Vancouver and Hornby Island

Last week Jim and I had the good fortune to travel to Vancouver for some business and a little pleasure. Vancouver is one of my favorite places in Canada. The Pacific Northwest coast....there's nothing like it. While Jim was working, I walked all over downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park. My favorite area is still the West End. We had dinner at the Sand Piper Restaurant on Granville Island one evening, and admired the Vancouver skyline while it changed from dusk to dark. We witnessed some pretty brave paddle boarders that would wait for large tour boats to come by...then paddle like crazy to get into their wake. Somehow the wake would pull them along without too much effort. At one point, there were three paddle boarders keeping up with a huge Mississippi style paddle boat. 

Vancouver has some beautiful golf courses. We played at a little "gem" of a course in North Vancouver called Northlands. We were hoping for a nice relaxing day, but of course we were matched up with some CRAZY guys celebrating a fiftieth birthday. I'm not sure how they drove home afterwards with all the beer they consumed.

At the end of the week, we traveled by car and three ferries to visit our friends Jeff, Judy and their son, Grif, on Hornby Island. The island life is magical, and Jeff and Judy's house is beautiful. I can see why they love it so much. We had wonderful dinners every evening sitting on their deck overlooking Tribune Bay. (The very same bay where Oprah parked her yacht last summer!) Thank you for having us Jeff and Judy!

The view towards Stanley Park from our hotel in Vancouver

Flowers near English Bay

Check out the size of that tree on the balcony of a high rise in the West End

Golfing at Northlands Golf Course with Mark and Pauly

"A-maze-ing Laughter" sculptures donated to Vancouver by Chip Wilson, Lululemon owner

Casey, just for you! Hook-em-Horns!

The beautiful old Sylvia Hotel. Some of those vines are as big as my leg!

Cool old tree on Barclay Street

Sand Piper Restaurant with the skyline in the background

One of the three ferries we took to get to Hornby Island!

Yup, it was cold out on that deck.

Selfie on the Queen of Cowichan ferry

Jim, Jeff, Grif and Judy on the Smith family deck in Hornby

Grif, Jeff and Judy at the Hornby Farmer's Market. Fresh veggies every day!

The coastline in the Helliwell Provincial Park on Hornby Island

My friend Judy and I in front of a huge redwood tree in the park

Jeff, Judy and Grace (the radish eating doggy)

This was our view from Jeff and Judy's deck

Now how many houses have a porthole?