CATEGORY: SAILING

 It was morning.  We were sailing south from Powell River.  It was misty, almost foggy.  I was lounging in the cockpit not paying attention to where we were.  We had been sailing all summer, mostly through dark green steeply wooded islands that I called “muffin islands”–which is why I was so astounded when I looked ahead and saw great gray cliffs rising out of the mist.  I said, “ OH MY GOD!  Look at those CLIFFS!  Where in the world are we?”  Bob said dryly, “We are coming into Vancouver.”

It was the only time we were ever there by boat.  We sailed in under the gigantic, and gigantically high, Lion’s Gate Bridge that crosses the bay.  We tied up to a dock.  The man on the boat next to us lived on his boat.  Within five minutes of our meeting him, he offered to loan us his car, so we could drive around the city.  He was as friendly as Twink and the fellow in Lund.  We loved Vancouver as much as we had always loved Victoria.  Like Victoria, the city was full of small shops with annuals and perennials in window boxes–not something that I had ever seen in American cities.  Many of the shops were bakeries with little meat pies and tiny sausages in pastry crusts–or candy shops that sold liqueur chocolates, which are prohibited in the US.

I noticed, while driving through residential districts, that many homes had brick paved driveways blending into brick paved entry court yards that were used for extra parking if necessary.  No front yards to mow!  These were charmingly outfitted with outdoor furnishings and hidden from the street by lovely plantings.  It was such a friendly way to enter a house.

We drove to West Vancouver and went through the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Colombia, Bob being an aficionado of Northwest Indian art.  Not only were the exhibits totally fabulous, but the building itself left me trying to get my dropped jaw back in place for the rest of the day.  It was designed by Arthur Erickson, Vancouver’s primo architect–a modern building that magically still conveyed the Northwest Indian mystique.  Marvelous!  Amazing!  What other superlatives can I use?

While we were on the west side, we looked back at Vancouver.  It really did look like great gray cliffs rising out of the sea, but from this angle they were also surrounded by forest and backed by mountains.  Spectacular!