Marine Building, Vancouver
Thursday, April 20This spring i visited Canada's west coast for the first time and reconnected with some "long lost" relatives, cousins on my father's side that grew up in British Columbia. I also planned to visit my mother's brother and his wife, their son and family who moved to Victoria a few years ago. Also on the agenda was a few days in the city of Vancouver on my own and a couple of get togethers with online chat friends.
Finally on my way. They changed my flight schedule so i'm changing planes in Ottawa, flying DC9 to Ottawa and Airbus 220 to Vancouver. Both flights were filled to the brim and quite uncomfortable. Ever since Air Canada and Canadian merged, AC is overbooking and filling their flights and changing schedules, removing duplicate flights and everything seems like it's in limbo. The flights were uneventful aside from the fact that i was squeezed in a middle seat between two men who clearly did not want to share their space with a fat chick. My seatmate from Ottawa to Vancouver was a Filipino gal who was pleasant but quiet. She had another 14 hour flight to Manila ahead of her!
Arriving at the Vancouver airport, and finding my way to the arrivals area. The airport has long halls and twists and turns and reminds me of Heathrow a bit. I was a bit worried i wouldn't recognize Linda because the photo i had seen of her wasn't a close up one but she knew me! This was the first time we have met since 1969 we later determined. I was quite tired as it was after midnight for me but glad to be off the plane. We seemed to drive and drive and it turns out that the city she lives in, Maple Ridge is fairly far outside of Vancouver itself. We arrived at their house, a split level, greeted by a very large ginger dog, a golden retriever named Gregory who happily snuffled around our feet, investigating this new person. I met Linda's son Brian who had a friend over and was watching a video. We girls went upstairs to the main level of the house where i was gasping for a cup of tea. We talked until 11 o'clock, mostly about family we shared. She's never really known her aunts, uncles and cousins so there was a lot of family history to chat about. Linda is very interested in genealogy as is another cousin Gayle, who lives in Newfoundland on the opposite coast. That's how Linda got back in touch with us. She saw Gayle's name listed on a find-your-roots website, contacted her and the rest is history.
I crashed about 11, 3 a.m. my body time. Tomorrow we are going to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley park with Linda's sister Cathy along with a couple of their kids and the new 8 month old grandson, Quinten. That's Cathy's grandson, son of her daughter Erin.
We caught the bus that lets you off, at least off summer season, at the entrance to Stanley Park, a huge natural park at the tip of the downtown Vancouver peninsula. We only saw a little bit of the park but there is a grand seawall all around it and an area with old totem poles standing. Never mind, i got my fill of totem poles in Victoria! We made our way to the Aquarium where Linda had old free passes with no expiry dates so we all got in for free. Quintin was fabulous, what a little trooper, all day he was really good and loved seeing the fish and whales through the underground windows! First things first. Food! Brian, our growing boy was starving and as it was nearly lunchtime, we grabbed a snack from the outdoor cafeteria and ate on the steps surrounding the tank where several long white beluga whales live. They were so graceful as they swam and flipped over, entertaining the onlookers. We also saw the big orca whale who shared a tank with a porpoise and the pair of them played and chased each other all around the tank. The whale was large but you didn't really realize how much so until you went underneath and watched from the observation windows!! I think could have sat there and watched for hours. One picture i took of the two isn't really clear but the one i took of the porpoise just going up to break the surface with bubbles rising all around him was amazing.
The rest of the aquarium was pretty cool too, with all the fish tanks, frogs, turtles, insects and a small golden alligator. There was a glassed off room called the Amazon which was really hot and humid, just like a rainforest. There were specialized creatures there including some colourful exotic birds and a sloth hanging in the back of one of the trees. We could only see it's furry hide though.
The weather is overcast and cool, with spitting rain now and then. We walked a little ways after we left the aquarium. Some of them wanted to go on the miniature train that takes you on a little circuit around one small area of the park. Linda remembered there being real wolves and other animals in the forest around the tracks but after we paid our $2.50 and managed to fit into the small seats, we discovered things had changed. The wolves were wooden cutouts, as were the bears and moose. LOL! There were real swans in the pond and a few goats on a farm like setting. We teased Linda, there never were wolves were there? We walked across a little bridge for a view over the bay back to downtown and decided we had had enough for one day and took the bus back to the skytrain station and headed back out to Maple Ridge where i finally met Linda's husband Dave who was off tonight. Any later and we'd have missed him as he was off to work shortly. I was beginning to think Linda made him up and i teased her about it! . We had pasta for supper, and a nice chat along with a bit of computer time where i helped her install ICQ and IRC and checked my email.
Our next stop was up Mount Seymour to ... well... to see more! There is a look off stop but it was hazy so the view down over Greater Vancouver wasn't all that clear. Further up, we stopped again, near the ski hill. I saw some people standing on the snowbank (still snow that high up) for a peek over the trees so i was going to do the same. I stepped off the pavement and sunk into the snowbank up over one knee!!!! Yikes!!! Soft spot!! I handed my camera to Linda and Cathy helped me out. Yes i'm covered in mud and wearing light beige trousers. I am ever grateful that Linda had the presence of mind to NOT take my picture while i was thigh deep in snow! And you couldn't see over the trees anyway! :-)
From there, we drove back down and to Lynn Canyon where there is a suspension bridge over a canyon with a rushing creek 50 meters (about 150 feet) below. The more famous one in North Vancouver is the Capilano bridge over the Capilano river. There's an entry fee to that park with a few other exhibits but the Lynn Canyon one is free. There are lots of hiking trails on both sides of the bridge and an ecological interpretive center, admission by donation. There were people there but it wasn't crowded. And by suspension bridge i don't mean large, concrete bridge. I mean a wooden track held up by cables with a waist high guard fence. Linda said she didn't have a problem with heights but she did quake a bit at "edges". Still she bravely went over and got back
The mud is nearly dry on my pants and the snow has melted and absorbed into my sock. Off we go again, down into the city of North Vancouver. We decided to have a look through the shopping center of Lonsdale Quay which has a fruit and veg market with some nice shops. This is where i'll be going to the Coronation Street Ping next Saturday night, at the Cheshire Cheese Inn, a nice little pub/restaurant. I found some of the stores really interesting, there was one that carried imported goods and clothing from Africa and another that had lots of prints and pictures of BC and by BC artists. There was a Celtic store as well where Cathy bought a lovely tshirt with a Celtic knot design on it. We stopped for a coffee and a snack and on our way through the food vendors we passed this one display case chock full of decorated cheesecakes, I mean they were works of art with the glazed fruit patterns on the tops of them. Begged to have their picture taken so i did! Too beautiful to eat! We were done there and had seen about as much as my poor old feet could take so we headed back home.
We had a stir fry and some barbecued chicken breast for supper, my first BBQ of the season! We had a nice relaxing evening in front of the computer and the telly. We checked out the online ferry and bus schedules as i'm heading to Victoria on Monday by bus that connects with the ferry to Vancouver Island. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and there's a big family potluck dinner so i'll get to meet the rest of Cathy's family.
Sunday, April 23 And it's yes, another cloudy day and it rained harder today. Linda and I made a grocery store run just after lunch. Linda won't take money for gas but i've managed to buy coffee here and there and i brought out a nice recipe book for her that has Nova Scotia recipes by an owner of a local Inn.
Most everyone arrived late afternoon. The dog was kept outdoors and the cat (Harley) hid. I met Cathy's husband, Bill and her other two kids, Shawn who's i think 20 and Erin who's 18 and the mother of sweet little Quintin. Shawn was with his girlfriend Ivana and both Linda's and Cathy's mothers-in-law were there, both delightful women! It was really great to meet up with the branch of the family i had never known. We updated the kids on how we are related and told family stories.
Later tonight Linda called her father, Chuck and i got to talk to him for a few minutes. I listened hard but he didn't sound like my dad, Uncle Keith or Uncle Bud, his brothers, but he did sound a little like the fifth brother, Gus. He lives in the Okanagan Valley in Kelowna. The family has a cottage up in that area too and they're all heading up there for the May long weekend. I also called my aunt Denise so she'd know what ferry to meet tomorrow so that's sorted out.
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