We left Everett on a sunny but cool Thursday afternoon.  We were on our way to Vancouver, BC and we quickly discovered that our rather old GPS didn’t have maps for Canada.   We had talked about replacing it before we started the trip, so we stopped at Costco and got a new GPS that would take us to Canada.

After negotiating the Vancouver evening traffic, we arrived at our destination, Gerd and Linda Mueller’s house, just before dinner time.  It was really nice to see them again, they are friends we met on our boat trip earlier this spring.  They live in a really cute home right in downtown Vancouver.

Linda made a lovely dinner of lamb chops and veggies.  It was delicious.

We spent a pleasant evening catching up on things we’ve done since we had seen each other last.

Friday morning dawned sunny and cold.  We took a trip up to Cypress Mountain, one of the ski venues used during the Vancouver Olympics.

On the way up we stopped at a turnout with a view back to Vancouver.

They were making snow on the mountain so they could open for skiing  the next day.  They were really lucky it was so cold outside.

We went for a walk on one of the trails in the area and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  It was cold enough to freeze the small lakes in the area.

Linda loves to photograph nature and she got some great outdoor shots.

When we got home she made a hearty soup for lunch that really warmed us up and filled us up too.

After a little afternoon rest,  we walked to the Granville Public Market.  It was a great little walk to a really cool spot and we got some good views of the city along the way.

After arriving at the market, Linda and I stayed and shopped and the men went home.  It was great fun to buy fresh fruit and veggies and look at all the arts and crafts that they had for sale on the island.

When we returned home, Linda made another lovely dinner of ham, portobello mushrooms (that we bought at the market) and veggies. It’s been a true gourmet experience.  We had the strawberries and golden berries that we bought at the market along with some truffles for dessert.  One more amazing day to add to our story.

Saturday morning was a repeat of Friday, sunny and cold, but really beautiful.  Gerd and Linda took us to a park in Steveston to see the snow geese.  There were lots of them!

While we were there an errant dog came through an scared all the birds out of the field.

They flew over to the water where they settled for a while.

There were snow geese everywhere.

We saw some other birds as well, this was a Harrier looking for a tasty treat in the grass.

And of course there was a heron, this one was fishing behind a rock.

 After the birds, we walked to a local bakery for lunch and had homemade soup and a panini.  It was really good and a nice break.

Next, we went for a walk along the Fraser River and saw even more birds.  Here are some seagulls  sunning themselves.

There were also these little brown birds with long bills, Dowitchers, that were enjoying the sunshine.

There was a project by Federal Heritage Parks to restore an old cannery site along the river as well as a cannery museum.  Linda and  Bill stopped to check out this statue in front of the museum.

They had also restored a bunch of the old cannery buildings which were open to the public and had some really interesting information about cannery operations.

On the way home from Steveston, we went through the UBC (University of British Columbia) campus which is on the end of the peninsula where Linda and Gerd live.  We also stopped at the Yacht Club where they keep their sailboat, Taranga.  There were gorgeous views of the city from the harbor.

When we got home, I started working on the blog while Linda and Gerd went to vote.  I’m going to get this posted now and I’ll finish the rest of the day in the next edition.

Tomorrow we will head to Victoria, BC on the ferry from Vancouver.  If the weather holds it should be a gorgeous trip.