State of the Art Porto Potty

This is something new that just popped up around the city.

They are permanent public outdoor restrooms.

Probably they figure that this might stop bums from peeing on...everything?

I think I'll stick to the nice privately maintained restrooms in businesses if I'm caught out away from home...

Mount Seymour

Last weekend Mike and I decided we would take a hike on mount Seymour.

Chris and Rain do it fairly often and we thought we'd give it a shot.

Chris came over then we piled in the Matrix and off we went.

We drove up and up and up and finally came to a parking lot.



The first thing I noticed was the bugs. Chris said there were hardly any bugs, but I think some breeding went on since he'd last been there.

Mike and I doused ourselves with fly dope, but still they were buzzing all over. I refused to stop walking so they wouldn't land. I walked in circles until the men had finished consulting the map. lol, like they needed it for the short hike we were about to take.

The second thing I noticed was the snow.

There was a lot of snow and there were all kinds
of little streams and waterfalls, running through it. Mike and I were slipping and sliding around in our sneakers.

The dogs were having a great time though. Jumping in the water and running way ahead.

It was very steep and the footing was very loose. We lasted about 20 minutes up before Mike and I had had enough. We did manage to get to a little peak to take a picture. We pretty much ran down the hill flailing our arms at mosquitoes and horse flies and I was shrieking and yelping.


I was reminded of how much I hate bugs and how glad I am that I now live in a city where there are none.

Needless to say Chris was pretty disgusted with us. He thinks we are too citified, but hey man, that's why we moved.

When we got home we got cleaned up and had some nice drinks in our nice bug-free apartment and then went to Yaletown for dinner. That's more like it!

Huge Water Thing

This was one of the main attractions on Canada Day.

It was so cool that I thought it warranted it's own post.

Right near our place on the seawall is this little corner in the concrete where there is this line of pipes. They pretty much look like fire hydrants and I never knew what they were for. I assumed they had something to do with boats.



Apparently they are these high-pressure fire lines.

They must have some sort of use besides the obvious one of a water display, but if so I don't know what it is.

So this is how it starts out.

Do you think that's something? If so, hold on....













It gets bigger...













and bigger...did I mention my building is right in the background?












...and bigger, by this time from where we are, mist is hitting us.










Look at the mist coming down, there were boats and even a kayaker out there if you can believe it.

I took a video and the noise is pretty incredible too.








As we were walking it was still going, here it is from behind. Man what and ugly place Mike and I chose to live in.

I have to say Dad, I think his beats the hell out of that little fountain that guy you know came up with on the old bridge supports. lol

Cheers,

Jazz Festival Continued & Canada Day

The second weekend of the Jazz festival was Canada Day.

Most of the fun this weekend was right in a park near our house.

Who needs porto potties when you can walk a block and be home? lol

So a huge stage was set up in the park and the whole party followed from Gastown to Yaletown, which is our neighbourhood.


So basically we just plopped down our blanket, soaked up the sun and listened to the tunes.

We brought a little wine and walked over to the food section when we got a little hungry.

In this picture, there are 2 buildings in the middle. Ours is the one in the back.










This whole strip had food vendors. There was Greek, Jamaican, BBQ, Corn on the Cob, Crepes, Ice Cream, Lemonade, Fish 'n' Chips, etc.











This the round house, I think I've included it in my pictures before. It was also a venue and bands were playing inside.

Notice all the bikes. At these events there are always bikes everywhere because people avoid driving in the traffic and bring their bikes, roller blades, etc. instead.
Here is one of the vendors who was selling tie dyed clothing.

There was a little beer garden set up selling Granville Island Brewing products.

One of the evenings we happened upon a guy I've met through co-workers and his friend and we ended up sitting down and having a few drinks with them. Turns out he is a close neighbor.

Mike and I are actually getting to the point here were we can go places and just happen to see people we know and hang out with them. It didn't take that long for us to make some friends.

On Canada Day itself, we headed over to "Canada Day at Canada Place".

This is Canada Place, all the sails in the background. It is a big exhibition centre and it is also where the huge cruise ships dock.

This ended up being a bit of a disappointment. This event was mainly for kids and there were tons of crowds. We should have stayed at the Jazz festival, but I wanted to see what it was all about.


There was music, but I think many were child entertainers, and there was this whole room dedicated to these massive blown up playgrounds. There must have been about 20 of them and kids were flying around in them.

This whole room was lit in colored spotlights, basically a kids dream and a parent's nightmare.

They had a RCMP band with bagpipes and the works.

I thought the pic of the RCMP Drum was kind of cool.









They had a Navy frigate too, or whatever they're called and inside the building were all the tanks, vehicles and all that junk.

I'm not really interested in that stuff, but I don't think the frigates make it to Fredericton on Canada Day, eh Dad?


Here is another busker, they're everywhere.

Anyhoots, that was pretty much our Canada Day weekend. I also completed the last of my golf lessons and now I am a force to be reckoned with on the golf course lol.

Cheers,

Jazz Festival

There was a Jazz festival in Vancouver all last week. Both weekends we went to it.

It was at a couple of venues. Gastown which is a bus ride away and also in a park that is right by our building.

You could pay to go see shows at a couple of venues, but for the most part everything was free. They blocked off streets and there were food vendors. Everything you could imagine from Greek to Jamaican to Corn on the Cob and delicious lemonade.

There were also little stands to get free stuff and people selling clothing, crafts, etc.

The first venue we went to was the Lamp Lighter.

It is an old pub in Gastown (the historical district) which was apparently the first pub in town to serve alcohol to women.

We went with our friend Kevin and a couple of his friends. He knew one of the band members as he plays guitar himself.

I took a little walk down the street to see what was happening outside and this stage was set up in the little square in the heart of Gastown.

There were tons of people out and it was a beautiful day.

Whenever they have these events, there are always buskers.

They are usually very entertaining.

I had a hard time seeing over the crowds, but if you can believe it, this guy ended up at the top of that platform...

When the band was finished at the lamplighter we all went to Wild Rice which is a nice restaurant in the area. We met up with Chris and Rain and after a late dinner called it a night.

When you start a party at 3:00, it usually ends early.