Our 30th Canada Day

In front of the 2010 Winter Olympics torch near the Vancouver Waterfront. 

On our very first Canada Day, Jay and I were still living out of a hotel as we hadn't rented an apartment yet. We were intensely concentrated on that task, having just arrived from Dubai via Hong Kong a few days prior on June 26, 1996. It is rather hard to comprehend that thirty years have passed so successfully and quickly since those initial, unsettled days.

That first, rather unplanned, experience marked the 129th celebration of Canada's birthday, and here we are today celebrating the 159th. More than forty percent of our lives and seventy percent of our time together has been anchored in Vancouver.

Heading to the waterfront on the SkyTrain today was a delightful way to say thanks to the country that has provided so much to us. 

Happy Canada Day!

Tomorrow's Canada Day!

I am actually a bit embarrassed to have to spell this out. It just dawned on me that some of you, specifically those unfortunate enough to not find themselves living in Canada, might have missed the memo. Some may wonder why the entire upper portion of North America is draped in red and white this week, eh? Sorry about that.

 

For folks south of the 49th parallel, who may be unaware, July 1st is Canada Day. Tomorrow is essentially our equivalent of the Fourth of July, just without the musket fire, the dramatic declarations, or ruining perfectly good tea by throwing it into a harbor.

While your national mythos is built on a violent, chaotic kerfuffle, ours is built on the triumph of polite, rather boring, administrative consensus. On tomorrow's date in 1867, the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada (which immediately, and politely, split itself into Ontario and Quebec) simply got together on the chesterfield, drafted some paperwork, and quietly asked London if they could consolidate into a single Dominion. London essentially said, "Sure, sounds good," and we said, "Thank you very much."

We still celebrate with the standard North American protocol, but buy our two-four of beer with a pocketful of loonies and toonies.  We do fire up the barbecue, and set off evening fireworks too. We just try to make sure the explosions aren't too loud, so as not to bother the neighbors. Sorry again for interrupting the preparations for your 4th with this bit of trivia.

Happy Birthday, Again!

Today's a big birthday party here. Canadians are feeling a tad more patriotic than usual. It's most likely due to incessant blathering and the ongoing dysfunctional circus to the south.

This is the 158th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Jay and I have lived in Vancouver for 29 of those years, arriving only days before our first. In 1996, we were rather unaware of the festivities that we'd come to love.

I started off the day by snapping the photo to the right  This is one of two small flags in a huge plant pot at the edge of our balcony.  The Fraser River and blue sky are out of focus in the background.  What I like is that the plant pot is full a type of tropical grass used in south and southeast Asian cooking and added to other products.  To me, the lemongrass sort of showcases the welcoming nature of this country.  Canada is proud of its diversity and considers it a great strength.  Canada also looks back at an imperfect past and towards a brighter future in an inclusive spirit.

For as long as I can remember, Jay and I have always tried to go to the Vancouver Waterfront on Canada Day.  There are, of course, a multitude of way folks can celebrate the day.  We love the crowds of people of all ages.

Our recent month away was physically demanding and we weren't really keen to do a lot today.  So we pretty much spent our time near the Convention Centre for a few hours in absolutely stunning weather.  We were definitely not alone.

Canada Day 2024

 

New Westminster, BC is about 12 miles from the Waterfront in downtown Vancouver. The easiest way to get to Canada Place is to take our elevator down to the SkyTrain station and hop aboard one going in that direction. The train goes through the city of Burnaby and arrives at the start of the line in a bit over a half hour. I never drive downtown as it'd take longer, be stressful, and end up costing more because of parking. 

For years and years, it's been our habit to head to Vancouver on Canada Days. We use it as an an excuse to go downtown. We most always use it as an excuse to transfer to the SeaBus and visit the Lonesdale Quay in North Vancouver too. It's good to have a few traditions to try sticking to.  Today, we repeated these actions.  

 

We crossed back on the SeaBus to see what was happening at the Vacouver Waterfront area. As well as the celebrations, two cruise ships were in town. Cunard's Queen Elizabeth and a Disney cruise ship were docked today.

We call a gorgeous location on this earth home.  I feel privileged to be a Canadian.  This is what Canada Day 2024 meant to me on this July 1st.

Our 2023 Canada Day

The SkyTrain emerges from a short tunnel right at the base of our apartment building. We use the system when heading downtown because it's easier and cheaper than driving. 

On Canada Day, we most always use it to head to the Vancouver Waterfront to partake in the festivities at Canada Place. It takes 28 minutes to go from New Westminster to the beginning of the line. 

Today, we transferred directly to a Seabus that crosses the inlet and docks in North Vancouver. We hardly ever need to use it but we find Canada Day an excellent excuse to see what's going on there. It is a 15-minute journey. 

Here we're looking back at downtown. We then walked to the place called, The Shipyards. It is a gentrified, formerly-industrial area that's now public land. In order to make it back to meet friends at Canada Place, we took the return Seabus. We were under the 90-minute transit validity, so we didn't have to pay anything extra for our across-the-water travels.

 

We met up with our friends who live downtown.  We stopped at Jack Poole Plaza and saw a few dancers showing an aboriginal dance from a part of the Philippines.   We continued along Denman Street.

 

 

Eventually, we stopped at Olympia restaurant on Davie for some lunch.  Jay had souvlaki and I got a 10-inch chicken barbeque pizza.  And yes, it had pineapple. Pineapple is a perfectly fine choice as a pizza topping!  I bought a pitcher of beer to share with Tim.

The Richmond guys called and joined up with us when we were still at the restaurant.  After another beer together, we walked to Stanley Park.  I didn't know we'd end up on the far side, but our destination was always just ... a little further.   The evenings are light until quite late.  So when we got home after a bus and the SkyTrain it was still very sunny at 7:30 pm.  My watch showed that Jay and I have walked 15.85 kilometers today.

   

The weather was great but that's usually the case by the beginning of July.  Jay and I will always stick around and call this home during the summertime.  It's an awesome location in the best sense of the word.

Today was nice and one Canada Day that we will probably always remember.

I'm Happy I Used Blog Tags

At the bottom of most blog posts here, you'll see a few tags.  These are a way of categorizing entries for later viewing.  I ran a test of 'Canada Day' mainly because I included 13 photos in yesterday's post and wanted to see prior years.

My blog goes back to 2003, so I've been active with this project for nineteen years!  However, I have a cache of photos that no longer are on my personal web server.  As a consequence, many posts from 2005 to 2009 are missing photos.  

These images are not really gone, but I have to edit each entry to put them back into place.  It's extremely time-consuming to edit each entry one by one.  I sometimes enjoy busy work though. I think that stems from the large amounts of prep time required when getting ready for classes when I was teaching.

Interestingly, I did a few more today just so that my Canada Day tag will show posts all the way back to 2004.  If you click the photo below from 2009, you will load this blog post and many others referencing CANADA DAY.  (As the results will not fit on a single page, in the mid-point one must click 'older posts' in the footer to continue.)

Our Canada Day 2022

Yay! It was Canada's 155th birthday today. As was formerly our habit, we again returned to downtown Vancouver for the celebratory activities. With several years of COVID-19 behind us, it was a real pleasure to be under today's perfect weather conditions. More often than not, by this time of year, a high-pressure system has parked overhead for at least a slight stretch of great outside temperatures. 

This year, we decided to go directly from our SkyTrain onto a SeaBus. We'd not crossed the Burrard Inlet for quite some time.  We walked through the Quay and over to the Shipyards.  The HMCS Brandon and the HMCS Edmonton were welcoming visitors and we took them up on the offer.

   

Walking along was great and participating in life with all the other Canadians was immensely satisfying.  What a great excuse to get out in the sun!  

Today was our 26th Canada Day since living here.  We have visited the Vancouver Waterfront on them for a great many years.

We returned on the SeaBus and walked near the Convention Centre.  Three cruise ships were in port today, which added to the day's festive spirit.  Queen Elizabeth, Radiance of the Seas, and Seabourn Odyssey were boarding passengers for the trips up the Inside Passage to Alaska.  We happily observed them as we are cruising from Copenhagen to Boston in just two weeks!

We grabbed a Subway™ sandwich.  We didn't stay late but I cannot imagine a better more joyous way to spend our time.   From there, it takes 33 minutes to take the train right to the foot of our building in New Westminster.

Canada Day: Hawthorne Park in Surrey

Today was Canada Day but felt much more low-key than normal. Not only did COVID-19 take a big chunk out of the celebratory experiences, but much more so, recent news of hundreds of unmarked graves of First Nations' youth on grounds near numerous, former residential schools cast a black shadow over this July 1st.  It is a sad chapter of history that this country must face head-on but it should not completely diminish areas where Canada has shone brightly. 

Jay and I have a habit of always heading downtown to the waterfront of Vancouver.  This year we did not.  Events were cancelled.  

We did get to explore a new place quite close to where we live. I set to find another area park we'd not visited. On Google Maps, I noticed a Surrey area called, Hawthorne Park. 

We headed across the Pattullo Bridge and turned off the King George Highway before we got to Surrey Central.  It was only one street over from a route we have taken numerous times.  The Surrey Parks Department does a great job!  Many of the park facilities were obviously new.  I liked the emphasis on keeping marshlands as important and vital areas of the ecosystem.