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Bob and I have been to the city of Vancouver before as well as to the ski resort of Whistler, but we have never spent any real time in the  North Shore (the communities just north of Vancouver Harbor from metro Vancouver).  We decided to try to amend that deficiency with a stay in North Vancouver, a municipality of about 48,000.  We are staying at another great find on Airbnb with the rate being comparable to lower end hotels/motels but much, much nicer.  An added bonus is that the house is directly adjacent to a boulevard with paths that lead onto other city/community paths for a nice walking/running option.

After disembarking the ferry on Thursday, we caught a bus immediately outside of the ferry terminal.  We were on that bus from Horseshoe Bay to West Vancouver.  We got off in front of the Park Royal Mall and caught our next bus there that took us into North Vancouver — 2 blocks from where we are staying.  The whole trip after the ferry ride took just under 2 hours with a 20 minute wait for the second bus.  (Important Note:  We would not be very mobile if I were doing the transportation planning.  Bob is the mobility guru and could probably teach courses on how to use public transport systems around the world.)

My “talent” is deciding where and what to do each day, and Bob makes it happen if only because — happy wife, happy life.

So here is what we have enjoyed during our latest explorations —

Lonsdale 

The Lonsdale area of North Vancouver is the area immediately adjacent to the harbor.  We had a great day exploring the area on various walking paths and checking out some of the public art and heritage sites from information that our hosts had provided.

Lynn Canyon Park

One attraction that I had wanted to explore was the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  Bob had gone many moons ago when in Vancouver for work.  The park now charges $39.95/person to enter which is a bit over our daily budget for this extended holiday.  However, we found a local park less than an hour’s walk from the house with its own suspension bridge.  The park was free to enter and was busy on Saturday when we headed out even though many of the paths were still iced over.  We got to cross the bridge and get a bit of a hike in before taking in some of the public art in the Lynn Valley area.

Lynn Valley Public Art

We used the public art map and information provided by our hosts to see more of the Lynn Valley area after our trip to the park.  The following were some of our favorites —

Deep Cove

Bob and I covered almost 15 miles on foot Sunday in search of a big head photo for Bob and a walk around a local university.  Neither of our initial goals were terribly exciting, but in the process we discovered the beautiful community of Deep Cove and even got to enjoy some sun!

Capilano University

Knowing that we still had a long walk ahead of us (it took us about 2 hours to walk to Deep Cove), we pulled ourselves away from the view to walk out of Deep Cove and back through Seymour before heading slightly north to Capilano University.  Per Wikipedia, this a teaching-focused university that currently has an enrollment of about 11,600.  We were ther on a Sunday during winter break.  We could have strolled around naked and not bothered anyone, as there was no one around. My apologies if you lost your lunch on that last statement.



Bob and I ferried away from a great trip to Vancouver Island on Thursday.  Photos and notes from our last few days in Nanaimo are provided below.

Nanaimo Museum

Nanaimo has its own museum that provides an overview of the history and heritage of the local area.  We found it to be cute, informative, and a real bargain at $2 per person.  Our main interest in going was to learn about the Nanaimo bar (cookie not tavern) that we had seen throughout the island.  We didn’t learn much about the history of the confection, but we did get the recipe.

Millstone Estate Winery
After we walked downtown to the museum, we walked for about 90 minutes to the Millstone River Valley portion of Nanaimo to the Millstone Estate Winery.  The Bad News: we went on Monday and the winery is only open from Wednesday through Sunday at this time of year.  The Good News: one of the workers was there labeling bottles, and he kindly offered to do a tasting for us (6 wines for $3).  He was really knowledgeable about the wines  (his girlfriend and her father make the wine) and was fun to talk to.

Westwood Lake Park

We had a winter wonderland day on Tuesday, as we walked to Westwood Lake Park, the park favored by local runners.  It ended up being a beautiful winter hike.

BC Ferry to Vancouver

Wednesday we used mostly for planning before our Thursday departure for North Vancouver.  On Thursday, we had a short 15 minute, downhill walk to the ferry terminal where we caught the 12:30 ferry for the 1 hour and 40 minute ride to the Horshoe Bay terminal on the Canadian mainland.



Bob and I are currently making the most (according to our unbiased standards) of our visit to Nanaimo, British Columbia.  Nanaimo is located on the eastern side of Vancouver Island up the coast from Victoria in the central portion of the island.  With a population of about 82,000, Nanaimo is the second largest city on Vancouver Island and the third oldest city in British Columbia.  It is known as the “Harbour City,” and was officially so designated by Charles and Di in 1986.  Not sure what Camilla calls it.

See below for some highlights of our first three days:

Nanaimo Harbour (local spelling) Walk

 

Newcastle Island

Newcastle Island is the largest island in the Strait of George off the coast of Nanaimo.  It is about a 15-20 minute ferry ride from downtown after a stop at Protection Island.  Newcastle Island is reserved now as a park to be used only for camping, hiking, etc.  We spent 4 hours on Saturday hiking around the island.



 

Garden Memorial to Chinese Pioneers

Old City Quarter

 

Vancouver Island University

Vancouver Island University has about 16,000 full and part-time students across 4 campuses, with Nanaimo being its primary campus.  It is located on a hill overlooking much of the city.

Buttertubs Marsh

We had our post house-sit transition with our Victoria home owner on Monday.  We were glad to welcome them home but were sad to leave two of the cutest pets ever — the indefatigable Charlie who could play catch all day long even while battling a pancreas issue and Baxter, the purr monster.  

We are now in-between house sits until 1/20.  We knew that we had a hole in our schedule coming out but thought something might come open that would work out for us both in terms of time and location.  One in fact did, and the homeowners (in Chiliwack, BC, a little over an hour’s drive from Vancouver) indicated that they would like to have us.  However, after sending an initial note of acceptance, they didn’t follow up for a few days and then, when contacted again, said they had selected a couple from Germany.  Ach!  How chiliwacky of them!  They are missing out.  Anyhoo, we are now moving onto Plan B which is exploring more of Vancouver Island and the greater Vancouver area.

Since the house sit, we have been in a hotel in Victoria to see a bit more of the area and catch up on some personal business.  After we transitioned on Monday and checked into our hotel, we walked to Uptown, a new shopping district to see a new part of Victoria but mostly to get me (Beth) a much-needed haircut.  My last one was in France in October!

On Tuesday we had a great walk-about on the Galloping Goose Trail and along the harbor in pretty chilly and windy weather.  We toured the BC Parliament building and learned a bit about the building, the BC coat of ATMs, and the governmental structure.  One fun fact is that the provincial governments are unicameral while the federal government is bicameral like the US.  Also, the Lt. Governor acts as the Queen’s Representative for the government.  We also hit a happy hour at the Chateau Victoria Hotel downtown for great sunset views of the city.  

 

On Wednesday we took a bus to the very cute little town of Sidney, just north of the Victoria airport.  We poked around the shopping district on Beacon Street, walked through the lovely Beacon Park and waterfront, had French onion soup and rosti at Bistro Suisse and had a tasting flight at the Victoria Distilleries.

Thursday, we checked out of our hotel and took an afternoon bus up to Nanaimo, a city of about 83,000 which lies on the Strait of Georgia and is one of two locations on Vancouver Island from which you can take a ferry to Vancouver.  We are staying in a lovely private suite that we found through Airbnb.  We will be here until next Thursday.

Victoria, British Columbia is the provincial capital of Vancouver Island, the largest North American island in the Pacific Ocean.  Victoria is located on Vancouver Island’s southern tip.  We are staying in Oak Bay across Beach Drive from the Juan de Fuca Strait, the Salish Sea’s outlet to the Pacific Ocean which lies on the western edge of the island. Oak Bay is the easternmost neighborhood of Victoria and is on the very southeastern tip of Vancouver Island.  

From this vantage point, we have been able to really appreciate the active-ness of the residents, as we watch (or join them) as they walk, run, or exercise dogs on the many sea/harbor pedestrian paths across Victoria. 

Some highlights from our walking path explorations–

Along with checking out the great hiking paths, we have also explored neighborhoods across the island and some of Victoria’s other attractions.


Here is our holiday “card” from Victoria — a sample of Victoria’s version of holiday tree, gingerbread house, and teddy bear competitions — each put together to raise money for charities.   You could view the displays for free but needed to make a donation to be able to vote on your favorite.

The trees were displayed at the Bay Center Mall downtown as well as at the Fairmont Empress Hotel.

The gingerbread house competition was open to both amateurs and professionals, and the theme was travel.  The creations were displayed at the Inn at Laurel Point, another hotel along the harbor.

Finally, the teddy bear competition was displayed at the Hotel Grand Pacific.  I wasn’t as taken with this competition, but I thought the one below was kind of clever.



On Wednesday, Bob and I caught the 8:00 am Victoria Clipper ferry from Pier 69 in Seattle for a 2 and 3/4 hour trip across the Sound to Victoria, BC.  We caught the #5 Express bus on Greenwood Ave. into downtown and then walked a few blocks down Walls Street to the pier.  It would have been a very quick trip there, but we were delayed in crossing the street across from the harbor for quite awhile while a train passed through.

The ferry ride was great — easy boarding process, comfy seats, and a cafe and duty-free store on-board for self-service shopping or ordering via the ship attendants who came through the aisles.  We (just Beth) got a $2 cup of coffee that had free refills for the entire journey.  We arrived into the beautiful Inner Harbor of Victoria.  

After debarking and clearing customs, we walked to the Fairmont Empress Hotel to see if they would be willing to hold our bags for a few hours while we poked around before checking in with our next house sit family.  They allowed us to do that.  

Bob and I then grabbed a bite for lunch and spent a couple of hours walking around the southwestern-most tip of the island.  We walked a designated scenic walkway that took us past Laurel Point, Fisherman’s Wharf, the cruise ship terminal, Ogden Point, and then into Beacon Hill Park. It was a great walk with only one little bit of drama — while trying to take a picture of the kelp? In the water, I managed to drop my cellphone over the railings that ran along the jetty.  The good news was the phone hadn’t fallen into the water, but the bad news was it was on a rock ledge beside (but quite a bit below) the jetty without any stair access.  While Bob waited by where the phone had fallen, I walked quickly to the end of the jetty near the lighthouse and climbed over the railing onto some stone “steps” (stone formations meant for support not for steps) to lower myself (jump) down onto the ledge.  I then had to walk along the slippery ledge (trying not to think about slipping into the water) until I got to where my phone had fallen.  I retrieved my phone and had Bob meet me at the end of the jetty in case I couldn’t lift myself back onto the stone “steps” and then climb back over the railing.  I was able to do this without too much difficulty, but I had attracted an audience to watch my efforts!  Epilogue:  Cell phone works.  I wasn’t arrested.   No kelp were harmed — nor successfully photographed — during this incident.

After picking up our bags, we took a bus into the Oak Bay neighborhood of Victoria where we are doing our new house sit for the fun and lovable (though a bit sick at the moment) Charlie and the quite healthy and independent (though cuddly) Baxter.  The home owners are with family in Edmonton for the holidays, so we will be doing our holidays here.  

We have a great view of the water from the front windows of “our” home, easy access to a great waterfront path and beaches, and a neighborhood shopping street that is lovely during the day and decked out for holidays at night.

 

Where does the time go?  Bob and I wrapped up our awesome Seattle house sit on Tuesday (actually late Monday night, but we hung out for another day) before heading directly to our Victoria, BC house sit on Wednesday (but we’ll leave that for our next post).  We had an active last few days in Seattle with seeing sights, playing with Lucy Lu, visiting with family, and transitioning and partying with our Seattle home owner.

On Friday of last week, we walked downtown to take in the sights of Seattle from the Sky View Observatory at the Columbia Center.  The observation level is on the 73rd floor and provides a 360 degree view of the area.  

Besides the great views, the Observatory provided a fun, warm setting for our picnic lunch as well as some additional fun facts about Seattle.  Who knew —

• Seattle’s annual rainfall is less than Houston, Chicago and New York City.  (What?! We did find the rainfall to be very easy to deal with as it was more mist than downpour.)
• Bertha Landes, elected in 1926, was the first female mayor of Seattle, and of any US city.
• Seattle has more than 500 houseboats — more than anywhere else in the US.
• In a nod to our UK experiences, including our trip to Liverpool, Seattle was the first city in the US to play a Beatle’s song on the radio.

On Saturday, Bob and I walked to and explored Discovery Park, a 534 acre park on the former grounds of Fort Lawton on the shores of Puget sound in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle (thanks again to Wikipedia).  It is a lovely park that has forests, meadows, historical buildings, and coastal areas along with a number of walking paths.  We walked the Discovery Loop path to the South Beach path to see the lighthouse at the outer edge of the park.  The lighthouse stands on the westernmost point of the city of Seattle.  We were happy to see that it is a well-used park.  We continue to be impressed by the level of outdoor activity by Seattleites!

We were able to do Sunday dinner and Tuesday lunch with my aunt, uncle, and cousins.  Thanks to Teri for her culinary skills and to Teri and Dick for treating (yet again — our IOU list is getting very long!) for lunch.  None of us could recall the last time I’d seen my cousins, but it was long enough ago that I was still taller and perhaps still smarter than them (though that could be argued).  They are now both over 6′ and either currently attending or just having graduated from prestigious college programs.  They were super interesting to talk to, as they managed to keep the computer-related dialogue mostly at a level that Bob and I could understand.  They also had some good responses to Bob’s standard jokes.

After our family get-together Tuesday, Bob and I walked to Golden Gardens Park for one last (this go-round anyway) exploration of Seattle.  It was a great coastal park with lots of steps down from the neighborhood above, an off-leash dog area, wetlands, and beautiful coastline views.  it was also an easy walk from the Green Lake area.

We can’t say enough about the lovable Lucy Lu and her kind and adventurous human.  With Lucy, we enjoyed the walks, ball throwing and (her) retrieving, tug-of-wars with her toys and all of her good nature and affection!

We got to attend an impromptu party that our home owner threw on Tuesday night, meet some of her friends, and learn more about her travels in Africa — including climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro!  Super impressive.  We’re hoping our paths cross again some time.

I have glasses!  I picked them up on Tuesday, so I can now really see this great city.  You can officially call me 4 eyes again. And now, back to the real blog.

Bob and I continue to explore Seattle by foot and bus. Last weekend we attended a couple of holiday-related events.  We walked around Green Lake after dark (which seems to be about mid-afternoon these days) to see the luminaries and enjoy the festivities with our current neighbors.  The luminaries were lovely, but the weather kept the crews busy, as the wind kept blowing them over.  We actually enjoyed seeing the locals’ holiday garb more.  This included lights on themselves, their children, dogs, and in one instance a small fir tree being pulled in a wagon.  

Sunday’s event was different but fun as well.  We bussed downtown and then walked to the First Hill neighborhood (so named, apparently for being the first hill as you go out from downtown) to the Town Hall building.  It is now a cultural center/performance hall but was built as a Church of Christ in 1922. It is run by a nonprofit organization and they put on free and low-cost events throughout the year.  We attended their Sunday afternoon Rogue Christmas event which included a number of holiday-themed short story readings interspersed with music from a local band that was composed specifically to correspond with the selected short stories.  It was really nice and provided a more local experience for us.  The short stories ranged from a proposed Ernest Hemingway version of the Night Before Christmas to a short story written by a 17-year old F. Scott Fitzgerald.  On our walk back we got to see the holiday lights in the downtown, South Lake Union, Fremont, and Green Lake districts.

On Monday we explored Gas Works Park as well as some of the University of Washington campus. Gas Works Park is on the north shore of Lake Union on the original site of a former coal gasification plant.  It was opened to the public in 1975 and was added to the list of National Historic Places a few years ago.  It is an interesting site which provides a great view of the downtown skyline (though better on a clear day).

 

From the park we continued along the north shore and under I5 to the UW (not the best UW but a nice one, nonetheless).  We checked out the football stadium (the Huskies are in the top 4 and will play Bama on New Years Eve for a possible shot at the championship game), the student union, one of the libraries, and buildings named for some guys named Allen and Gates — what is it with those two anyway?!

Tuesday we headed back to the Ballard neighborhood to collect my glasses and see more of that area.  We ended up having a bit of a Nordic day which suits my partial Norwegian ancestry.  On our way to the Ballard area, we stumbled on a Scandinavian Specialties store which sold household items and also had a food market and little cafe.  I was thrilled to find Lefse and Krumkake — two holiday treats that I had growing up in WI.  The Lefse that I had growing up was like a tortilla but made out of potato.  We would butter it and then sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar.  Yum!  I learned at this store that it can also be made out of flour.  Krumkake is a crisp cookie that is made by pouring batter onto a hot griddle where it is pressed into a flat disc and then rolled around a metal cone to form a long, tubular cookie.  We always ate them plain, but the store also sold them filled with lingonberry creme.  I am not such a fan of krumkake having burnt my fingers way too often making the things!

We continued on into Ballard and checked out the locks.  This is a fun area to watch boats navigate the locks as well as view salmon and steelheads swimming upstream to spawn (though this is not the best season for that).

 

After picking up my glasses, we headed to the Old Ballard Liquor CO., a local distillery, to sample some Aquavit, a Nordic spirit.  As with gin, Aquavit is a flavored vodka.  While gin is typically flavored with juniper berries, Aquavit is flavored with caraway and then maybe some other spices as well.  We had a great time chatting with the owner and watching two older women sample not only the spirits but the nordic-themed food as well.

Yesterday’s excursion had us check out the cute little UPS Waterfall park and the free Frye Museum.  The park is in downtown Seattle, fairly close to Safeco Field where the Mariners play, while the museum is in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.  The weather has cooled and the wind was brisk yesterday, so our walk back was quite brisk. In comparison to what other parts of the country are experiencing; however, we aren’t complaining.

So, we’re not really sleepless, though with all the coffee shops here we could be, but I wanted to use the line and it seemed somewhat appropriate as I wanted to show what we have been doing while we are up and about (thus not sleeping).  Bear with me, it hopefully gets better. . . if only because there are more photos and less of my commentary.

We have ventured a little further afoot in the last couple of days down to different parts of the downtown area which has had us walk through the Fremont and Queen Anne districts on the way.  On Thursday, we walked both to and from downtown while stopping to explore the Olympic Sculpture Park, check out a bit of the Seattle Center grounds, and get a quick peak at Lake Union all while enjoying some of Seattle’s hills.  

As a side note for budget travelers:  In comparison to many of the European towns/cities that we have stayed in, Seattle is a bit pricey (and luckily we aren’t shopping for a home here as their housing market is HOT), but we have found some fun free things to see and do.

 

The Seattle Center was originally built for the 1962 World’s Fair and covers 74 acres (again per Wikipedia) in downtown Seattle.  Its most famous building is the Space Needle, but it is also home to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundatione, the Chiluly Garden and Glass Museum, the Pop Culture Museum (formerly the Experience Music Project), the Pacific Science Center, the monorail, and other buildings and structures.  We walked around much of the grounds and then went in the Gates Foundation Visitor Center, which is free.

Thursday night it snowed here which is apparently a big deal.  It was fun to see and the snow stayed around for a bit Friday morning until the rain washed most of it away.  We took the #5 bus into downtown on Friday ($2.50 each on earth-way) to practice how to get to Pier 69 and the Victoria Clipper ferry which we will take over to our next house sit in Victoria later this month.  It was an easy catch from where we are staying (not even a block away) and then a quick downhill jaunt from 5th and Wall to the pier.  Awesome!

While downtown, we walked along the waterfront, meandered through a lot of Pike Place Market, and then toured the HarryPotter-themed gingerbread houses at the downtown Sheraton Hotel.