If you talk to people living in the Lower Mainland — what we call Vancouver and its adjoining cities — they will often say “I always wanted to go to Capilano Suspension Bridge.” This historic North Vancouver tourist site is worth the visit, but in my opinion should be followed up with a local walk to see similar terrain outside a contained park environment. The reason for my first visit ever, despite being a 25 year veteran of Vancouver, was a school grad trip that I was helping to organize. For such an event, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park actually works […]

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Celebrate the sun with one of these fun summertime festivals. Robson Summer Fest Come down to Robson Street, from Burrard Street to Jervis Street, on Saturday, July 19th from 12-4pm for an afternoon of fun at this summertime street party. There will be music, street entertainment, snacks, store promotions, giveaways, and much more. Indian Summer Festival If you’re in the mood for some politics to go with your music and art, then check out this diverse and fascinating summer festival. The Indian Summer Festival is on now until July 12th. For tickets and more information, visit indiansummerfestival.ca Vancouver Art Gallery […]

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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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Tucked in South Central British Columbia Boundary Country provides the bridge between the BC’s Okanagan and Kootenay regions. The urban center of Boundary is Grand Forks. Boundary offers many spectacular sites and events to explore. The Rock Creek Fair in September is certainly worth a visit as it perfectly captures small town warmth and welcome. Midway hosts the Groove music festival in June and Grand Forks has the Grand Forks International baseball tournament at the end of June. Park in the Park is fast becoming a major car show and it too is hosted in Grand Forks in mid August. […]

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If the beginning of spring has you in the mood for a little fun, then check out one of these great performances happening this weekend in Vancouver. Proud,  written by Michael Healey, is playing at the Firehall Arts Centre from April. 9 – April. 26. Proud offers an evening of sizzling Canadian political satire spoofing the Harper administration. The play is directed by Donna Spencer, starring Andrew Wheeler, Emmelia Gordon, Craig Erickson, and Scott Button. For more information, call 604-689-0926 or visit firehallartscentre.ca Address: Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova St, Vancouver, BC, V6A 1L3 The classic Broadway hit  Annie  is playing at the Massey Theatre for […]

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If you are interested in learning about the art of Canadian Visual Storytelling, then check out the second annual Comics Conference, “4C”, Sunday April 6 2014 from noon until 5pm. 4C is a family friendly event that both kids and adults can enjoy, and with free admission it’s hard to go wrong. This day long event features several speakers who will be giving a talk on what visual storytelling is and how they use this medium to create great stories. The highlight of the conference is the “artist alley” where the 15 students graduating from the Comics and Graphic Novels […]

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If you’ve ever been to Whistler by car, you have zoomed past the Brittania Mine Museum. During our spring break up to Whistler, we decided to add a 75 minute stop to tour the BMM. We were glad we did. It’s a national historic site and museum so it’s loaded with history and points of interest for all ages. We took the underground train tour and found it very informative. It gave us a flavour for what life was like for the miners who did such risky work. Our 7 year old was chosen to be a shovel wielding ‘mucker’ […]

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