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Pretty flight. More later. 

O-Canada

So long Vancouver, it's been fun. I'll see you again sometime. 

Vancouver from above

From the reception on the 34th floor. 

Half-painted aquarium

Pouring this morning so off to the aquarium today. When I got there it wasn't bad but super-crowded in short order. The aquarium itself has a good assortment of animals but fails on benches, restrooms, and rain protection. Their only cafe is outdoors and there's really no covered place to eat, just some umbrellas over a few of the tables.  Odd point if failure for a place in the Pacific Northwest.  They do have some great stingrays, fabulous frogs, quite a few snakes, a number of jellies, an octopus, and a really nice Amazon experience.   By about 2pm I had my fill of the crowds and kids, so it was back on the bus to the city and a cup of hot cocoa in a quiet cafe, followed by a trip to the waterfront when the rain subsided for a few minutes. 

Here's a few pages of the sketchbook from today. 

Low tide

Today Anna was facilitating class, so I went off to enjoy the beaches. There was a really good low tide at 6am that was still good at 9.  Flotsam up here in BC seems to consist mostly of purple shells - zillions of tiny muscles - and small kelp.  You don't get the huge kelp that I find in Monterey. You do get otters, though!  There was a whole family (with four young ones) playing around and they came up on the sand and rocks and ran around and rolled and rolled in the sand. It was very cool to watch   

I walked a couple of miles around by the water, stopping to sketch along the way. The sketches came out well, here's s half-decent photo of one. 

 

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy so I'll likely end up at the aquarium. 

Culture or something like it

We started at a lovely Japanese garden, sketching and enjoying zen mixed with construction vehicle fumes.  It was overcast, but the reflections off the water were fantastic. Then it was across the street to the anthropology museum which has a wonderful collection of totem poles and other carvings. Fabulous learning if the day: since 1830 they've been using laundry blueing as blue paint. This evening the art museum is open late and of course we haven't had enough culture yet!

Cool sunset colors

From my hotel room happening now. 

A day at the beach

And the garden, and the ferry.  We went to Queen Elizabeth park and enjoyed some gardens, drawing all the way of course. There's a wonderful restaurant up there with a view down toward the city and the mountains.  Great food and wonderful view.

Then it was over to Granville Island for gelato and just walking and sketching. It rained for a bit but we just stayed under cover until it passed.  Then we took one of the water taxis over to Sunset Beach and sketched and walked some more (there's a pattern here) then walked all the way back to the hotel, stopping for sushi along the way.  

Here's a mediocre iPod shot of a few pages from my sketchbook. 

Vancouver

Coming to you from the airport.  Here's a picture from the air.  

Pink clouds

Humid, supposedly with a chance of thunderstorms, but I think we're going to need a few more clouds for that. 

Friday afternoon gourmet