Saturday, October 26, 2013

Fishy goings on

When I was a kid, I dreaded fishy Fridays. It's been an eon since I had a fishy Friday.

Last Sunday in Vancouver turned out to be fishy, but in a good way.

First we had breakfast.  You can't have much fun on an empty stomach, un-fueled by a cup or two of Joe.

Well prepared for adventure, we rolled out of the Marina Grill. If you didn't know this place existed, there's no way you could find it. There is however a clue. There's a sign for the restaurant hanging off a crane on the Vancouver-bound side of the second narrows bridge. By the time you see that sign it's way too late. As the farmers are famous for saying, "you can't get there from here".
Bob is secretive, because he loves surprises. Yvonne wasn't about to tip me to his game.

We set out in Yvonne's Subaru SUV.  Bob would only provide cryptic clues on where we were going.

It turned out that the first stop after breakfast was Deep Cove.  It's a charming little town perched on the rocky shore of Burrard Inlet, where the road ends, literally.  It would be too hard to describe this wonderful corner of the world.  Posting pictures will save me thousands of words.
Deep Cove is across the inlet from Burnaby Mountain, Ioco, and Belcarra.  The last time I was in those places I was in the company of Bob, Sonja, Roland, and Dave.

We then headed in the direction of Capilano with Bob teaching me the ins and outs of North Shore geography. It's all about canyons, ravines, streams and cuts. I'm not sure I retained more than the most obvious parts of the lessons.

We headed up a road I do know, the one that leads up to Grouse Mountain, somewhere on the far side of the Lion's Gate bridge.  Following a little bit of U-turn trial and error, we shot down a rabbit-hole of a side-street and followed its twisty route.  At the end of that road (truly a day of dead-end roads) we came upon the Capilano salmon hatchery.

It's quite something to see the salmon leaping up the ladder of small pools, against the torrent of water spilling downstream.
Regrettably I was unable to catch one in the act.

The old growth forest reminded me of Muir Woods just north of San Francisco.  The trees are not as tall, but the feeling is familiar, strolling among the towering trees, with the river rushing its way through the canyon.
The Lumix LF1 camera that I bought on Bob's recommendation seems to live up to Bob's assessment in spades.  It has an astonishingly good optical zoom, an excellent aperture that lets lots of light in, and a very large image sensor that allows you to capture some very attractive shots.
The rather unique thing is that there is a Panasonic app for the iPhone that lets you control the camera over the WiFi connection.  You can frame, zoom and shoot with a touch of the icon on the app.  The downside is that you end up with a goofy look of concentration on your face as you try to operate the app while looking nonchalant and debonaire.  Fail.
l used a slow shutter speed to lend more drama to this waterfall.

I thought we might be done for the day, but Bob had one more local pearl to share with me.

We headed towards Horseshoe Bay.  I recognized the winding road that hugs the shoreline.  Bob took a left turn down a street that looked more like a private driveway than a real street.  No tourist would have gone this way.

The street lead to a small point jutting into the water.
I'm not sure what the 'Pilot House' might be.  I was in a quiet contemplative place, and reading the plaque was the furthest thing from my mind.
This is a truly peaceful place.  It's a good place to come to sit and think.  There are a few benches for thinkers who prefer not to sit on the rock.
The city is visible, but barely intrudes on the serenity of this place.
It is a good place to think.

A very big thank you to Bob and Yvonne for devoting their Sunday to show me more sights.  The weather was dismal, but the company more than made up for it.

I had a great time.

11 comments:

VStar Lady said...

Sounds like you had the perfect tour guides....and looks like you had a great time. There's no better way to see the sights than to see them with a 'local.'

SonjaM said...

So, after you were done with the thinking… have you made any decisions? E.g. move to the wet coast, learn another language, retire at young age? ;-)

Beautiful pics, David. Now I am homesick again, I even miss the rain and the fog. Thanks for that.

Using an app on your iPhone for a snapshot? So geeky ;-) What happened to the self timer function on the camera?

Trobairitz said...

A camera you can control with your smartphone? What will they think of next.

Great pictures David.

Coop a.k.a. Coopdway said...

I'm looking for this "goofy look of concentration" but don't seem to be able to find it. :)

Looks and sounds like a wonderful Sunday, the best kind.

len@RE-GLAZE-IT said...

Hi David that looks like a lovely little place, great photos too,

Kindest regards
Len

David Masse said...

Karen too true. Bob and Yvonne are very, very nice folks, and generous to a fault with their time.

David Masse said...

Sonja, we are creatures of habit. Slogging along one foot in front of the other, looking after all kinds of 'urgent' stuff, as days come and go in a blur.

I long to be free. Who knows, maybe I'll change things up.

As for the self-timer function, yes I am fairly certain it has one of those too, but then you get those group photos where everyone is smiling sweetly, while the photographer comes diving into the frame horizontally like a cat tossed into a bunch of dogs. The downside is that look on your face as you focus on snapping the picture while trying to pretend you aren't. Too self-conscious. Then again, technically they are 'selfies'.

David Masse said...

Thanks for the vote of confidence Brandy.

As for what they are going to think of next: we already have apps for cars (Cadillac), cars that talk to you and park themselves (Ford), cars that drive better than we do (Google-Prius), Google Glass, and the NSA keeping a sharp eye on all of it.

I shudder to think about what the future holds. The present is already full of unsettling stuff, and we've only scratched the surface.

Where are the hover cars and hover boards?

David Masse said...

Coop, you are too kind, and believe me, it's much appreciated.

And yes it was a wonderful Sunday.

I'll add transporters Ă  la Star Trek to the hover cars and hover cars we're waiting to see. Now if I could 'pop' into anywhere on the planet... Can you imagine what that would do to real estate markets?

David Masse said...

Thanks Len. If I could 'transport' myself, I'd drop in for a cuppa.

Unknown said...

David:

always a pleasure to host anyone coming to Vancouver and show you/them the sights. If it weren't for the planned dinner we could have gone farther afield but we had to be back by 5pm. I am still trying to work off those extra 3 lbs You can only hold in your stomach for so long before you have to breathe.

Next time we we are standing outside Swartz's in the long line we have to phone in our take out order, or else get BOB to buy it. (the other Bob)

I would also go for the transporter idea and just pop up in Montreal on a moments notice

Evidently the waitress didn't realize that your money was "no good here"

'Till next time . . .

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

The copyright in all text and photographs, except as noted, belongs to David Masse.