UBC’s Botanical Gardens

I’d never visited these gardens before although I’d driven past a number of times. The Asian Garden was nothing like any botanical gardens I’d ever been in before. It wasn’t laid out in neat rows with every tree labeled. It was more like a natural forest.

The best of U.B.C.

The University of British Columbia’s rose garden had a well thought out design, plus the view across the entrance to Burrard Inlet’s azure waters and West Vancouver beyond couldn’t be bettered. But there was more worth seeing.

Powell Street, Vancouver

It would be easy to overlook the historic site of Vancouver’s Power Street. Little remains except for a beautifully maintained Japanese Language School.

Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park

Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park was a tourist magnet with as many as six million visitors annually, but it was about time for another visit starting with the rose garden. The park was established back in the 1930s after a mountain had been quarried for rocks for road building. To cover the eye sore left from quarrying, two sunken gardens were established. 

Grandville Island

Situated on False Creek opposite the downtown core of Vancouver, the mainly wrought iron buildings of Grandville Island were filled with artsy shops. From pottery and jewellery to First Nation art and coffee shops, there was plenty to catch the eye as I wove my way along streets of brightly painted buildings.

Vancouver’s Chinatown

Vancouver’s Chinatown covered more than three square blocks. Its heart was either side of Pender Street East but there were other streets where I glimpsed every kind of remedy inside Chinese herbal stores, grocery shops stocked a variety of Chinese vegetables and tea shops with a distinctly different aroma.

Stanley Park

This is my daughter’s favourite park in the world. I get the attraction. It’s a huge 400 hectare site with nearly nine kilometres of walk/cycle/roller blade trails that skirt the park plus internal trails. The view of the sea and surrounding coastline is to die for and I’m impressed too. I hiked the ocean view trail and liked the two paths—one for walkers and a separate for the faster cycle users. For me, it’s an impressive park but far from my favourite. 

Pacific Rim National Park

Near Tofino on the very west coast of Vancouver Island, I stayed at Esowista, a First Nation village, halfway between Tofino and Ecluelet right on the beach at the northern end of Long Beach. I hoped for surf, but it had been flat for about a week. I swam anyway but the water only came up to my waist. I slushed my way to a mini-island where cedars clawed their way between boulders to take root.

Painted Chasm Provincial Park

Clinton was almost four hundred kilometres north-east of Vancouver and four kilometres from the town was Painted Chasm Provincial Park. It had been designated as protected land in 1940. Like other neighbouring regions, lava flows had formed coloured layers millions of years ago. Then ten thousand years back a waterfall formed the chasm and the layers were exposed.

Barkerville—a historic gold rush town

The road east from Quesnel to Barkerville was deserted except for a few deer and grazing cattle. The town had been named after a miner who discovered the richest deposit of gold back in 1861, nevertheless, he died penniless. At the peak of Barkerville’s gold mining days the population swelled to 5 000—the majority of the people being Chinese.