BC FARM MUSEUM AND THE HISTORIC HBC FORT LANGLEY

ALL PICTURES CAN BE SEEN HERE ON MY PHOTO WEB SITE

We had Camden the Junior Farmer with us for the day while the other family members went to the PNE.

We took Camden to the BC Farm Museum located in Fort Langley where Camden got his fill of old tractors and old farm equipment. The guy is pretty smart, he figured out what a lot of the old equipment was even if it looked nothing like today's versions.

Afterwards, we found a geocache a couple of blocks away, then went back and toured the actual fort in Fort Langley.

Built in 1827, the fort is an original Hudson's Bay Company fort catering to the lucrative trade in furs and salmon, which were shipped to rich nations in Europe and Asia

Camden's day was wrapped up with an early Pirate Pack dinner at White Spot where I hear the ice cream dessert was "to die for" !

There are many pictures here, mostly for the old farmers and history buffs in the crowd. While there are many agriculture items on display, there are also many other items such as washing machines, refrigerators, household appliances, radios, etc.

It is definitely worth a visit to experience our local history at both the farm museum and the fort.

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AFTER DINNER GEOCACHING

Trail alongside Chehalis Creek in the Harrison Mills area

Ken and I made a quick after dinner trip to Harrison Mills area to replace one of my geocaches which had been hidden 17 years ago.

(Hard to believe I have a geocache hidden that long)

As usual I did a good job of hiding the geocache (old ammo can) among the creek boulders along the edge of the river. Between the many boulders to step on and look under, and the slippery moss covering the boulders, I thought for sure one of us was going to take a tumble and break something important, like our wit !

Buddha statue through which an artesian well supplies water to community residents

We replaced the geocache unscathed, other than a few mosquito bites, and then meandered homeward finding a few geocaches on our way back to Maple Ridge.

We found our last few caches in the dark but even so, that was not a problem as our BAF (Big A** Flashlights) made it easy to find our way to the geocache area and then zero in on the cache itself.

Elbow Creek directly across the road from the Buddha statue

Though we were only out for three hours or so, we still enjoyed getting out of the house to experience the beautiful scenery so close to home.

Ruskin Hall in east Maple Ridge was built in 1922

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 VISITING QUAYSIDE AT NEW WESTMINISTER

ALL PICTURES FROM THE DAY CAN BE SEEN HERE ON MY PHOTO PAGE

The Fab Four, AKA myself, my "Handler" Annette, and brother Ken and wife Linda, waited out the Sunday morning rain by having breakfast at a local diner, then headed to New Westminster to visit the Quay (pronounced "key"). The Quay is an indoor public market containing gift stores, jewelry stores, craft sellers, food stands and a grocery store.

Today's visit was more about strolling the boardwalk before and after the market place, and seeing the latest buildings and parks as they are developed. 

The New West waterfront was once a run down commercial section of the city; over the years derelict warehouse were torn down and the land left vacant. A few years ago, an arsonist started a fire in the massive wooden pier which caused extensive damage and set back the city's community plans for the area.

Today, the pier has been rebuilt, residential high rises are separated by community park areas containing plenty of activity for little ones and for everyone else. Benches, lounging sculptures, extensive board walks, and clear views are accessed by city spaces and pathways from one end of the complex to the other. All in all, I'm guessing at 2 kms of boardwalk from the newer east end to the older west end now exists.

We enjoyed exploring the new areas and stated that we wouldn't mind living here; many outside cafes and restaurants have opened and the riverside view can't be beat!

After our walk we popped into the quay itself to have a coffee and do a quick shop at the grocery store where we picked up some fruit and veggies, all local of course, and headed back to our cars for our next destination.

Queens Park in New Westminster is a 75 acre park containing a baseball stadium, ice rink, spray park, tennis courts, and multiple buildings used for community functions. Established in 1887, this historic park is well loved by all of the Greater Vancouver residents.  Today we wanted to visit their outstanding Rose Garden as a soft wrap up to our day of walking the riverside boardwalk.

Constructed in 1981, this small garden harbours dozens of roses, along with some other native plants and shrubs. We spent an hour just enjoying the multitude of colours and smells of the flowers, a fine way to end the day.

Afterwards, it was time to head home and rest our feet and plan on where to go next time.  

 A DATE WITH MY DARLING WIFE

YOU CAN CLICK ON THESE FEW PICTURES AND VIEW THEM IN THEIR LARGER SIZE

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE PICTURES FROM THE DAY, INCLUDING UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH A CHOO-CHOO TRAIN !

The City of White Rock is located south of Vancouver BC, along the northern shore of Boundary Bay which derives its name from being divided between Canada and the U.S. by the 49^th parallel.

The Salish people have been living in the area for over five thousand years, with the Semiahmoo First Nations have multiple villages around Boundary Bay both north and south of the present day international border.

Today Annette and I were visiting White Rock to have a walk along the beach and the 1,542 foot long pier which is always a favourite thing to do. The tide was at its high level today, even though the tide charts state it should have been low tide.

At low tide, the water recedes quite far exposing expansive amounts of sand areas to walk along. That was disappointing for Annette, as she really looked forward to walking along the exposed sand.

Instead we settled for a stroll along the high tide line and then headed for the pier. The White Rock Pier is listed as Canada’s longest pier at 470 meters, or 1,542 feet. However you measure it, it’s a long way to the end.

The city had to rebuild the pier in 2019 due to storm damage and part of the rebuild was adding historical information boards about the White Rock area along the walkway. It made for an informative walk and helped to break up the long trip to the end of the pier.

After our “long walk on a long pier”, we had a light dinner at one of the local restaurants and then treated ourselves to ice cream at a takeout ice cream parlour.

The advertised rain was still holding off, so we headed over to the north side of White Rock to visit Crescent Beach.

We wandered our way over there, taking side streets which hugged the coast line. We stumbled across a small park named Kwomais Point Park. Kwomais is a native word meaning “place of vision” and the point of land was used by the First Nations Semiahmoo people as both a look out for their enemies and as a place for spiritual visions. I don’t think I had ever been in this park or at the lookout point, however, checking to see if there was a geocache here, I discovered I found the geocache in January of 2008! So, I guess I have been here before, huh.

After the park we continued on to Crescent Beach were we took a short stroll along the pathway and enjoyed the ocean views. The village of Crescent Beach has a block long main street containing some excellent small restaurants, but as we eaten earlier we declined on stepping inside. 

We wrapped up out short visit by taking a rare selfie and began to walk back to the car just as the advertised rain began spitting on us. As daylight was fading and the sun was going down, it was time to wrap up our day-date and head for home.    

 KANAKA CREEK PARK IN MAPLE RIDGE

Kanaka Creek has its origins in the hills in the northeast of Maple Ridge and winds its way down to meet the Fraser River as its endpoint. Metro Vancouver has created a linear park which protects more than 11 KMs. of the creek. 

Today my honey and I joined a host of other nature lovers and enjoyed a late winter afternoon in the sun in the lower section of the park at the confluence of Kanaka Creek and the Fraser River.

Kanaka Creek is named after the Hawaiians who had joined as crew on the Hudson Bay Company's ships as they sailed north from southern seas loaded with goods purchased in trade with partners in Asia.

When the ships reached Fort Langley across the river from Maple Ride, some Hawaiians left the ships and rowed across the river to live and eventually married into the Katzie First Nations band. 

Nearing its terminus, Kanaka Creek meanders across a flood plain in oxbow fashion before it straightens and runs into the Fraser River. 

In early settler days, a logging railway ran from the forests at the foot of the mountains down to rivers edge. Here there was a dumping ground for the trains and a log sorting area where the logs where sorted by size and species, then boomed together for a trip downriver to one of the many mills on the river.

The wide pathway from the parking lot to the rivers edge is actually the old train bed which makes for an easy walk for everyone.

We enjoyed our walk, with Annette out to get her exercise and myself just meandering along taking pictures and enjoying the views and the history of the park.

After an hour or so we had our required steps in, just in time as the clouds were moving in to eclipse the sun to cool down the temperature as the day came to an end.

Time to go home for a warm cup of tea and a hearty meal of home made soup, perfect for a chilly winter's day.

 ALL PICTURES OF OUR AFTERNOON WALK CAN BE FOUND HERE ON MY FLICKR WEB SITE 

   

 Criss Crossing in Chilliwack

I picked up the three Junior Woodchuks early on Saturday so that they may embark on another Grand Adventure with Grampa. First up was a trip to the Chilliwack Fish Hatchery located on Chilliwack Lake Road. The hatchery is located in the Chilliwack River Valley, 20 kilometers from the intersection of Vedder Road and Chilliwack Lake Road.

As you drive further into the valley, you begin to gain elevation, and to match your elevation gain, the temperature drops a few degrees. Knowing this in advance, I had the kids prepped by packing their warmer coats for this early day excursion.

Arriving at the hatchery, the first sign we seen (after the Fish Hatchery sign, of course), was a warning sign that bears were seen in the area. This did not worry me as A) the chance of actually seeing a bear was low, and B) I have bears walking through my yard and on my front porch most nights.

So of course, 5 minutes later the kids say "Grampa, there's a bear" !
The bear looked to be a two year old, running along the inside of the hatchery property trying to figure how to get out to the creek. Eventually a work truck scared him off and that's the last we seen of the bear.

It is early in the season, so only Chum salmon were present in the fish ladders and the pens. They are also called Dog salmon as they do not taste as good as other salmon. That did not stop the hordes of fishermen lining the miles of river bank from trying to land a returning fish.

We walked around the hatchery property and checked out all the fish pens; some where empty, some had fry waiting to be released into the river once they reached the right age.

By now it was getting lunch time and the kids voted on a fast food joint to load up on chicken strips and fries.
This is also where we met up with Brother Ken and his wife Linda who would be joining us for the next stage of our adventure - Geocaching!

I had picked out three caches in our current Chilliwack area, all three were located in local parks.
The first cache took a bit to find as the co-ordinates were a ways off, but find it we did.

We signed the log book in the cache, then wandered across the street to the elementary school so the kids could burn off some energy on the playground.

After a sufficient amount of sliding and swinging, we headed a few blocks over to Sardis Park which has a small lake at its centre. The park held two caches around the lake, so we enjoyed a nice walk around the lake as we went from one cache to another.

Of course, once we found both caches the playground had to be tested to see if we up to "kid code". Apparently it was as the kids did not want to leave.

Ken and Linda headed off to do some shopping, while the kids and I headed in the general direction of home.
Of course, if the Clayton General Store happens to be down the block from another cache I had in mind, that's just a happy coincidence.

The Clayton General Store is inside an old company store built out of the same bricks which were made onsite. Old time buildings throughout much of southern BC were built using Clayton bricks.
The store is also renowned for its vast collection of old time candies, as well as candies from other parts of the world.
And what kind of a Grampa would I be if I didn't spoil the kiddies by buying them a food item containing fast acting sugar?

Lastly, we headed back into Mission and found a couple of more caches just to round out the day's findings.
By now it was almost dinner time: time to get the kids back home to their parents where they were finally allowed to open their nutritious candy collection.

Another fun day with Grampa while the kids experienced new locations and learned new things. Grampa had fun showing them around his extended "backyard" as well.


Click HERE to see the rest of the pictures from the day's Grand Adventure

 End Of Summer Visit to Kelowna

The Pedersen clan made a late summer visit to Kelowna BC, a destination we usually visit once or twice a year. Brother Alan and his wife Nancy make the trek to Kelowna twice yearly to visit their son Christopher who lives in Kelowna. For Annette and myself, and brother Ken and his wife Linda, it is a good reason to make it a family road trip where we all get to visit and play in another town, as well as enjoy a visit with Christopher.

YOU CAN RIGHT CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE ALL PICTURES ON THE PAGE.

Click here to see all the pictures from the weekend. There are many to see and they help to do justice to the Kelowna scenery; so much so you will add it to your next vacation ideas !  😀

Annette and I made the trip late on the Friday afternoon after visiting Samantha and the kids on the way out of town. By the time we made the four hour drive to Kelowna, we had just enough time to check into the hotel and then meet the group for dinner.

Christopher is our resident tour guide in Kelowna and he picked a brewery with outside seating as our dinner spot. Beers and pizza were the main items on the menu and those went over well with the group.

With thirsts quenched and bellies full, and our catch up conversations done, we adjourned for the night making plans to meet at a local favourite breakfast location in the morning. 

We met in the morning, ate too much for breakfast, which seems to be the norm these days, then headed over to a local farmers market a few blocks away. As outdoor markets go, this was a fairly large one with a good mix of craft artisans and farmers themselves selling their harvest. Both Annette and I were wanting to buy some farm goods but we were still to be on the road for a couple of days, so the food would spoil before we returned home.

After the market, we headed to one of the weekend's highlights, that being walking part of the Kettle Valley Railway. Then railway itself is long defunct but dedicated and passionate local activists worked hard to save the rail right away for recreational use for hikers, bicyclists and horse riders. The gem of the trail is a 12 mile section which includes 18 trestles as the railway snakes through Myra Canyon. While we were not going to attempt all 12 miles, if you access the park from the Myra Canyon end point, you reach trestle #18 in a kilometer, and then within the next kilometer are another five trestles.

That we could accomplish as a nice walk for most of us, for a couple of us (including myself) that was a stretch but we did it anyways. The roundtrip amounts to 4 kilometers, for those considering the trip.

After the walk we rewarded ourselves with a visit to a local cidery. Annette had enjoyed a cider at a Fraser Valley brewery during the summer when we stopped for lunch. Annette discovered the cidery itself was in Kelowna, just 15 minutes away from Myra Canyon Park.

The Soma Craft Cidery is a small batch cidery, meaning they make small batches of cider throughout the year but the cider flavours change dependent on the season. Unfortunately they did not have any stock of Annette's chosen cider, but we did have a sampling of their current four batches of cider. After the tasting, Annette and Linda both opted to buy the blueberry cider; it was pricey but apparently yummy, so I'm told.

After the cidery, an early dinner was in order, so we voted to visit a local Chinese food restaurant which some of the gang had previously visited. This provided a chance for more catch up conversations and the expected retelling of old, embarrassing family stories involving those present and not present.

  

After dinner, Chris suggested going to a viewpoint at Dilworth Mountain Park, which offers a terrific view of Kelowna from the east, and just happens to be the perfect location to watch the sun set in the west. It was an excellent suggestion as it made for a memorable ending to the day. We had enjoyed sunny skies through the day, which kept the temperature relatively warm, but Fall was on it's way and we needed our warm clothes to keep us toasty as we enjoyed the red sky caused by the setting sun.

Next morning, another highlight fieldtrip was on the books - a ride aboard the Kettle Valley Steam Train which runs for 10 kilometers along a restored section of the Kettle Valley railway bed. The trip starts on the western outskirts of Summerland, in Prairie Valley. The trip takes you around the local mountains and ends south of Summerland at the Trout Creek Trestle, another spectacular hand built train trestle restored by the local volunteers.

It was such a wonderful trip, the train moved slowly allowing the tourists the full experience of the train ride itself, as well as being able to take in the grandeur of the scenery. The conductor had a running monologue about the local history and geography of the area, plus he also informed us that the engine which was pulling the train was the same engine which had been pulling the train when Billy Miner robbed the train near Mission, B.C. in 1904. That was Canada's first train robbery!

After the train ride we split up and went our own ways. Ken and Linda were headed to Penticton to hit a local outdoor flea market, while Alan and Nancy were returning Chris to Kelowna, and Annette and I were heading down to Penticton to visit Annette's mother.

We all arrived back in the Vancouver area late in the day, seemingly to all arrive home in the 7.30 - 8.00 PM time frame.

Annette and I were quite happy with our Kelowna visit; we got to visit with family, got to see Christopher which we only do so now once or twice a year, and we had several new tourist experiences which were quite enjoyable.

Come October 1 you need to have your snow tires on in BC to travel the mountain passes; we headed back down to the Coast on September 29th. As we reached Pennask Summit on the Coquihalla Connector between Kelowna and Merritt, a rain shower had just passed through and the 3 degrees Celsius temperature at the summit turned the passing rain shower into snow as the clouds surmounted the mountains and reminded us that winter comes early in the BC mountains.