Posts by: WantsToTravelMore

A brief trip to Bowen Island found me in a ferry line up at breakfast time waiting to head back to the mainland. The BC Ferry comes into Snug Harbour Bowen Island and on the Bowen Island Trunk Road, there are establishments meant to service those hanging around for a ferry back to Vancouver. (Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver to be precise.) Bowen Island is odd in that, once you’re there, you feel very far away from Vancouver. However, an 8:35 AM ferry allowed me to be at my desk at 9:30 in downtown Vancouver. But, I had time to kill […]

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It was an odd set of circumstances that found me cycling around Stanley Park’s seawall. I was keeping good company with about a dozen other cyclists on a June weekday. It was a work team building exercise and also a way to add steps to our pedometers. The GCC (Global Corporate Challenge) was on and we wanted to boost our numbers. When I was cycling around the seawall, I started thinking about this park. It’s huge. 4.05 sq. km and the seawall itself is about 10 km in circumference, depending on what you consider as the starting point. See this […]

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The Vancouver Maritime Museum is tucked away in the Kitsilano neighbhourhood of Vancouver. It is near Vanier Park and the Museum of Vancouver. I had the pleasure of seeing the famous vessel the St. Roch be officially reopened for display. On May 31, 2014, The Vancouver Maritime Museum had an open house with speakers and a children’s choir from Trafalgar Elementary. (I had insider information about the event from the choir director.) Both inside and out, the museum has artifacts from the long and adventurous British Columbia maritime history. I would try to describe the amazing story of the St. […]

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This hobby operating railway in Burnaby, located in Confederation Park Burnaby, is one of those best-kept-secret situations. I was originally introduced to it by a former member of the non profit society that runs it and subsequently wondered “how did I not know this was here?” When you think model trains, you think, Lionel trains in HO scale. This however is a small scale train you can actually ride. The engineer volunteers who build, operate and maintain the trains and track do so for the sheer joy of watching people, particularly kids, ride these trains. I suspect those running the […]

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Cowichan Bay is a small coastal village on Vancouver Island that’s about a 55 minute drive from Victoria. The objective of our mini off season getaway was not to be in a city and not to feel hustle and bustled. We did however have Victoria obligations. But we were willing to do the drive. Speaking of timing, due to what seem to be normal traffic snarls around McKenzie Ave and the View Royal neighbourhoods, I recommend budgeting an hour to drive into downtown Victoria from Cowichan Bay. Since I’m on the tangent of driving tips, this route has the Malahat […]

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Cowichan Bay is a village north of Victoria and south of Duncan that is wonderfully off the beaten path. We chose to stay at Oceanfront Suites at Cowichan Bay because it was really the only hotel in town. And with a couple of children, the suite with a kitchenette was helpful as it’s just too expensive to eat out all the time. The kids also enjoyed the pool, even though the change area does need an upgrade. Perhaps the best part was the view from the restaurant. We had a great breakfast there and it was quiet and everyone was […]

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Robert Bateman is essentially the Canadian elder statesman of wildlife art. New as of 2013, at 470 Belleville Street, Victoria, I was pleased to find (at the former location of the Wax Museum) a gallery of Bateman’s works. The entire building was reno’d within an inch of its life. The facilities (super clean bathrooms) were completely updated. The gallery itself is on the 2nd floor. It’s worth watching the introductory 5-minute video. On film, Bateman himself talks about his environmental views. Subsequently when you step into the gallery you see some of his message in the paintings. For example, there’s […]

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For Vancouver Island school children, this museum has permanent exhibits that go a ways back and never become dull. It has been at least 10 years since I had been and to the BC Museum. It occurred to me that what differentiates it from other provincial museums, say the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, is that this museum is truly focused on its own province. We were lucky to have a quiet day on the off season and, due to having a 5-year-old, we thought it best to work on the 3rd floor that’s the most jam-packed with exhibits. We […]

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BC Ferries is a crown corporation that is charge of running the ferry system in British Columbia. Many British Columbians are not sure why. In the same way Torontonians complain about the 401, BC residents love to complain about the ferries. This may be because of continuous fare increases and schedule reductions. For example, a car and drive pays $67 one-way from Tsawwassen – Swartz Bay and in 2008 it was $56. (Source www.bcferries.com/travel_planning/fares/archive.html) Despite the cost, any of these ferry rides is a beautiful scenic trip. Most visitors to BC are likely to use either Tsawwassen or Horseshoe Bay, […]

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When you have children, the challenge is to find places to eat that are boring enough for young palates. We were rendezvous-ing in Vancouver’s West End with relatives from Victoria. Questions to friends found that the options were limited in the Davie and Bute area that fit our kid friendly requirements. (Denny’s at Thurlow and Davie was a possibility but, gosh, it’s Denny’s.) There are a fair few ethnic (for lack of a better word) places around that corner but a fancy sauce would not work for the kids. As I was parking, I saw Hamburger Mary’s Diner at Bute […]

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