Posts by: WantsToTravelMore

Annually — despite challenges obtaining sponsors — Vancouver has a fireworks competition that is on the days leading up to the Saturday of the August long weekend. This year it was on July 31 and was the Honda Celebration of Light. This long running (since 1990) fireworks display capitalizes on the geography on Vancouver’s English Bay, which allows, according to the local news this year, 500,000 people to view it. Many were curled up to a radio (of some sort) to listen to the simulcast of the music to which the fireworks are synchronized. The night my family attended was […]

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On July 9, 2016 I visited Vancouver‘s West 4th Ave, normally a busy thoroughfare on a Saturday, and it was blocked off for Khatsahlano Street Party. Khatsahlano is the First Nations’ spelling of Kitsilano, the neighbourhood for which 4th Ave between Burrard and MacDonald is a focal point. It was quite enjoyable to walk the street that is normally dominated by cars 24/7. There was live music, presentations, henna tatoo artists and virtually all the businesses on the street seemed to have goods and services either on display or for offer. My wife found some good deals at Blue Sky […]

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In a good way, Granville Island in Vancouver is a peculiar place. There’s a fascinating intersection of the arts, retail and not-so-light industry. In other words, watch out for the Ocean Concrete trucks lumbering across roads people often don’t really think are roads. Given the brand-name-free nature of the shopping, it’s a pleasure to actually shop. I don’t understand the allure of Robson Street that has designer name brands you can find in any city’s high street. My reason for being on Granville Island was a child’s birthday where a bunch of kids boarded a barged-converted-to-pirate-ship and all dressed up […]

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At Thurlow and West Georgia, connected to the Shangri-La skyscraper mixed-use Vancouver hotel thing, is a spot where the Vancouver Art Gallery has space for outdoor displays. This one shown is called “Your Kingdom to Command.” I took pictures of the plaques that explain this work. Regardless of that information and simply looking at it, the environmental advocacy imagery is pretty in-your-face. One of the stumps has life (the term nurse log applies) and the other doesn’t. The living stump is trying to send life to the more dead-looking stump. The drawings on the back wall are all related to […]

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There is a small shopping area in Vancouver‘s Kitsilano neighbourhood that you may not know about. It runs one block on West 1st Ave between Burrard and Cypress. There are restaurants, spas, clothing stores, a wine shop and tucked in one spot on the north side is Koko Monk. If you are a true chocolate freak, you must try this place. It’s tiny, but you can sit and have a hot chocolate, but the artistic unique flavoured chocolates are something to try and behold. There are unusual flavours including lavender and watermelon that are so carefully blended in, you are […]

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I’ve been to a number of places for steak in Vancouver, but this is where I always return. I think the primary reason Neil fully understands steak is that he never fully bought onto the fat-makes-you-fat routine. Back in the 80s or so when the de fatting of all food was really in full swing, I noticed that steaks at home and out generally started tasting bland. Guess what, the fat helps give it flavour. Anyway, the restaurant is stylish without emptying your pocketbook. It’s best to be on Neil Wyle’s mailing list because that’s how we found out about […]

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Our second Salt Spring Island beach walk on our trip (see Jack Foster Trail) was at the south east part of the Island. To find the access point to this trail, from Ganges, take Fulford-Ganges Road, turn left on Cusheon Lake Road, right on Stewart Road, left on Beaver Point Road, left onto Bullman Road and then right onto Meyer Road. There’s a cul-de-sac at Meyer Road where you can park. The trail soon becomes this mossy magical location. In March the moss was so profound and wet and green that it felt like a scene from The Shire in […]

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At the north end of Salt Spring Island, there’s a place to visit called Sunset Farm, which is on Sunset Drive, conveniently. Basically it’s a hobby farm with sheep, ducks, chickens, goats, two ponies and very cute black lambs (just don’t tell my kids what happens to most of them). One thing we learned was that it’s a lot easier to raise sheep on Salt Spring Island because there are no foxes, coyotes or wolves. In the Fraser Valley, predation by coyotes is an issue. Interestingly if you are raising chicken, you don’t want to be too close to the […]

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On Salt Spring Island, in the middle of a parking lot, connected to an old house, with a large tree growing in the middle, is a cafe more suited to hobbits than normal humans. Salt Spring dining has a distinct tendency to be gluten free, vegetarian, and/or local — they are quite proud of their grass fed beef and lamb. Tree House Cafe does breakfast and lunch, so you need to be there before 3 PM to enjoy it. We took in lunch and the vegetarians very much enjoyed the veggie burgers. You can always tell when a place understands […]

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On Salt Spring Island, at the intersection of North End Road, Southey Point Road and Sunset Drive there’s an access point to Jack Foster Trail. We were lucky that the trail access was walking distance along a country road were we had a chance to feed grass to a couple of horses in a pasture. It’s a wooded trail, bound by moss-covered decaying snake fences that lead to the ocean. Technically this is an easy trail, which means you can easily use running shoes (preferably ones you don’t mind being covered in mud), but be aware that there are a […]

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