British Columbia: Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and Okanagan Valley August 20-28

Hello Folks who visit this blog. This is the last post for the trip! I may continue to use this blog to post travel pictures, but since school is around the corner, I probably will be sedimentary for a while.

It is hard to believe that the trip is finished and I must now be confined to one place- the campus. Nevertheless, it has been a very worthwhile trip for me and I would not trade anything for it.

I hope through these posts, I was able to share with you my joy and my learning. Thank you for supporting me along the trip and also when I was in Ottawa. Now that I am in Vancouver, I actually miss Ottawa. : )

Hope to visit Ottawa again in the near future.

Cheers,

David Y Chen


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Forest fire in the Okanagan Valley...


Beach along the Okanagan Lake


Peek-a-boo....I seeeee you (This"advertisement board" is actually about the size of three quarters of a bus).


Stanley Park Vancouver





If I recall correctly, this is called the Incinerator's Rock along the Tofino area.


one of the surfer beaches at Tofino


MacMillan Park on the island. It is right of the highway and has really really old Douglas fir trees and Red Cedars as well. Admission- free. Absolutely stunning to walk in.


Parliament of BC


Butchart Gardern

Firework display at night





Performance by "Children of Celebrities," a Vancouver island local band at the garden


Gas Town Cheese apartment...


Marine Building in Vancouver. One of the oldest building in downtown Vancouver.

Atlin Lake, Northern BC August 19th

Atlin lake belong to Northern B.C. Oddly though, it is only accessible via a highway in Yukon. One animal that I also saw was porcupine, but it ran off the road too quickly that I couldn't capture it.

Grizzly bear mama with grizzly youth bear (however you define youth is another question


Black bear mama with baby black bears...





Just to think...this car only had 30,000 km when it arrived in Ottawa!


I think these are baby mountain goats


Atlin Lake Town area

The trip was costly...

Dempster Highway August 10th-14th

Dempester Highway...what is so special about this road? Well to start off, it is the only highway that I have driven on this trip that is entirely made up of dirt road, mud road, and gravel road. When I say gravel, it's not the nice little pebble stones you see occasionally in city road constructions. I am talking about rocks the size of your fist kind of gravel!

The highway is about 760km long and has only one gas station and one accommodation site on the way (at Eagle Plain). It was built under Prime Minister Diefenbaker as an initiative to explore the North. At that time, speculation of oil and mineral deposits prompted the government to construct that highway.

Along this highway, the landscape is truly amazing. It is something to be experienced and seen with one's own eyes. There are very few vehicles that traverse the highway, especially in the northern stretch of Eagle Plain. Therefore it is just you, the road, and whatever animals that may be in the tundra. It is a whole other world on this highway.

Despite ruining all ridges and threads on my tires (it is smooth as skate rink ice now) and other damages sustained while driving, I consider it the climax of my trip north if not the entire trip. I would recommend anyone to drive that road- just bring money, gas, food, and spare tire, and sleeping bag!









Grizzly bear...this is one out of six that I saw on that day...


Amazing NorthWest Territory landscape

(the first two pictures are taken at a "lake." The quotation marks exist because this is actually part of a construction site or at least very close to one.










Black bear rolling on the ground...


My best guess is...herds of Elks!


I am fairly proud of myself for making it there....





Tombstone National Park in Yukon

August 09, 13, 14 at Dawson City

Annual Arts Festival at Dawson city- Parade





Diamond Tooth Gerties- Casino and show at Dawson city


Our city tour guide who showed us around few buildings in Dawson city and told us some fringing ghost stories!




Views from the Midnight Sun dome. The name comes from the story that people once try to gather at the dome to watch the midnight sun together. Songs were sung, poetry were read, drinks were pour- but the sun set before the midnight that day!



These horns are remnant of two moose fighting during mating season. They locked themselves so tightly that they were not able to part!

Aug 01-02 Banff and Jasper area

Angel Glacier at Edith Cavell Mountain


Looks like Superman



15Km Hike to Louise Lake glacier


Peyto Lake


Bow Lake