Last day and the flight home!

It was raining again but I've had no complaints about the weather.  Every time I go to Vancouver I end up with spectacular weather so a bit of rain won't hurt.  I took my DSLR for one final walk along the sea wall and another trip to Stanley Park, followed by a trip to Vanier Park to see the eagles one last time.

The boats and ships were out on the water:

My eagle friend made one final appearance but was unsuccessful in catching any birds while I was there.  They scattered and chased it away:

The sun rose and the fog started to burn off:

The great blue heron decided to show off its flying skills:

Watch out, gull!

And a final trip to see my eagles at Vanier Park.  Ms Vanier, you are gorgeous!

As we were walking over to Granville Island, a crow was chasing the male back to his nest:

And that's it!  Now, a few pictures from the air:

Bye Vancouver, see you next time!

Rainy morning with lots of wildlife!

It was raining from night to morning but I wanted to take a walk. The hotel provides nice, big umbrellas so I was ready to go. I didn't take my DSLR with me, just my point and shoot, so the pictures aren't all that clear. The one thing my point and shoot has is video, and it came in handy.  You'll hear the rain falling in each of the videos.

The ships look different when they're lit up:

I was walking along the sea wall, hoping to see my eagle friend and curious to see where his lookout was now that the big tree was cut down. As I was thinking this, an adult eagle flew past me, very low and out onto the rocks by the water. Of course I was excited because I'd never seen an eagle on the rocks before and hoped I could get closer. While watching the eagle, I noticed some other animals in the water swimming in a group of 5 or 6 so I started to shoot. As I was shooting them, the eagle took off. What I didn't realize at the time was the bird in its talons! I only noticed this when I went back to the hotel and watched it on my laptop.

The swimmers were otters. They came up to the shore and then ran back down to the water again:

They were SO cute!  I decided to try and follow them because I'm a stupid human who eventually realised they were going further out into the water.  I never saw them again, but I did see a very rude great blue heron who wouldn't share his fish with crows:

Remember the eagle's lookout tree?  It was cut down because it was dead and now it's been turned into a lovely piece of furniture:

Yes, a loveseat!  Now think of the size of trees in Ontario that you thought were big.  Could any of them be as big as this one?  I thought this was great, the tree has had its purpose for decades and maybe centuries and now it has a new job.

I had one day to go and I was really missing my dogs and cats, then I saw this lucky dog walker.  How cool would it be to be able to walk around Stanley Park every day?  And with such well mannered dogs?

Just before I went back to my hotel, this group of Canada Geese walked across the street and onto the beach.  We had to stop for them and they weren't in a hurry:

Tuesday: Beautiful Lynn Canyon

And yet another early wake up call gave me some beautiful views of the pink sky at sunrise. Click on any picture to enlarge:

I went for my daily walk along the sea wall:

Remember the dead tree the eagle was using earlier in the week?

The final result of the tree's remains will be shown in an upcoming blog entry. How's that for drama?

I bought a day pass since we were going to use public transit quite a bit today. We took a bus to the sea bus and then another bus to Lynn Canyon. Here are some pictures of Lynn Canyon. It's very quiet in there, I only saw a couple of birds and heard a raven somewhere but never saw it.

I love the suspension bridge:

Back on the sea bus towards Vancouver and following a float plane:

After that, a delicious dinner at Chronic Tacos in Kits. I ordered 3 tacos and thought they weren't filling enough.

I was SO full after we ate. Then I crashed a few hours later because of my early morning wake up and vigourous hike. I never thought I'd see the day where I went to bed at 9 because I was waking up at 4!

Monday: A cycle around Stanley Park

I woke up unreasonably early yet again, and today was the big day. I hadn't been on a bike in 15 years or so, but I bought a voucher from Spokes Bicycle Rentals for a day long rental of a bike. They had 2 offers, one for 2 hours, the other for the full day and since I didn't want to be rushed I opted for the full day. I didn't intend to ride on streets, I'm not confident or crazy enough for that, but just wanted to ride around Stanley Park because they have a bike path all the way around the park. You have to ride counter clockwise so it's great, it's strictly for bikes and roller blades and the walking path is right next to it.

My weapon of mass destruction, complete with a basket and a map:

Eeeeek! Fortunately, the bike also came with a helmet!

The shop was right by Stanley Park so I just walked the bike to the entrance, took some pictures and was on my way. It was SO awesome! It would have taken ages to walk around the park since it's almost 10 km in total, but riding was great. I was able to stop and look at the scenery and take pictures as well.

The Totem Poles:

Float plane going in for a landing:

Lions Gate Bridge. You can see the walking path next to the bike path as well.

Brockton Point Lighthouse:

Lions Gate Bridge, just a bit closer:

A seal! I wasn't sure so I took a picture and saw it on my laptop when I went back to the hotel.

The Point Atkinson Lighthouse:

Siwash Rock:

The Queen Flower:

Fountain in Lost Lagoon:

Mute Swan:

Cute little face:

Up, up and away:

I ended up going around twice because it didn't take all that long. I also stopped quite a bit the second time because I was a bit tired plus I wanted to take in the scenery.

For dinner we had a voucher for a restaurant called Moose's Down Under and the food was quite good. I had penne with roasted red pepper and sun dried tomato cream sauce, garlic bread and a salad. J had Schnitzel but the picture didn't turn out so here's mine, which turned out kind of blurry: