London Heritage Farm, Richmond B.C.

Along the Fraser river by the coastline city of Richmond (British Columbia) stands the London Heritage Farm— a historic site complex consisting of a farmhouse, family barn, heritage and herb gardens, memorial rose garden, hand tool museum; with antique farming equipment, chickens, Honey and Blue Orchard bees (with picnic tables). In the farmhouse is a tearoom…

English Bay

How many cities can say they have a beach park downtown?  Well, Vancouver can… here at English Bay Beach (among other beaches around the city). From the late 19th century, the legendary lifeguard, Joe Fortes, taught Vancouver residents how to swim right on this beach.  In 2015, some 2700 liters of cargo ship oil spilled into the…

Stanley Park

In 2014, Stanley Park National Historic Site of Canada [yes that’s its official name] got ranked “Top Park in the Entire World” by TripAdvisor [based on] consumer reviews.  For about 130 years, it has been designated as “green space.” The land on which the park stands was home to First Nations (indigenous) people until 1858 when…

VanDusen Botanical Garden, Vancouver

VanDusen Garden is a sight to behold!  Named after Canadian lumberman and philanropist, Whitford Julian VanDusen, it is one of five parks in the posh Shaughnessy neighbourhood, occupying a parcel of the old Shaughnessy Golf Course. The man who designed the garden, R. Roy Forster, was given the second highest honor for merit, the Order…

Gastown Stroll and L’Abattoir Dinner, Vancouver

Since 2009, Gastown has been a National Historic Site of Canada.  It was the nucleus from which the whole city of Vancouver, British Columbia grew. Its name was derived from the “founding father of  Gastown,” a Yorkshire seaman, “Gassy” Jack Deighton, who opened the district’s first tavern in 1867. His statue remains among the post-Great-Vancouver-Fire historic buildings…

Bowen Island Photography Hike, British Columbia

Still part of Metro Vancouver, Bowen Island is an island municipality in Howe Sound, a network of glacier-produced narrow ocean channels between bodies of land northwest of Vancouver. From Vancouver, you can take the BC-99 Northbound bus to Horseshoe Bay and take the 30-minute BC Ferries service to Bowen Island. The aisle to open water,…

Coal Harbor Morning Hike

“Nice bike!” a man on a bike hollered as he rode past! I was the only human within earshot so I soon realised that I had been hiking on the bike lane at Coal Harbor! Whether a straightforward “Out of my way” or a sarcastic “nice bike” was better, I learned to be mindful of…

Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver

Queen Elizabeth Park is one of the top go-to places for Autumn leaf-peaking in Vancouver.  It used to be a forest with salmon-spawning creeks, making it a favorite hunting ground for bears, wolves, and elk.  In 1870 when Europeans settled here, they got rid of the wild animals, cleared the forest, and built pathways on the…