May 16 and 17, 2016 Heading North to Alaska-Lac La Hache, BC

Monday, May 16 and 17, 2016 Heading North to Alaska-Lac La Hache, BC

We only traveled about 300 miles heading to Fircrest Resort Campground located in Lac La Hache, BC.  The campgrounds here in Canada are just starting to open for their season.  This campground is small but is located on a beautiful lake that was 12 miles long.  These campgrounds are just quick stops so we don’t get into Alaska to early.  We have something like 1700 miles to travel in order to get there.  The days are getting longer.  Sunrise is about 5 am and sunset is about 9 am.  As we walked down to the lake we were greeted by a pair of bald eagles that seem to like a tall dead tree at the edge of the lake.  We saw them at least 5 times during our quick stay.  We even found their nest across the lake.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JP!!!

Check out the carvings in this tree

Lac La Hache

Our beautiful eagle

Female Red Breasted Merganser

Another picture of the Lake

Our sites

May 14, 2016 Found some pictures I forgot

May 14, 2016 Found some pictures I forgot from Capilano Suspension Bridge

Everyone knows that I love wildlife and if you don't then you do now.  I have a great love for birds especially birds of prey so this is for you bird lovers out there.

Northern Harrier Hawk

Great Horned Owl

Swainson;s Hawk

May 15,2016 Chinese Garden and Aquarium in Vancouver

Sunday, May 15,2016 Chinese Garden and Aquarium in Vancouver

We started out the morning by visiting the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.  It is a Ming Dynasty Scholars Garden which brought us back into the 15th century.  There is great architecture throughout from buildings to rock walls, stones that came from China and placed just so.  Plant, trees and flowers, Koi fish and a fat Heron.  There is a lot of symbolism(yin and yang) from the balance of trimming the trees just right, to placing stone on the pathways to the windows that are all around.  We all learned a lot from our guide, Mary who was very informative. The way she told the gardens story made us all have a new understanding of how much work and time go into making a true Chinese garden.


We did the morning at the gardens so the afternoon was spent at the aquarium.  We got to see some things that we never have seen.  The beluga whale, harbor porpoises and a false killer whale, all kinds of sea creatures.  It was much bigger than the aquariums we have seen in the past.

All in all it was a pretty full day.

A CAVE

A GROTTO

A MOUNTAIN

A RIVER

A POND 

WATER LILY

BIG FAT HERON

A WINDOW AS A PICTURE FRAME ALWAYS CHANGING

MALE LION

FEMALE LION

FALSE KILLER WHALE

SEA OTTER

BELUGA

AFRICAN PENGUINS

HARBOR PORPOISE

STRAWBERRY SEA ANEMONE

BAT STAR

A SEAHORSE

CHECK OUT THESE DESIGNS

OUR CAMPGROUND AND SITE

May 14, 2016 First day in Vancouver Canada

Saturday, May 14, 2016 First day in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada

We arrived yesterday afternoon crossing the border with no issues.  We are at a small campground just 20 miles away from Vancouver.  There are a few things that we wanted to see in this beautiful city.  We stopped at the visitors center in downtown Vancouver to find out where everything was and what we wanted to do.  We all decided that the Capilano Suspension Bridge was going to be our first stop.  We had NO idea what we were going to see.  We thought that it was just a bridge that you walked across boy we were wrong.  We walked around the  granite cliff walls, we walked 110 feet up into the trees and around on the forest floor as well as walked across this massive bridge.  The park was established in 1889.  The bridge is 450 feet long, 230 feet high  above the Capilano River and can hold up to 1500 people on it at the same time.  Believe me it swayed as we walked it but I felt very safe.  This was much more than what we thought it was going to be.  It took us 3-4 hours to go through the entire park but we enjoyed every inch of it.  Money well spent.

Our next point of interest was Stanley Park.  What a Gem.  This park has so much to offer for anyone who enters.  We walked through Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Gardens.  We saw a variety of colors.  There is a lighthouse, statues, horse drawn carriages, the famous Totem Poles and a cannon that goes off at 9 pm every night. We walked along the seawall and watched as the sea planes came in for a landing.  We are going to do the Aquarium tomorrow as time ran out on us.  I know that there is much more to see but we hit the high spots of this gorgeous park.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR GRANDSON, BRANDON !!!!!

Meridians Moving Out

The Border that wasn't busy 

Canadian Mountain Range

Steam Clock

Totem Poles at Capilano

THE CAPILANO SUSPENSION BRIDGE

THE WALKWAY AROUND THE CLIFF FACE

WALKWAY INTO THE TREETOPS

THE BRIDGE FROM THE OTHER SIDE




A HUGE LEAF PLANT AND RHODODENDRONS

NICE SHOT OF VANCOUVER FROM STANLEY PARK

MIKE ADMIRING THE GIANT TOTEM POLES

COMING IN FOR A LANDING

LIGHTHOUSE

NICE BRIDGE-CAN YOU TELL I LIKE BRIDGES