Travel Journal: Urban Woods

I'm writing this from the Prospect Point Café, up at the very top of Stanley Park. The atmosphere and the view here are absolutely gorgeous – a testament for just how beautiful this place is.

It took me a bit longer than expected to get here. I underestimated just how big the park was! From the entering at the south edge to making my way up here, it took me about almost two hours. Got to admit that I'm pretty exhausted – going from sitting at a computer desk all day to exploring a city all day is a bit of a drastic change!

Market Island

I spent today exploring Vancouver again. I started by visiting Granville Island, which was supposed to be a big public market with lots of outdoor entertainment. I had this picture painted in my head. I was looking for a tightly packed bunch of stalls, outdoors-like, with fabric roofs to keep the rain and Sun off, you know. I expected musicians up on benches playing guitar and singing and dancing and so on.

However, it turns out that the 'public market' is actually indoors. It's like Blunsdon Market back home, but on a way smaller scale (and with no boot sale outside). It was a bit underwhelming. The music was fantastic though. But... there was only one guy playing it at one part of the island. I think I may have chosen to visit at one of the quieter times.

Still, it was a nice walk there and back, with some lovely views across the Granville St. Bridge. I've figured out how to add pictures to my blog, so check it out.

View from Granville St. Bridge

Natural Beauty

Now the afternoon, that was something else. A mate on the Vancouver group Skype chat said to check out Stanley Park in the evening (Golden Hour, he said) rather than morning, so I decided to go there later in the day. That's where I am now – at Prospect Point, on the very north edge of the island – waiting in the café for sunset with a bottle... okay, two bottles... of delicious peach cider. And a local salmon burger which is extremely filling.

The Park is a beautiful place. Once you get in far enough that there are no more buildings and you can't see the shoreline, it feels almost like some of the woods back home. I walked up and down the trails, around the 'Beaver Lake' in the centre (though didn't get to see any beavers) and then up to the Point, listening to some Five For Fighting as I went. I tell you, the time just drains away in places like this – I could walk for hours on end and hardly notice.

I got to see a bit of wildlife too. I got my first ever view of a raccoon (they're bigger than I expected). Also, Canadian Squirrels! I wasn't expecting to see any, so it was a really nice surprise to see a whole bunch of them flitting about on the trail.

SQUIRRELS!

Best-Laid Plans

It's been nice to let loose and just not worry for a while, exploring a new place and trying new things. I never really had a 'plan' coming here. I just wanted to see what came up and do whatever I felt like doing. Seems to have been a pretty solid policy thus far, as I'm having a fantastic time.

The only thing I had set in stone for coming over here was a visit to the Metrotown Mall to meet up with the local brony group. That's scheduled for noon on Saturday. Pretty excited for that. Not only because I'll get to see the Mall, but because the group seem to be a fun bunch.


All in all, I'm really enjoying myself over here. The walking is doing me good (although my feet beg to differ) - I feel well-exercised, for once in my life. I have no doubt that I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight. And with that, I'll say goodnight and see you soon!

* * *

Any thoughts on the layout of the blog by the way? I'm going to be playing around with positioning of pictures and text, so any feedback/advice is welcome!