Vancouver, BC

 A couple days ago I made it back from my first trip to British Columbia, visiting Vancouver for the weekend with Courtney and our friend Rebecca, who did all the driving (thank goodness!). We were lucky enough to see the Chinese New Year parade, which we hadn't planned on. It just happened to be on President's Day Weekend (ironic that we spend a very American holiday in Canada celebrating something Chinese).

I think I'll tell the story in the captions of my photos, since there are so many. A lot of the photos aren't my best, really meant just for the memories, so stick with me!

Our first stop was the Downtown Vancouver Public Library, a bizarre building that looks like a cross between the Roman Coliseum and a hermit crab shell. We also took a gander inside and checked out (no pun intended) the inside architecture. We could have spent hours watching the automatic conveyor belt sort returns.

Entering the library

After the library, we headed to David Lam Park to catch a ferry to Granville Island. There were some gorgeous views from the pier.

The ferry was a tiny affair, seating no more than maybe 10 people and almost too short for me to stand up in. And our boat driver looked a lot like a friend of ours, making it even more fun. But for those prone to sea sickness, this is not recommended. While the ride was smooth, stepping into the boat rocked it uncomfortably.

I didn't get many good shots of the famous Granville Island Public Market since it was very crowded on that Saturday morning and I was being claustrophobic. I didn't really like this part of the day. It was too cramped with too many people, the food wasn't nearly as good as it was pricey, and it wasn't any better than any other public market I'd been to (see: Pazar in Bahçeşehir, or any other pazar in Istanbul).

The view from Granville Island

After lunch at the market, we took the ferry back across False Creek and started walking along the Sea Wall, a 9-km trail that encircles a large portion of the downtown city, leading to and around Stanley Park. Here is Sunset Beach, a place where we returned for an actual sunset the next day.

We walked along what I believe to be the northeastern side of Stanley Park and saw the city from the perspective of the harbor. That's when the sunset started to kick in, the lighting got amazing, and I shot some of the best photos of trip. I almost didn't notice Rebecca feeling sick to her stomach. We also stopped to see some old totem poles, but I didn't get any photos of those that I liked in particular.

The Wild Goose and her young captain

Across the way we saw a rainbow! And at its base sat a building that we figured must be the "pot of gold." According to the plaque placed at our lookout point, that spot is used for sulfur or oil processing. Gold isn't what it used to be. It is worth mentioning, speaking of plaques, that Vancouver was very tourist-friendly, with ample signs explaining everything in the city, from historic buildings to just about every bench we came across. It was easy to navigate and learn my way through the city.

The next morning we saw the Chinese New Year Parade, my favorite part of our trip which bore my least favorite photos. It was well organized, not too crowded, and a very fun spectacle. Here's a dragon! Also we got to shake hands with the Premier of British Columbia. At the time we just knew she was important, but we didn't know why, or even what a Premier is. Even after some research I'm still not sure I do, but it seems to be a little like a parliamentary government version of a governor.

Look, another dragon!

Some companies took part in the ceremony too, like this bank. That's when you got some stranger things.

These little two-person dragons were the best! They looked like four-legged beasts, and the head would sometimes swing violently towards children sitting on the curb, nostrils flaring and eyebrows flexing. Other times the person controlling the head would leap into the air, sometimes onto their partner's shoulders, making the dragon look dazzlingly terrifying. It was so cool! The people walking behind the dragons are the replacements for people who get tired.

Next was Lynn Canyon Park, a wooded park with a few trails a short drive into North Vancouver. We had heard about the Capilano Suspension Bridge, but Lynn Canyon had a smaller but still cool suspension bridge where we could forgo the $32 entry fee. Plus there were waterfalls! But otherwise it was just a normal regional park, one where locals would take their dogs for regular walks, and mostly it looked a lot like this picture.

Here we are on the suspension bridge

This is how high up we were. That's one of the waterfalls we saw.

The forest was generally very young, with some big trees like these as well as groves of small, young trees. It was very lush.

Twin Falls, the second falls we saw. I'm not sure of the name of that first falls. On that bridge spanning over Twin Falls you can see in this shot, we saw a group of young men measuring the waterfall's flow.

I also got to try some light painting in the forest.

 On the way up the canyon walls at the end of our loop we got to see the suspension bridge from another angle.

At the bottom of the trail was a beach, perfect for summer swimming, where a young man serenaded a young woman on the guitar. I whipped out the wide angle lens so they wouldn't suspect they were in the frame and shot this 15-second exposure. The water is amazingly pure. Most of this shot's foreground is actually underwater. You can see the water line on the two large rocks on the left.

Finally we returned to Sunset Beach for the sunset. The sky didn't light up, but this bird did alight moments after I snapped this photo. A nice way to end the trip.