Wandering around Van CIty.

After visiting with Crystal the first night, she gave me great directions of places to see in Vancouver the next day. The weather was absolutely perfect. Did I mention that before? Leaving the early May blizzards in the Yukon far, far behind I headed out to see Granville Island.

Granville Island isn't actually an island. It's a peninsula tucked in the river that comes off the English Bay before it turns into the inner harbour. Granville is full of little artsy shops, home to the downtown market, and Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Some of the boats at the marina on the Island.


Walking under Granville Street, which will take you over the river to Yaletown, to the Island.


Market stalls. Beautiful flowers and foods.




Macaroons from the bake shop just outside the market. I think they were creme caramel and pistachio flavoured. Delicious like the ones that fly here from France on occasion.


Outside one of the weaver's shops on the water.


The view of Yaletown from the shop.


I went to take a look around Emily Carr U and found an exhibit of all of the final installments by the students. Good timing!

These were some of the upper year undergrad's work.

Porcelain painted milk cartons.


Porcelain fallen leaves, each one individually designed and painted.


This was so cool. I love a good kit. Especially if it's a science of imaginary solutions kit.


Rainbow of porcelain old-fashioned styrofoam M*donald's containers.


A huge stack of paper that you couldn't pull apart (well, you weren't actually allowed to touch it, but I'm sure you'd have a hard time pulling one out from the bottom).


Outside the school at the totem pole carving classroom. I really loved this place. I wish some people had been working on it.



After my tour of the island I took a tiny ferry boat (it held about 6 people) over to Yaletown. I walked up through the main part of town to the downtown and visited the Olympic Torch. I don't know what state the torch area was in (if they were taking it down, or if it had always been such a mess), but that fence is ugly. So are the piles of bricks laying all around (I'm pretty sure it had always been such a mess). Now I know what everyone was complaining about during the Olympics.

My westcoast visits.

Finally, my pictures from the West Coast. I love BC and I'm so glad I've had the chance to take the ferry to Vancouver Island twice in the past year. It's one of my most favourite places to visit.

This time, I flew into Vancouver from Whitehorse. I stayed at the HI hostel on Jericho Beach. The hostel is really cool. It's in an old building and it has a lot of character, sprawling lawns, and is right beside the beach. It's a seasonal hostel and had only been open for a few days before I arrived so it was not busy at all. There were 3 people in my 14 person dorm. The weather was so perfect. The most perfect weather ever, really, after spending extended winter months in the Yukon. I sat on the beach a lot. I wandered around the city. I visited with Crystal and Geoff. It was a quick visit because Crystal was already a few days overdue with their little one, but we caught a few exciting hockey games (sadly Vancouver lost out of the playoffs) and had some lovely dinners.

The day I took the ferry across to the Island, I realized I had lost my camera. I was on the bus that was going to take me to the ferry and into Victoria when I noticed. This entire trip takes about four hours. When I realized I had forgotten it, I got off the bus, packed my gear into a locker, went back to the hostel and searched all over the place. I told the guy at the front desk all about my situation. He knew me because I had spent time chatting with him about the playoffs. I went back to the bus and took the ferry across. Three days later he e-mailed me to tell me that my camera had turned up. I have no idea where it was found, or who found it, but I was really happy. Thanks Jericho HI, however that happened, you're the best.

All of these photos were taken by Leah and Jill. My camera was mailed back to my parent's house.

Leah and her housemate picked me up at the busstop in his truck (thank goodness because I had 100 lbs of gear from work in the north. She didn't believe me because she thought I was exaggerating the weight) and was going to pick me up on her bike. That would not have worked.

We spent days at the beach, neat little cafes, ran into one of my MSc committee members in a fancy little grocery store (he was quite surprised to see me in such a trendy part of town ;), hosted a picnic for her housemates, and hiked along the shoreline. One night Jill and her wwoofer, Malte, came into town and we all went out downtown. Being back in civilization was great. There was ice cream and flowers and cool little shops.

On the shore in Victoria.


Right where I was sitting, we found this bright purple seastar. I thought it was a sea cucumber, but it just had its arms folded in. Cucumbers generally aren't this brightly coloured because they need to hide from their predators.


Later that week, I took the city bus out to Metchosin to meet Jill. I spent a week at her family's ranch. This was the place I started my travels the previous August. Jill was working at the local market farm so I spent the days in her garden with Malte, jogging along the Galloping Goose Trail, and knitting my wool from Whitehorse.

One day, Jill, Malte, Bella the pup, and I went hiking along the Jaun de Fuca Marine Trail. Even though it rained most of the day, we had a fantastic time.

Me in the bright blue, Malte, and Bella


Some of the smooth rock formations on the shore. The colours were amazing. You could see the historical tide lines and since tide was low, we could walk right into these caves.


Bella and I exploring a cave full of drift wood, polished stones, and big tube seaweed.


Kettles worn out of the rock on the shoreline.


Bella having a great day by the tide pools.


One more of the slippery, smooth rocks covered with seaweed.


Leah and some friends came out the last night I was visiting to celebrate Jill's birthday! We had a delicious dinner and Leah made a little carrot cake complete with pink Jill sprinkles.

Giant things in Van City.

So, apparently it's not only the Aussies who love their giant things. The westcoasters are right into them too.

I found this huge game of croquet in the windows of the downtown Bay.



Then I came across this work of art by Douglas Coupland. It's a huge lego orca (well, he calls it a pixelated orca) that he made in 2010 beside the site of the Olympic torch. I'm surprised we didn't hear more about this, but then CTV's coverage of the Olympics left a whole lot to be desired.

There was night. And there was day.

Back to the south yesterday. The amount of flowers in Vancouver right now is sort of overwhelming. I've jogged along Jericho Beach in shorts and t-shirts and ate lunch on the pier in flip-flops.

Today is the day after the Canucks lost to Chicago in the playoffs and the front page of the Vancouver Sun sort of broke my heart:


I've been on the look-out for cheeky hockey signs around the city. Hopefully I can find a few more tomorrow.



Tomorrow afternoon I'm heading for my last stop on this trip: Vancouver Island. I'll catch the bus and take the ferry across. Then I'm visiting Leah and Jill for the week. We're going to hike and have dinners and all sorts of fun things. I'm also going to catch up on my blog posts. Today I went to the Public Markets in Granville and the Emily Carr University of Art and Design Graduation Exhibition. I also found some AMAZING giant things in Vancouver, including an installation by Douglas Coupland. And, I went to visit the Olympic Torch.

And that was all before I watch the Habs take the series over Sid and the Penguins. I watched the game at a bar on 4th Avenue with some friends and had too much beer and some tequila to celebrate. My head already hurts. Worth it though. And this next series is going to be a great one too!