September days in Vancouver

We’ve been here about 2 weeks. In the last few of days, we've begun to get some energy back. I’m not sure that it’s sunk in yet that we’re here to live and not just on holiday.

The first week of weather was so fantastic; daytimes mid to high 20s, nights around 15C, always with a cool breeze near the ocean.  The Airbnb has a lovely “outdoor living space” on the back porch (more photos in earlier post), and front porch. Every morning we open the French doors from the dining room and the kitchen door to the back porch and leave them open all day.  

Last Thursday, we went to Bowen, with Charles and Zoe, to show them the new home and to meet with the builder, on site. It was a most perfect day, clear skies, sunshine and everything was sparkling. Crossing the Lyon's Gate bridge and the ferry ride gave us breathtaking views of the mountains and surrounding waters! 

The next day, we had spontaneous beach fun with Prisca (Cat's sister) and her youngest two: Lochlan (almost 14) and Paloma (11, going on 18) and their dog, Trink. (Husband Gord and eldest Findlay were off racing on their sailboat)., at Spanish Banks, the dog-friendly beach. We waded out onto the sandbanks in the low tide, water about knee-high. Prisca ad Paloma went swimming, Trink set off across the harbour to hunt seals, Charles and Lochlan decided they didn't want to swim and played water frisbee instead, and got as wet as if they had been swimming, Zoe tried to join in the frisbee game until she spied the heron. Richard and I waded around grinning and pinching ourselves.

That was so much fun that we've taken Zoe there a couple of times in the late afternoon, once with Cat's brother Charlie and his partner Anne. In the evening it is dog mayhem! Everyone comes with a dog or two, or is a dog-lover. No one comes with a picnic at this beach! Dogs mill about, doing their thing, with owners loosely supervising them. The first evening, we didn’t take a ball or throw-toy for Zoe. By the time we left, she had collected 2 balls! I asked around if they belonged to anyone. No one seemed to care or notice. 

White dogs rolling in the dark sand, turn grey. Wet sandy dogs ambling up to random people sitting on the beach are either pushed away in a loving shove or embraced and cuddled. Zoe likes to do this. The first time she did, we were most apologetic but the person said: “It’s okay, this is the dog beach”. Now we don’t apologize, just smile. Dogs leaping, rushing, jumping, cavorting in the water with other dogs, or on their own, some fetching balls or sticks thrown by their people or by someone else. Zoe has "other-dog-throw-toy” envy. She’s still overwhelmed by the number of dogs and activities and runs back and forth between whatever looks the most interesting. Or sits and watches. And while Richard is sort of watching Zoe, I go for a swim about 100 yards out from the beach, with the paddle boarders, in the refreshing gentle swell.

We’ve explored a nearby park, Pacific Spirit park, aka The Endowment Lands, with Zoe and have found hours of trails in the quintessential west coast rain forest. Takes our breath away every morning. The trails are used by bikes, hikers, horse-back riders and dog walkers. So far, no signs of horses, but plenty of dogs and their owners.

On Saturday morning, I went for a morning swim in the Kitsilano outdoor pool. It's 137 metres long and is salt-water. The sun was rising in the east and the moon was setting in the west. It felt pretty magical! Prisca, Loch and Lolo came over for supper. The three cousins disappeared into the living room to explore D&D while us grown ups relaxed on the back porch and caught up on news.

We spent Labour Day Monday we drove up to Squamish The road to Squamish (and Whistler) is aptly named Sea to Sky. 

We visited Cat's brother Fran and his wife Janine, their 4 year old daughter Juno, and Janine's second daughter Havana, and dog Scooter at their home, well! their pool. Which has incredible views of the mountains. Zoe was mostly interested in Jasmine the cat.

By the end of our first week in Vancouver, we had 3 visits with Charlie and Anne, 2 with Prisca and kids and 1 with Fran and Janine and family. Filling the empty space. Full heart.

We’ve been busy this week finalizing the colours of our windows (exterior frame colour) and then looking at colour options for the cedar shingles and cedar wood siding, the facia, the soffits, and gutters and downspouts. We’ve spent a lot of time driving all around the city: 

- to Burnaby to pick up the sample/chip of the exterior window colour, 

- to North Van to the lumber store for samples of shingles/siding, and to look at gutters and downspout colour options

- to the local Benjamin Moore to match the window colour for the builder to give his crew to paint the wood roof facia all matchy-matchy 

- to Vancouver’s Eastside to the guys who will stain the shingles/siding to get them matching

- back to the Benjamin Moore to return the wee bookie of paint & stain samples

Have your eyes glazed over yet? 

It’s actually been fun and a great way to get to know the Greater Vancouver area.

The last few days we’ve had eerily smokey skies because the wind is coming from the south-east US (Washington & Oregon) bringing smoke from those terrible wildfires. It catches in the back of the throat and leaves one headachey after a few hours. There are all sorts of health advisories for people with respiratory issues, the elderly, infants, etc. I understand suddenly the dangers of smoke-inhalation …With the heaviness of the smoke in the air, the temperatures are cooler as no sunshine is getting through. Sometimes the sun appears as a faint orange ball overhead.

Yesterday Richard and I went over to Bowen again. The ferry ride was eerie due to lack of visibility. Usually you can see Bowen Island as soon as the ferry pulls out of Horsheshoe Bay on the mainland near West Van.  Yesterday, there was only hazy grey smokiness to be seen. 

I swam at Bowen Bay beach which will be the one we call "our beach"- it's about a 10 minute walk down the hill from our new home. Chilly refreshing waters. My fave! 

Afterwards we visited the house and noticed that the second floor is now finished, including the stairs. By finished I mean, the frame is up. The roof is next! 

The driveway into our development: Evergreen Lane

Front door:

Kitchen and dining room

Stairs

Window in stairs

Hazy smokey view from master bedroom

We also checked on the sailboat in her new marina in Snug Cove, Bowen Island, and found her looking cleaner than we've ever managed, thanks to a local couple who live on their boat in the marina and have a small boat-cleaning business. Some of you may remember that we had the boat trucked across the country, back in June. It's been huge piece of mind knowing she was well cared for all summer. The next task is to get the engine up and running before we can take her out for a sail. Something about boat engines not liking to be bounced for 4,000 kilometres?! 

Swan in Snug Cove

Lyon's Gate bridge yesterday about 6pm. Lights are on already because it's so dark from the smoky skies.

Charles arrives!

Just a quick update to yesterday's post. We missed this photo showing the reunion of Zoe and Charles. She was overjoyed to see him and has been keeping a close eye on him ever since. We imagine that in her mind, she has to make sure that he doesn't go missing again. He clearly can't be trusted to stay with the pack.

There is also this great photo of Zoe with her new birthday cupcake and Cat and Charles on the back porch. 

Cat and I went for a lovely morning walk today with Zoe exploring Pacific Spirit park (the endowment lands), which are very close to us. The weather here is beautiful. It is being heralded as Summer 2.0 for the BC coast. The forest was magnificent and silent, with the lovely morning light slanting in.

Vancouver

 

We arrived in Vancouver safe and sound in the late afternoon of Monday, August 31st. Since arriving, we have been remiss in posting the last day of traveling, with apologies, and the good excuse that it's been crazy busy!

Our observation of Kamloops was it's not a wealthy town and not in a beautiful setting. The landscape around the town was dried out, brown grass, desert-like low shrubs, low lying hills, a smelly pulp/paper plant west of town. 

(But some of the surrounding countryside, as in this photo to the south of Kamloops, is beautiful as we discovered the next day. )

As we pulled into our campsite, a couple were using the communal BBQ which was located next to our spot. We got chatting. Turns out, the guy was Kyle Unger, who was convicted of murder, spent 15 years in maximum security only to be acquitted in a re-trial. Besides hearing this tragic story, he is also told us that one of the good things that had come out of being in jail was learning how to carve. He proudly showed us one of his carvings which was skillfully done and beautiful. 

After a noisy night of trains, trucks, RV generators, wind and rain, we woke to a grey sky and mild temperatures. The campsite showers were awesome! 

The day before when we stopped for lunch at a rest area, a local couple suggested we take an alternate route to Vancouver as the Coquihalla highway (Hwy 5) (Kamloops to Hope) could get a bit boring. We followed one of their recommended alternatives and took the backroad (Hwy 5A) from Kamloops to Merritt. It was stunning and charming! While the land still appeared dry and desert-like, it was also lived in and farmed. The road wound around and through hills and lakes. We were thrilled to see that the countryside around Kamloops had beauty to offer after all.

We rejoined the Coquihalla at Merritt and drove the last three hours into Vancouver under sunny skies, temperatures in the mid-20s, passing at one point over a very cool bridge, with the traffic increasing in quantity and speed.

We arrived at our new temporary home: 2221 Dunbar St about 4:30pm to a warm flowery welcome from my brother, Charlie. It took a couple of hours to unpack the van and check out the Airbnb.

                                                                Arrived...

                                                            Front porch sitting area

Living room

Dining room open to back porch and kitchen desk

Kitchen

Back porch

We're thrilled with the charm of the place and it's location: older home (built in 1912) with some original features (stained glass windows) and set in a quiet residential area of Kitsilano.

Charlie and Anne arrived with a delicious sushi supper for us all about 6:30pm. We appreciated the thoughtful generous gift, especially after an exhausting day. Thanks, you two! We sat on the new back porch together (socially isolating, except in this photo) and drinking in our new home. 

The next day, which was Tuesday 1 September, was Zoe's 8th birthday.

Late morning, we made it down to Spanish Banks west beach — the off-leash dog beach, we had learned. It was low tide and magical. Sand (and mud) for a kilometre to the water. It was brilliant! And Zoe's first experience of salt-water and beach sniffles. She soon figured what to do with seagulls and adapted her Georgian Bay rock jumping to beach rocks. And enjoyed just sitting and watching, in her muddy "sleeves".

And on the occasion of her birthday, the local pet store, gave her a Birthday Cupcake. Imagine her delight to find it also squeaks!

Yesterday, which was Wednesday 2 September, Charles arrived. He had been staying with friends in Guelph for the month of August. He flew in from Toronto in the late afternoon. After a happy reunion with Zoe and a family supper, he tucked himself into a chair on the back porch, as we enjoyed another visit with Charlie and Anne.

It feels good and right to all be here in Vancouver and moving forward in this next chapter and adventure of our lives.

We will endeavour to post an entry once a week to keep you up to date on how these adventures unfold. Stay tuned!

We made it to BC!

We woke early today, after a cold night but cosy in our tent, for the penultimate day of this trip across Canada and the day we reached our new home province. Since showers weren't open in Jasper National Park, we've been having quick washes in the mornings ... but, oh, the hair! 

Just before we left, we had a visit from a female Wapiti (aka elk).

We left Jasper shortly after 10am (Mountain Time) and had a beautiful drive through the Rockies via the famous Yellowhead Pass. Before crossing the continental divide and into BC, we had this view of more Rockies to the north. 

After crossing into BC and Pacific Time, we were soon following the Fraser River valley, watching for Mt Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. As we went by the Mt. Robson park campgrounds, we couldn't see it anywhere so pulled off at a lay-by. It was nowhere in sight. So, Richard asked the reluctant driver (Catharine) to turn around and go back to a viewpoint she'd seen while he was napping. But just turning around was enough. It was right behind us. We both let out a gasp; there it was in all its majesty and momentarily free of clouds — a real honest to goodness mountain! 

It is almost 13,000 feet but seems twice as big because the Yellowhead Pass is so low. It rises 9,200 feet above where we were sitting. In contrast, Mt. Victoria, which is the peak behind Lake Louise, and only 600 feet shorter, only rises 1,800 feet above the lake. We took some time at the lay-by and took this shot of the young Fraser River, not far from its source, seen here below Moose Lake, with Mt. Robson just out of the left-hand side of the frame.

We drove south, out of the Rockies and learned of two other smaller mountain ranges that lie further to the west of them. The Cariboo Mountains run parallel and the Monashee Mountains are a bit further south. The Yellowhead Highway took us south between these two ranges and down into a wide open valley full of farms, fields, horses and cows; ranch country. As we dropped down out of the mountains, the temperature got warmer. As we write this, it's about 14C.

We learned that the Fraser River flows north/north-west from Mt Robson Park all the way to Prince George, then turns south and flows down to Vancouver. The Yellowhead Highway, the southern route follows the North Thompson River and the railroad all the way to Kamloops. (The northern Yellowhead route goes through Prince George all the way to Prince Rupert on the northern BC coast just south of Alaska).

We mentioned in an earlier post that the Yellowhead highway is named for the Yellowhead pass through which it passes the Rockies. Today we learned that these are named after an Iroquois-Metis trapper. His name was Pierre Bostonais but the French voyageurs called him "Tete Jaune"  or "Yellowhead" because of his blond-streaked hair. Tete Jaune worked for the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1800s as a guide and opened the pass, named after him, for trade.

Kamloops sits at the confluence of the Sage and North Thompson rivers and straddles both banks and hillsides. The landscape is dry and arid, semi-desert really. 

Tonight we're staying at Silver Sage RV Camp on the banks of the Sage River. It's located on the edge of town, next to an industrial park and across the river from the railroad and the highway. It's threatening rain and is windy but the bathrooms are clean and have free hot showers are free. Tomorrow we will wash our hair in honour of our arrival into Vancouver.