Columbia Cottage Vancouver

... touristy) street where Jack 'Gassy' Someone-or-other started the little village of gastown in... I'm gonna say 1870, might want to check that one. Before Vancouver was founded, anyway. First stop: John Fluevog shoes. Karen's the national retail manager for this uber-cool shoe designer, and the store was amazing. Triple story, all open, brick walls, lots of glass, cool shoes (of course) if a little out of my pricerange right now. We continued down Waterstreet, and walked through a ...

... br>I also love the dinky little Harbour Ferries. I think we should get some for Sydney. They may not carry many people but I doubt they do much damage if they run into something. They are about the size of a bathtub. They have these in Vancouver too so I'm hoping to go for a ride in one when I'm in Vancouver for a few days.

Yesterday I actually went on the whale watching trip (all dressed up again). We saw four Humpback Whales playing and feeding on the surface ...

... with straight trunks and knobbly branches which appeared to have been glued on as afterthoughts. These were the trees favoured for carving as totems, their bizarre shapes perhaps providing inspiration. The occasional fallen tree also provided the prefect playground for kids of all ages.

Squirrels were abundant in Stanley Park, vying with the crows for possession of the bounty of fallen chestnuts. They bounced around, feasting and burying some ...

... the water while we waited for our orders, and enjoyed the fireplace that anchored one end of the dining room. Chris had a bay shrimp salad and I had a blackened halibut wrap with a house salad. Both were light and delicious.
From there we decided to visit the IKEA store. As we drove up, we starting laughing, as the parking lot looked like the mall at Christmas--packed! Deciding to brave the crowds anyway, we took ...

... luggage and hit the streets to look around. I got a SIM card for my phone and the guy at the Future Store was really helpful, he set it all up for me on the spot, I am so thankful. Then had a look around at some other shops, spent a long time in Sears because it was so nice and cool in there, and got some lunch at a Starbucks (which you can find on practically every corner- actually there’s a lot of shops here that there’s lots of, you can often find the same shops ...

Well Everyone ....We're off! We can harly believe it, the time has finally come! We are flying out of Kelowna in about an hour and then we fly out of Vancouver tomorrow morning. We will be in touch as much as we can! First stop Santiago Chile!! Don't miss us too much and we will be back April 15th! Hope you enjoy the blog... Kate and Mike

... of events, such as Axe throwing and tree climbing. Next up was the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bridge stretches 137m (450ft) across the Capilano river canyon at a height of 70m (230ft) and can sway considerably depending on the number of people using the bridge at any given time. The entrance cost was fairly expensive at $26, but well worth the visit. Following our visit to the North Shore we headed back to Downtown via the Sea Bus. Vancouver has a cycle path running ...

... a bit of shopping before carrying on to visit friends in North Vancouver Meghan and Frankie. Really great to catch up and meet Meghans little boy Levi too. We then headed to the Park Royal Mall to have some dinner. The restaurant recommended to us had a big wait so we went across the road and enjoyed a meal and the opportunity to watch some of Game two of the NBA finals. Then we headed home. The next day we awoke to ...

... are generally a few French bakeries in each city, try out their coffee if you can't find a creperie. 4. Goto a chain store that isn't Starbucks. 5. Goto Starbucks. Tips/Notes for people coming here --------------------------------- 1. Don't fly United Airlines. 2. Know your geography. Having a good knowledge of where all the different cities are in the areas you are coming to will save you time & hassle when you are there. You won't need to look stupid looking stuff up or asking ...

... Natures majesty even @ the 100 km/hr blur, colors and sky made in Canada. Lots of old abandoned places. People and families that have moved on or maybe just ceased altogether. Makes me wonder what happened to them. The places where nobody lives Stopped in Wawa Ont., ate lunch by the benches overlooking the sweeping land below by the big goose info station. Made plans for my night stop with the help of the woman at the kiosk, her name was Helen, very sweet, very old. Spoke with a ...