I came across this on our recent visit to Vancouver, when we went for a drive in the Fraser River valley.

One has to hope the price would be very reasonable.
I came across this on our recent visit to Vancouver, when we went for a drive in the Fraser River valley.

One has to hope the price would be very reasonable.
Our Vancouver trip is pretty much over – I’m writing this from the airport waiting for our flight. Over the next few days I want to post a few more pictures from a wonderful visit to a wonderful city. This post will deal with our hike around Lynn Canyon park. The part includes a suspension bridge, similar to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, but free.

Enjoyable, and exhilarating, as that was, it isn’t the main theme of this post. Today I want to focus on the incredible, almost alien, landscape in the park. I’ll start with a picture of a back-lit moss covered tree, with curving branches that almost looked like they were reaching out to you. Jan noted that if this were a Dr. Who episode, you would expect the trees to begin moving toward you.

The trees curved in the most unexpected ways, like this tree that grew at an angle over the path, then suddenly turned straight up. I suppose it is an example of the lengths that plants will go to as they follow the sun.

And then there was this – I really have no idea what to make of it…

Everywhere you looked there were scenes that I can only describe as utterly alien – at least to me.

The uprooted trees looked like a beast stalking us.

But of course, when you looked up it was clear you were in a rain forest.

A forest that had been logged a long time ago.

The life of the current forest was growing from the old forest everywhere you looked.

And when I say “growing from the dead forest” I mean that literally.


And of course, the running water through the canyon.

I love the colour of the water.

I’ll close with a picture showing clearly that even in a rain forest, there is always the danger of fire.

If you have the chance, I highly recommend a walk through Lynn Canyon park. It makes a lovely outing for a sunny day.
Okay, not really snow. After all, this is Vancouver in April and the cherry trees are in full bloom.

Last week the temperature dropped and a wind storm blew through and…

Cherry blossom petals were everywhere. And by “everywhere” I do mean everywhere. On the ground, on the sidewalks – everywhere.

I even spotted one place where the cherry blossom petals were covering the hedges.

And I’m not even going to mention the fact that cherry blossom drifts are NOT the same as snow drifts. (Okay, maybe I am going to mention it…)
Our first stop today was an artisanal goat cheese shop just south of Kelowna. You drive out of town along the lake, past the houses, past the cottages and then past the vineyards. As you drive the road gets narrower and more winding. It looks like you are about to drive off the end of the world.

Eventually you arrive in an area that looks like the only thing it would support is goats.

And sure enough, goats are exactly what you find.

And where there are goats, there is a cheese shop. Not always, but in this case, very true. In the summer, the shop is packed and they can’t keep up with demand. But this is early in the season, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

You can taste everything from Labne (thick yogurt) to aged blue cheese – all of it made from Goat’s milk.

The view from the shop is as wonderful as the cheese.

If you have the chance, I highly recommend you visit. After we bought our cheese, we had a panini (with Goat’s cheese, of course) followed by gelato made with goat’s milk. Fabulous.
Then it was time for more wine tasting. The tasting room is in the middle of the vineyard. The Pinot Noir grapes are just budding.

Many of the tasting rooms have wonderful views over the vineyards and the lake. The wines are great too.

Later in the summer the tasting rooms will be crowded, but today…

I find it is much better to visit in the off season where you can have a long discussion about the wines, the vineyards and life in general.
I’ll close tonight with a few pictures from the pasture at the cheese shop.



Today we went wine tasting. Earlier this year we were in Sonoma and so we expected that the terrain in the Okanagan would be similar. Boy were we wrong.

They say that to reach its full potential, vines have to be stressed to concentrate the flavours. High yields mean watery wine, while marginal conditions can lead to rich intense wines. It isn’t difficult to see why the wines here are great when you look at the landscape in the Okanagan.

It also provides many stunning views.

In some places the vines are budding, with the leaves just beginning to show.

Many of the hills are also covered in bright yellow flowers.


There is still snow in the mountains, and the streams are running as the snow melts.

Of course, there was also more than a little wine tasting. Maybe tomorrow I’ll include a photo of that.
Over the weekend we drove up the Fraser River valley to visit a very small cheese shop.

And when I say small, I really do mean small. It is family-run, they make their own cheese, and just outside the store the children were feeding the baby goats.

They also sell farm fresh eggs, though unfortunately they had run out by the time we were there.

Later we went for a walk along one of the many little parks around Coquitlam and enjoyed the scenery and the fresh air.


More interesting pictures of trees, apparently healthy in spite of a hole right through the base.

And as you can see, the path was very crowded…

Today we are going wine tasting in the Okanagan. Hopefully I’ll have some interesting pictures to post.
When we left Ottawa on Thursday, our patio looked like this.

The view from the patio here in Vancouver has quite a bit of white as well, except in this case, it’s flowers.

The effect, to say the least, is not the same. And it just gets worse when you look around.

And by “worse” I mean better, as long as I’m writing this from Vancouver.

We went for a walk yesterday in Mundy Park, a small urban park near Vancouver, and marveled at how everything was in bloom. (Not so much in Ottawa.)

One of my favorites is skunk cabbage – it looks so much better than it sounds.

Mundy park was logged a hundred years ago, and later set aside as a park. The contrast of new growth (now getting quite old) and signs of old stumps, creates many interesting effects.


In other cases, you just have the remnants of old trees.


There are also signs of more recent activity, some of it from storm damage…
And some of it from clean up activity.
It can create some interesting effects. This is a closeup of the grain of one of the trees that snapped.
I’ll leave you with a couple more shots from our walk.
It has been almost two weeks since my last trip to Washington DC. I was able to get out and see some of the usual sights. I never tire of it.

It was late March. The locals were saying it was the coldest it had been all winter. I’ll admit it was a bit raw, but you still had this…

The worst part was the wind – it really was biting. But it also created opportunities.

It was near sunset, and the full moon was just rising. Perfect timing.

By now the Cherry blossoms are no doubt past their prime, but then, with the cold weather, they were still holding back.

Of course, “cold” is a relative thing. This evening when I looked out my front door, I saw this.

Tomorrow it’s off to Vancouver and then to wine country. I can hardly wait.
I’ve flown enough over the years that I’m really not all that interested in window seats. I much prefer being able to move around whenever I want, rather than being able to look out the window. The one exception is when I’m flying into Washington National. A straight approach would take you over the White House, which of course is controlled airspace. So instead, the plane approaches from the west and makes a sharp turn just before landing. And when it does, you get the absolutely best views of the mall. Of course, it all depends which way the wind is blowing, but on this trip I was in luck.

Once I’m in the window seat, I can’t resist taking a picture of the sunset.

At long last we are seeing the first signs of spring.

And the first, very tentative, signs of new growth.

As you no doubt are beginning to suspect, running water is one of my favorite things about spring. It brings out the kid in me, and I have an overwhelming urge to play in it. I usually manage to resist…

Of course, I’m talking about the first signs of spring, so there is still lots of ice and snow.


It is still freezing at night, so crystals form as the sun begins to set.

Very cool – in both senses of the word.

Yes, all these pictures were taken today. When I said “first” signs of spring, I really wasn’t kidding.



And if you needed anything more to help you understand why I chose “Finally” for the title of this post, here is a typical street in the neighbourhood. Yes, today.
