident on the highway near the BC/Alberta boarder resulting in 2 people dying. A semi truck swerved to avoid the crash but ended up in the ditch-he was ok. Jeff had to contact his boss to find accommodations for 50 people and needed 41 rooms! He handled it like a true pro, remained calm, and we ended up at this ski lodge with many small cabins with the softest beds, featherthicks and feather pillows-I never slept so well. We walked along a pond and ate wild blueberries that were such a bright blue and tasted great. We were making sure no bears were thinking the same thing. We were supposed to be in Jasper to pick up more people but that will have to wait for the next day....

Lengthy post but I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of my adventure into the Rockies. By the way, the first picture is of Mount Robson which is the highest point in the Rockies.