Vancouver Staycation Day #1

Our lazy Sunday Staycation day began on a mixed note. We stopped in at our favourite coffee shop knowing it was its last day of operation. "Bean Around the World" on Main at 20th has had their lease terminated so the building's owner can re-develop the property. I'm not impressed. The brick building itself has a lot of heritage charm complemented by wood frame windows and a great south facing patio. And plus...it seems to have the best selection of baked goods of all its other locations.

I'll miss this one.

Once loaded up with coffee, a panini-grilled breakfast wrap and a "Quickstart" muffin we headed to Stanley Park, not as early as we'd intended, but we still beat the downtown weekend rush to the Lion's Gate bridge. We would have traveled via Transit bus, but our dog Tannah was coming with us to enjoy a summer day. I must say I find it annoying that dogs aren't allowed on the Transit system. They are in three other cities we've visited: Toronto, Zurich and London, UK.

This may be a topped tree left over from the great wind
 storm of  2006. I wonder how big the sapling will grow 
before the nurse trunk deteriorates.

It seems almost every time I visit Stanley Park I see a blue heron. A big
nesting site for herons is on the English Bay side of the park.

Our trek included the highrises of Coal Harbour just west of the
Convention Centre.

This hotel across from the Convention Centre looks to me more like something
one would see in Florida than Vancouver. It reminds me of a still photo I saw years
ago in the opening montage of Miami Vice.

Seagulls in the harbour in front of a moored cruise ship. This guardrail vantage point
appears like a holding cell as if the birds have been jailed for some offense. 

A trio of house boats in the Coal Harbour marina.

Tannah taking full advantage of Happy Hour.

We'd seen this crazy dog bed chaisse lounge at Coal Harbour on our morning walk. They advertised Happy Hour starting at 3 pm so we made a mental note to return later. At first Tannah needed a bit of direction as she'd placed herself facing the wrong way, and to be truthful, she's a smidge too big for this canine furniture. It's more meant for micro dogs I think.

I think she preferred this seat to lying on the steel manhole cover,
even if she was slightly over-size.

She certainly got a lot of attention from passersby. Even the manager of the pub came out to photograph her. I wouldn't be surprised if she finds her way onto the pub's website.