It’s been downright summer-like, never mind spring recently here
in Vancouver, and high-time to post some photos from snowshoeing and other
winter stuff I was up to in the last few months.
First though a shot of my family from January I forgot to include
in the last post:
I did a few short snow-shoeing trips up Seymour and Cypress. Hannah, Matt and I had a good snowshoe one
crisp morning up to First Peak at Seymour. The red trail markers helped us from
getting lost in the winter wonderland.
I also did a solo trip up Hollyburn (Cypress Mountain) which is
always pretty breathtaking during an inversion when the city is under a thick
layer of clouds below.
Good shot of the Lions (twin mountains) from the peak. The Lions
are a Vancouver landmark; the BC Lions football team and Lions Gate bridge are
named after them.
The ubiquitous whiskey jacks (officially the gray jay) were out in
full force, boldly trying to steal lunches and whistling and chattering up a
storm.
Once the snow was mostly gone I did an early season hike with Allison
and some friends up in Lynn Valley (North Van) to Norvan Falls. The area was logged in the early 1900s and
there are plenty of abandoned artifacts along the way including an old logging
cart and a rusty bucket. There was lots
of snow which made it pretty slow going in normal hiking boots (I need to
invest in microspikes next year), but the beautiful falls were a nice
reward.
In February I had a business trip to Ottawa presenting some interesting stuff to the Canadian Ice Service to help automatically distinguish ice from water in radar images. After the work part of the trip I enjoyed
a fun-filled weekend with Rod’s sister Annie and her partner Grant. I was lucky and was there the last weekend
that the canal was open for skating.
Annie and Grant hamming it up on the canal:
I also tried hot yoga for the first time (sweaty but good!)
although I managed to embarrass myself at the beginning of the class by walking
straight into the floor-to-ceiling glass wall. They kept it so clean! Over
the course of one weekend I also went to the restaurant Town (delicious blue cheese
salad and stuffed meatballs), walked around Byward Market, had drinks at the stalwart
pub the Manx, dinner with my South-American-travel-pal Val and her 3 kids under 3, and finished the whirlwind
tour with a quick cross-country ski in the Gatineau Hills. Thanks Annie, Grant, Alistair, Amy, Val and Mehmet
for a great visit!
To finish this post off are a few shots of art from UBC’s museum
of Anthropology (highly recommended for a rainy day in Vancouver) and a
beautiful ski day.
Bill Reid’s “The Raven and The First Men” (also featured on the
old $20 bill).
