We were met at the airport by Dorothy McCarville, who was our host and guide for the BC section of our trip. She also sorted out some airline bookings for us too.
Our first stop was Horseshoe Bay, which has quite a collection of pleasure boats.
It's also the place where car ferries depart for a number of islands off the BC coast,
including Vancouver Island (landing at Nanaimo).
Another view of the pleasure boating scene. The island in the background
is likely Bowyer Island, north of Horseshoe Bay.
The commercial section of Horseshoe Bay. Autumn is definitely in the air
(this was late October) with bare trees, and others with leaves of autumnal colours.
Our first ever totem pole! And more autumnal colouring.
"That's not a totem pole!" might be appropriate to the one above. This
collection is in Stanley Park, near the eastern end. The man standing
near the middle gives a sense of scale to these poles.
Old and new - the first nation's totem - a pole, the European settlers totem - office
buildings.
Laurie gives a sense of scale to this totem pole.
There was at the time a plaque giving a very brief overview of the purpose
of these poles:
The totem was the British Columbia Indians "coat of arms". Totem poles are unique to the North West coast of B.C. and lower Alaska. They were carved from western red cedar and each carving tells of a real or mythical event. They were not idols, nor were they worshipped. Each carving on each pole has a meaning. The eagle represents the kingdom of the air. The whale the lordship of the sea. The wolf the genius of the land. And the frog the transitional line between land and sea.
Part of the bulk shipping facitlities of Vancouver. The yellow substance
under the A frame roof is likely sulphur. This is roughly looking north
over Burrard Inlet.
The Lions Gate Bridge, linking Stanley Park on the left to North Vancouver on the
right. The road leads through the park into the Vancouver CBD. The "gash"
in the hillside is the location of Canada Highway 1, the Trans Canada Highway.
It heads to Horseshoe Bay, joins the ferry to Vancouver Island, then resumes
there from Nanaimo to Victoria, the capital city of BC. From Horseshoe Bay,
the road continues north to the ski resort of Whistler.
The Lions Gate Bridge as seen from Stanley Park, with North Vancouver in the background
From the western side of Stanley Park, looking at the Strait of Georgia, which separates
Vancouver Island from the mainland. The strait narrows quite a bit a the
northern end, but at this location, looking NW as it appears, the strait is quite wide.
Canada and USA