A Different Perspective

  Until now we've been experiencing the Vancouver area from the typical tourist perspective. Canada Place, Stanley Park, English Bay and Chinatown have all featured in recent installments. There's nothing wrong with taking in those sights and experiences but there's so much more to this area than what most people squeeze into a week. Since we're here for a month there's no reason to restrict our adventures to the beaten track.

  We began our week of less heralded sights by hiking the Iona Jetty, also known as the Iona Spit. When I say it, "Iona Jetty" sounds better, y'know, like I have a yacht to tie up. Iona Spit? Not so much.

  Anyway, the Jetty (or Spit) is actually the deep water outfall for the local sewage treatment plant. The trail is laid atop a very wide pipe and travels in a straight line for four kilometers out into the Strait of Georgia near Vancouver Airport. I know it doesn't sound sexy but it doesn't smell, the surrounding waters aren't brown and it's a nice walk where you're surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and nothing else for a pleasant two and a half hours. When you get to the end there's a lookout with a little cantilevered platform you can walk out on and feel a bit like Leonardo DiCaprio on the bow of Titanic.

  From our vantage point we could also see Mt. Baker, in northern Washington State, peeking out of the mist...

  We followed up our walk with dinner from the local Malaysian restaurant which, although tasty, was a very expensive $75 for barely enough food for two people. Like I mentioned previously, living here is expensive. I started out hoping for Chinese food as we were in Richmond, which is known for the best selection of Chinese restaurants outside Chinatown. Unfortunately, every online menu I saw had us spending $150 for dinner. Not interested. I don't want to sound provincial but, where we come from, $75 usually buys good Chinese food for two with enough leftovers for lunch the following day.

  Now, we had planned to spend Monday on a jaunt up the Sunshine Coast but that got scuttled early on. When I checked the BC Ferries website they told me that, not only were all the available sailing reservations taken but, if I wanted to take my chances and get in line, it was likely we'd be waiting four hours to get on board. Not happening. Also, when I awoke Monday morning my right knee was angry with me for walking eight kilometers on top of a concrete sewage pipe. It's not that I can't walk eight kilometers, it's that I didn't bring my special concrete pipe hiking boots.

  We went to Plan "B" which was Bowen Island on Tuesday. The ferry is only a twenty minute ride, it's fairly cheap and there's no line up. Check, check and check. Off we went this morning and, even with typical Vancouver traffic, managed to drive right onto the ship with minutes to spare.

  Bowen is a small island, only about six kilometers wide, but very scenic. There are small mountains at each end and some very nice beaches with gentle waves scattered around it. It even has a nine hole golf course and we decided to give it a try once we arrived.

  Now, it's important to note that the Lower Mainland is under a heat advisory. I use italics because said advisory was telling us to expect temperatures around 28C. When we were in Arizona we didn't see a heat advisory unless temps were approaching 40C. Piece of cake. We figured golfing on an island in the middle of the Strait of Georgia would involve cooling breezes and so, who cares about a heat advisory, right?

  Wrong. The course is on top of a hill and mostly surrounded by trees. No breeze. Lots of direct sunlight. Not a cloud in the sky. The weather station in the Snug Harbour port area registered 24C. Sure. I'll bet we could have fried an egg on top of the golf cart. No, we didn't bring an egg. Or mayo. Or bread. Or bacon. Mmmm. Why am I hungry?

  Anyway, it was HOT. Hot and HUMID. Did I mention we didn't bring an egg? Or beer. We also couldn't get food before we teed off unless we wanted to wait a half-hour and pay some outrageous price. So, armed with water and a bag of chips, off we went.

  The golf was fine, mostly. It's a pretty course and it was in decent shape but, after six holes, we were HOT. And hungry because we didn't think to bring eggs. And we didn't have any beer. We did get this view on the last tee so that made it all ok, sort of. It's also worth noting that I put two balls into the woods, which I blame on not having any eggs.

  With golf completed we bought ourselves an outrageously expensive lunch, which included beer but no eggs, then headed off to check out Tunstall Beach.

  Of course, we were hot and tired and we'd just finished eating and imbibing so we didn't feel much like jumping into the water. We dipped our overheated toes in the Pacific and turned ourselves around and headed back into port to await the ferry back to the mainland.

  It's too bad that it was so unexpectedly hot there as we'd hoped to do some hiking. Well, we did manage to do a short hike to Dorman Point on our way back to the ferry. By short I mean, we climbed about 50 feet up the steep trail that takes you to the point then decided that it was too steep and our non-hiking shoes weren't suitable and turned around and headed back to the car. We did hike though, and it was beautiful. Sorry, no pictures. Besides, the ice cream we ate instead of hiking was far more satisfying.

  And so, that was our trip to Bowen Island. I heartily recommend a visit if you're in the area, but make sure to bring eggs.

  As our month in Surrey winds down I'm busy lining up our future plans. We've already booked three weeks in Mobile, AL starting in mid-October so I've been trying to line up something in the neighbourhood that runs us into early December so we're back home with plenty of time before Christmas.

  I thought I had one today in Cape Coral, FL which would take us into the beginning of December. When I applied, I explained we'd be in Mobile so it would dovetail nicely for us. I received a response when we returned home this evening. Apparently, we're unsuitable because the homeowners don't want anyone who might have problems with flights or crossing the border. I didn't realize there's a border separating Alabama and Florida. Idiots. They must be Trump supporters. The search continues.