Prince Rupert (part 2)

Prince Rupert has a lot going on along its shoreline. I wasn't expecting to see such a large container port, but of course it makes sense.

A Cosco freighter was being unloaded.



Prince Rupert's harbor is very diverse; everything from pleasure boats to
fishing boats to rowing sculls; even a luxury yacht and another freighter
anchored out in the bay. 

Rowing sculls.

A yacht from the US Virgin Islands.

Ask the kids if they know what this kiosk was used for. Does the stainless steel perhaps hint at a fish-cleaning station? :-)

A very colourful waterfront.

I overheard a couple during lunch talking about how they'd witnessed exactly
this scene; a whale slapping its tail on the water.

I read a bit about the history of the Holstein pattern I'd been seeing in many
places throughout town. It's all about the cows that used to dominate this
part of Prince Rupert.

Prince Rupert (part 1)

After missing out on a trip to Whitehorse last month I got a chance to go somewhere new; Prince Rupert. I like it when work sends me somewhere that I wouldn't ordinarily get a chance to travel to. It's not that I wouldn't want to go to Prince Rupert; it's just that it's such a remote place to get to, at least by road. It's about an 8 hour drive west of Prince George.

Very unexpectedly (for me) we flew over a glacier on the way to Prince Rupert. I’ll have to research it a bit to see if I can figure out which one it is.

On my way to the site I took a wrong turn and decided to stop and check my tourist map, which was in the trunk. Very fortunate that I did because as I exited the car I noticed motion across the street behind a car, which I assumed was a person, but it wasn’t; it was a deer! Just casually crossing the street to munch on some grass on the boulevard beside my rental car.

I went on a little walkabout after my job concluded and drove down a road that took me to the float plane terminal. Got a cool shot of the buoyant walkways servicing the planes while peering through a diagonal unit of chain link fencing that prevented access to an unused decayed wood walkway.

Digby Island is the home of Prince Rupert's airport and it is serviced by a ferry. Not the one in this photo however; this one was near the float plane terminal north of town.

How often does one run across a grounded barge with a civilian-plated army
truck aboard?

A railway to nowhere.

This walking trail hugs the coastline and was only opened the weekend prior
to my visit, so I was told.

An example of high-tech bridging noted along the trail. I didn’t have time to do this trail justice; I only walked about 10 minutes of it.

I’m not sure what the deal is with this picnic table. Do Sponge Bob and his fishy friends frequent this spot at high tide? Some pretty severe concrete and rebar deterioration was evident.

Lunch!

A Celestial Question

We had house guests last week and I found myself explaining my fascination with the brightest star that appears nightly in our local western sky.

Years ago I took a good clear photo of the moon hanging just above Venus as viewed from my backyard. Then last night I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the same scenario was being replayed. A thin crescent of our lunar neighbour had parked itself just slightly above the shining planetary beacon, creating somewhat of a celestial question mark.

Perhaps the moon is asking, “What’s my origin? Have you figured me out yet?”

Elevation Gain

We covered a lot of elevation on July 7. From the marshes of Burnaby Lake to to the sub-alpine of the summit reached by the Squamish gondola.

A rainy start on Saturday morning for a 6.5 km jog through the west side trail
system of Burnaby Lake.

The marshes of Burnaby Lake.

Then it was a quick trip up to Squamish to ascend the new(ish) gondola. We'd been checking the online summit viewcam all morning to ensure we'd have a clear view when were arrived. No use paying to be all socked in with clouds. Turns out they offer a half price deal after 5 pm. Perfect.

Fortunately our group of eight fit perfectly in a gondola.

Eight is enough (to fill a cab).

This is our vehicle du jour.

I'd hate to have been drawn the short straw to hang that Canada flag.

There's a suspension bridge at the top.

As would be expected, the view is spectacular from the top.

A couple of waterfalls were visible from the summit trail system.

Picture of a Picture

It's been a while since I last blogged; crazy-busy at work, short-staffed again this summer.

And a lot's happened too. But firstly, let me start off with, "Deutschland, das ist kaput!" From World Cup contention, that is. But at least I witnessed "the goal" that I can reflect upon for some time to come. Toni Kroos kicked a perfect shot from an almost last minute free kick to score at about 3 minutes into stoppage time to give Germany the win against Sweden. As luck would have it I also ended up being able to watch Germany's 3rd match, this time against South Korea. I was scheduled to conduct a building review in Nanaimo so I got to see the first half of the game while traveling on the ferry. Just as well I didn't get to see the second half.

This Canada Day weekend is quite far removed from last year's. We were in London England last year for Canada's 150th b-day. This year we were in Burnaby Lake Park. A photograph I submitted to Burnaby Lake Nature House was chosen to be displayed this weekend so we stopped in to see it.

Kinda corny to have a photo of a photo I guess, but my photos don't get chosen
for display too often.

The park was again full of geese, but at a month or two since my last visit the goslings are maturing rapidly. Still not to proud to accept handouts however. I got some good close-ups as many of the geese thought I was bending down low to feed them, not just photograph them.

We were probably pretty lucky not to get rained on this afternoon at Burnaby Lake.

Even the chipmunks were getting in on the free food action.

Other than the nature walk, it seems all we've done is eat this weekend; oh, and we jogged 9 km along Burrard Inlet's south shore on Saturday morning in a light rain.

This is part of the Trans-Canada Trail located along Burrard Inlet's south shore, just east of the Ironworkers' Memorial Bridge.

We were introduced to a cool new (to us) coffee shop called La Foret in south Burnaby last weekend, so we stopped by again this morning. It's a former autobody shop that has been very inventively transformed into a restaurant.

Massive wood glulam beams are exposed between generous skylights. This
provides greenhouse style lighting for banana trees in a central planter/seating
area.

I've only ever seen these gabion baskets (wire "bales" filled with rocks) used in an exterior setting, usually for retaining walls. It's very cool to see this system used indoors. It looks like a living wall will climb this portion soon.

Kaleo

And finally, last Saturday night we went to see Kaleo playing at the PNE amphitheatre outdoor stage. They're a bluesy new group from Iceland. We saw their show last year too at the Orpheum. It's been a very long time since we've seen an outdoor show. Dan Mangan opened and we haven't seen him live on stage since we attended a similar outdoor show during the 2010 Winter Olympics.