Gasworks/Yaletown

A slightly rainy day, perfect for photography. This is the center of Gastown.

There's a Western shop right at the center.

Gastown is called Vancouver's Soho. This is a very cute and trendy part of town. It's right next to downtown. This would be a place to pop over for lunch.

This is a very trendy shoestore. There are only 3; New York, LA and Vancouver. This is where he started.

A picture of their early advertising on the wall.

A sculpture in the shoe store.

Yaletown is another part of town. Much more upscale than Gastown. This is where the movers and shakers live.

This is a beautiful park at the entrance to Yaletown.

A dog taking advantage of the fountains. He drank from every one of them as he walked along.

This is another one of the pieces of art that the city has sponsored.

Just another gate we liked.

The Vancouver Aquarium

We are going down our list of things to do in Vancouver. Within Stanley Park is the Aquarium. While the majority of visitors are children (very excited, noisy children), the main attractions at the aquarium are presentations made by the young marine biologists on beluga whales, sea otters, birds of prey and Pacific dolphins.

There were viewing boxes of a lot of endangered frogs. These are bullfrogs.

There's a huge saltwater tank full of creatures that are very close off shore of Vancouver.

Beluga whales are snow white. These are the ones the Inuits live off of. All of this is explained by the young biologists in their presentation. They stress that their habitat is shrinking because of the growth of global warming. They tell the kids about unplugging your cell phone chargers, etc.

They put on a little show.

This is a sea otter lolling on his back. They are quite comical.

There was another show entitled "Birds of Prey." This is the bald eagle. The biologist explained to the audience that this species almost went extinct because of DDT. He lectured the kids once again on maintaining a safe environment to keep these beautiful birds alive. They flew all around and were very impressive.

This is a Harris hawk.

This is a turkey buzzard. She explained that this bird eats carrion. It was an excellent presentation.

These are the seals. 90% of them have disappeared in Canada and this aquarium is studying this pair to understand why Canada is losing its seals.

The grand finale was the dolphins. These 3 dolphins were rescued from fishing nets. It was determined that they could not be released back into the wild. They live here and perform great leaps and flourishes.

Get a load of these flying dolphins! Okay, it was for kids. But it was well done and they are trying to educate.

As we were driving from the aquarium we drove past the totem poles in Stanley Park. This park is Vancouver's Central Park. It's not in the center, it's on a point, surrounded by the bay. A magnificent setting.

As I understand it, the totem poles represent a family's history; the clan they belong to, etc. So they could belong to the wolf clan and then other things on the pole could represent significant things that occurred in their family history and they can be placed in front of their house or at a grave site.

The Anthropology Museum @ the University of British Columbia

The University is situated on a magnificent point above the tip of the Kitsalano Peninsula.

Finally, roses in full bloom.

The architecture of the museum is "post and lintel." A very elegant museum as you will see.

This is the magnificent focal point of the museum which was designed by Bill Reid who was descended from one of the indian tribes that are featured in the museum.

This is another one of his works.

We took a tour and a very knowledgeable docent explained all of this to us.

It turns out that red cedar when soaked in water will bend to form canoes and even watertight boxes.

This shows the soaring ceilings.

These boxes were made out of one piece of red cedar that, after being soaked, was bent to form a box. Amazing!

This is actually a bunch of bowls used @ a potlatch ceremony. The docent explained about how the policy of the government was to attempt to take away all their traditions and languages. Eventually, the policy was reversed. Apparently, they have potlatches again now for weddings, funerals, births, etc.

First Pictures of Vancouver

When we first get to a city, we learn the public transportation system. On the first day, we got our transportation passes which are good for the ferries, the buses and the trolleys. This is the art museum which is doing a show about the post impressionists. I believe this is part of a Dali painting.


This is the outside of our apartment building. There are six apts. It is very nice. We are in the center of a residential area that is made up of Victorian houses and apt. buildings. Some are high rises, maybe 16 stories. Our building is only 3 stories. There are parks and playgrounds and schools.

This Seabus is part of the ferry system. We took it over to North Vancouver where there is an extensive farmers market. I think the prices are better over there. It's just a 10 minute ride from downtown.

In the background is the skyline of Vancouver.

This is their stadium which they might have built for the Winter Olympics. Now their Canadian football league plays there. They are creating a cover for it which is supposed to be ready by the end of August.

This geodesic dome is now their science center. I don't know if this was built for their olympics or what its history is.

We took this cute little water taxi from one end of the harbor to Granville Island. There are 12 of these taxis. There are 8 stops around the harbor.

This is a very famous must see for Vancouver. We weren't going to go there on the weekend, but by the time we arrived it was around 3 o'clock so it had calmed down. Beautiful produce and seafood and everything else you could want.

This is an art installation on Granville Island.

A flower shop.

Whidby Island

Mukilteo is where Boeing is located. It's north of Seattle and that's where one catches the Ferry to Whidby. All the ferries to different islands are scattered about Seattle. We are staying on this island for 6 days and there is only Wifi at the library. That's why I haven't posted. Tomorrow we head into Canada.

People and dogs on one of the many beaches.

My dogs playing with another dog. It's so cool here; my dogs love the weather.

Buskers at a farmers' market.

A Victorian in Coupeville. They have filmed movies in this town for the Victorians.

One again, out to dinner. This time @ Gordon's.

This is the sign at Deception Pass which is the way we will go to Canada tomorrow. This island is 55 miles along. We are staying at the bottom but the pass is at the top.

This is the pass and the bridge.

This eagle hangs out in our front beach.