25-07-2013 Thursday - Burnaby Village Museum, Lynn Valley Ecology Centre & Suspension Bridge

Andrew came with us again and we went to Burnaby Village Museum - a 1920's village.

The school room.













The Music store.













 "Elworth" house built circa 1921.

We had some various costumed 'townsfolk' who gave us explanations of their areas.

This lady was a whizz with the printing press.









The church.

The banking lady had lost her key for a while and someone had stolen one of the older notes that was kept for an exhibit so that was her main talking point.













One of the signs in the bank.

The blacksmith did well to put up with one of the vacation (summer camp) kids whose name was Cole and kept making comments as he was talking about coal he used to heat his furnace.





The guy at the general store kept in character ensuring all the 'gentlemen' removed their hats (caps) when entering the store.

The Carousel.

After some lunch we then drove to the Lynn Valley Ecology Centre & Suspension Bridge.

There were hands-on exhibits and here Steven decided to see who he measured up to - close to a Moose 6'5".










This bridge wasn't as high as Capilano but the water view may have been more spectacular as there was a rushing waterfall.











We then 'hiked' down to the river.







It was surprising how many people were going for a swim as the water was supposed to be quite cold from all the warning signs.  You can just see the kids on the rock in the middle of the photo who were jumping down into the water.  The water was very clear - but still not a great idea.








Once we got back up higher we then took another trail that took us to 'twin falls'.  Once again people were swimming in more precarious spots with hidden dangers all warned about in signs at the beginning of the bridge.







When we got back 'home' we were sitting on the back deck watching the humming bird, one comes every day, having a sip of the sugar water.  You can just see the wasp to the right who then came along and bullied the bird into moving on and took over his 'flower'.


This evening we walked up the road - another hill - ahh the knees - and had dinner at the local pub - The Raven.  Lovely meals but, as is often the case, a bit noisy.

24-07-2013 Wednesday - Granville Island, Kitsilano Beach & Ambleside Beach

We started the day with a trip to 'Granville Island' which is a popular shopping destination.  











A view of Granville Bridge.









There were lots of different types of stand alone shops and then many stalls in a large undercover area.  We had a good look around but with luggage weight restrictions it was a deterrent from buying anything except food to keep up our strength.  









There were outdoor areas where you could sit and watch the view and lots of boats were moored at the docks.  There were some obvious 'party' boats and others were people's livelihood or for pleasure.










Lots of good quality, cheap produce too.

 

Lindsay left us then to go home and study and we drove around to Kitsilano Beach - Kits Beach as it is known.




In this photo you can see the snow capped mountains top middle of photo then the most expensive houses in West Vancouver, with some high rise apartments (or condos as they are known) to the right and then in front we have the beach.

The beaches tend to be a bit rocky as you will see in this photo.  First it is sand then you have to walk over the pebbles (ouch!) to get to the waters edge where it is sandy again.

Something you see quite a lot of down near the waterside are the sea planes - you can just spot it in front of the forest. They carry commuters going back and forth from Vancouver Island.









We had a snack and then drove via Lionsgate Bridge around to a shopping centre to pick up a couple of things and have some lunch.  














Just near the carpark there were some traditional canoes parked.





We then drove on to Ambleside Beach and went for a stroll.


Like Kits Beach something unusual for us was to see logs situated along the beach (see Kits Beach photo too) - but not a bad idea to have something to either sit on or more commonly lean against.  Maybe even provide some shade at some points during the day. 

Here you see the view back to the beach from the base of a traditional carving at the end of a pier. We did some grocery shopping on the way home and enjoyed dinner on Mick & Brenda's back deck - with only a couple of mozzies and no flies!!

23-07-2013 Tuesday - Quarry Rock & Capilano Suspension Bridge

This morning, all the Butler's went for the walk (huh more like a 2 hour hike!) to Quarry Rock. A few more people around than when John did the walk.

Lindsay & Andrew - a beautiful couple in front of a beautiful view.








We then left Lindsay at home studying - she has a big final exam for her course on Saturday - and the four of us went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, it is 140 metres long and 70 metres above the river

A little friend we met (we have seen some bigger ones in the trees in the backyard here too).














On the tree tops adventure.  We did get a bit of sun but our faces are red too from all the exercise - sooo many stairs up and down and lots of walking.  We had had a big day.










On the cliff walk.

Part of the cliff walk, with a glass floor - to see the view.












Steven, with an even bigger "friend".

When we got back home the three of us again drove down (enough walking in one day) to Deep Cove and enjoyed the view while eating dinner.

22-07-2013 Monday - Quarry Rock, Downtown, Baseball game

John got up early & went for a walk out to quarry rock - had a bit of a tumble on the way.  Mick (rightly so) then gave him a lecture on the perils of going off on his own - particularly as he was having to walk through areas where there had been black bear sightings. Mick is one of a group of people who get notified if there has been a sighting of a bear and he then goes and puts up signs in that neighbourhood warning people to be extra vigilant - especially about their rubbish.  This means the bears and humans can co-exist unless one has become too used to humans and goes to attack and it then has to be put down.

Deep Cove - early in the morning.





The start of the Baden Powell walk to Quarry Rock. The tree roots are very close to the surface as Vancouver is normally quite wet (not while we have been here, so far beautiful sunshine and mid-to-high 20's each day) so the roots don't have to go too deep to get the water they need.











A picture of the "forest"/"bush"









View from Quarry Rock - with Deep Cove on the right. It was worth the blood, sweat and (tears?).














Andrew dropped us off at Longsdale Quay & we caught the Seabus over to Vancouver 'downtown'.


"Sort" of where we went - GPS was having trouble in the city.









A raft of logs in the harbour.












Part of the city from the water.




















We started off visiting the Gastown area and saw the Steam Clock which spouted steam from the top and whistled at certain times.



















The statue of "Gassy Jack" in Gastown.




















Then we moved on to "Chinatown" - The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden





We then went to the Skytrain (like Sydney's now defunct Monorail except two tracks) platform to work out how to get to the science world.  We worked out the train on the platform was the one to catch. Steven got onto the train and Dawn was about to go through the doors when they closed and all she could do was say "Steven.......".  The funniest part was when we caught the next train going to the same final destination and were looking at the map on the train when a guy asked if we needed help and we were explaining our son had got on the train before us, he looked worried until we were able to point to Steven as we came into the station and say 'it's okay, he's a big boy'.


Telus Science World





Steven's "glowing" personality.




















Steven's close encounter with a T-Rex










The "new" animal we made:

African American Yellowtail Tarantula











Optical illusions.

The Harbour Centre - looking out on the city





Views below:

We then caught the underground train to King Edward station and walked to Nat Bailey Stadium.


We met Andrew here and went to a baseball game between Canadians & Eugene (USA)

There were quite a few 'strike-outs' but even more catches at first base as the batter ran for it- the ball can certainly move fast and even though ran fast it wasn't always enough.


A bit of excitement when the bat broke.

Ball, & bat pieces labelled (click on photo to see larger version).

"Your out of here" - he was tagged out.












The pieces of the bat being collected by the bat/ball boy.

During the play we had our own waitress - we just had to hold up menu and she came and took our order for refreshments and hot dogs (we had to order a hot dog at a baseball game!).

The final score. Canada wins 4 to 2.