Back to the Mainland

I know I posted a few images earlier of my return back from Vancouver Island, but there were a few more I wanted to share. I was up early in the morning while in Nanaimo and decided to go down to the harbor and walk around. It was kind of cool to get to watch the seaplanes fly in and land. It looks like a fun way to travel and very popular around here.

Seaplane landing in Nanaimo harbor, (No I did not go on a Seaplane)

Tswassen Harbor at night

BC Ferries Tswassen Docking station

Back near Maple Ridge, Tom took me out to Cliff Falls in Kanaka Creek Regional Park where we walked around a bit and took in the sights. We also ventured over to a salmon fishery where Tom has done some work teaching along the stream and knows the man who runs the fishery. We will be interviewing him Friday because that is where a majority of the salmon used to populate Stoney Creek come from.

Kanaka Creek Falls

Perfectly round hole in a volcanic rock made by circular scouring from the water.

Kanaka Creek

We also stopped off to hike up a path into the woods on a trail that was once railroad tracks to go check out the Cedar and Hemlock trees.

Tom explains to me what the notch is in the side of the tree, a place for the spring board to go in where a lumberjack will stand on and and cut the tree from there.

A Cedar tree now becomes the nurse tree.

Canopy of Cedar and Hemlocks

Maple Leaves

Cedar Forest

Tom took me out to a clear cut area that hard to tell from this but it is actually replanted with trees, but blackberry bushes and other understory foliage is out competing them for now.

Cedar Forest

Vancouver Island

Friday morning Tom decided we go to Vancouver Island and visit his friend and former classmate Stu Johnson in Nanaimo, BC. Before we headed out we had to pick up his results to his english proficiency test for apply for Canadian residency. After we ran up to Simon Fraser University we went over to Burnaby Mountain Park with a gorgeous view of the valley.

View from Burnaby Mountain Park of the Indian Arm / Burrard Inlet looking at North Vancouver

Totems at the top of Burnaby Mountain Park

    We decided to ferry over to Vancouver Island to see his friend from school Stu Johnson in Nanaimo, BC. We took the ferry from Tswassen, BC to Nanaimo (Duke Point) which happened to be the wrong ferry. Stu lives 5 minutes from the ferry terminal in Nanaimo, BC but, this ferry we took was about 27 Km away from where he lives. It made it an adventure to say the least. BC Ferries

   Nanaimo is a nice small coastal town with a Mediterranean climate, meaning it rains slightly less over there, but it has some nice foliage. I got to see float planes come in and land in the harbor and we traveled south to Nanaimo river to go swimming Saturday.

  One thing I did learn is that in Canada they use debit cards with a chip set in them for transactions, not an RFID but a chip that makes contact with the reader instead of the magnetic strip. So some places could easily take money while others insisted we have a card with a chip in it (even though they could have just swiped our cards). Tom said in his 5 years of living here he has never encountered that problem.

  We couldn't stay over in Vancouver Island for many days unless we rented a hotel room, and got a taxi to take us back to the ferry. So Stu was gracious to let us stay with him. So we took the 8:30 ferry back to Tswassen since Stu had a wedding to attend on the mainland Sunday and we messed up and parked in Tswassen instead of Horseshoe Bay.

  The ride back on the ferry was very beautiful, so check out some of the images from the trip below.

Ticket for the Ferrry Ride over to Nanamio (Duke Point) Wrong Ferry....

Tom on the right boarding the 2 hour ferry to Vancouver Island Nanamio, BC

Sail Boat in the Strait of Georgia (Between Vancouver Island and the Mainland)

Lighthouse station near Vancouver Island

View of Mount Baker in Washington State while on the Ferry

Nanaimo Bay

Nanaimo Bay - Docking for float planes

Sunset view from the ferry ride back from Vancouver Island

Sunset view from the deck of the Coastal Inspiration ferry (built for the 2010 Olympics) 

Deck of the Coastal Inspiration ferry

Suset over Vancouver Island

Deck of Coastal Inspiration Ferry

Tom Rodengen aboard the Coastal Inspiration Ferry back to Tswassen, BC 

Queen of Alberni Ferry in the Strait of Georgia

Moon over Tswassen, BC

Me on the deck of Coastal Inspiration

British Columbia

Golden Ears Bridge to Maple Ridge, BC

Black Lab hangs out the side of a Smart car in Maple Ridge, BC 

3 Clock Dining Nook - The middle displaying the Pacific Coast time, the one on the right displaying Central Standard time and well the one of the left is supposed to be displaying the time in Austria where Nina is from.

Mr. Sapperton, Tom and Nina's cat, waits at his automatic feeder for it to dispense. He's also discovered a way to reach up inside of it to pull food out as he pleases.

Friday morning Tom fries up a delicious breakfast of an egg sandwich and hash browns.

Fried egg, cheese, mayo, Roma tomato, lettuce on an English Muffin with seasoned hash browns.

    So I have made it to British Columbia safe and sound via a flight to Seattle, WA and then a 3 and a half hour bus ride north to Surrey, BC where I met Tom at the Campbell River Store. It was great to see Tom as he was excited to share what he knows about the area with me as we toured around BC. This is my first time passing into Canada and I can't say I was not excited, but also unsure of the whole process.

   Tom attends Simon Fraser University as a Ph.D student studying oceanography and resource management. While here I will get to document the ecological restoration project of Stoney Creek near Simon Fraser University and conduct video interviews of community members in regards to Stoney Creek and past area restoration projects.

   Today we will be venturing out to Vancouver Island for a few days to check out the scenery and head back Sunday.  Monday is a Canadian civic holiday, as Tom tells me it was added to keep up with the amount of American holidays. This might work out in our favor to get images of the project and some B-Roll video as well that day while everyone is busy.

  Until next time.
This is Ray signing out from British Columbia

Jason + Raquel: Minneapolis Engagement Session

I met up with the beautiful couple, Jason and Raquel in Minneapolis Saturday to take their engagement photos. Jason and Raquel will be getting married at the beginning of September in Marquette Michigan. 

Enjoying the view of Minneapolis

Jason + Raquel dance above Minneapolis 

Hanging out in front of the Northrup Auditorium

Cleary Lake Regional Park

    Our journey to Lakeville to obtain Erika's license plates for her car from the dealership lead us to take Aspen to a dog park we never been to before. In Prior Lake Minnesota there is a beautiful dog park part of the Three Rivers Park District named Cleary Lake Regional Park, 28 acres of fenced off leash dog utopia. If you plan to go the park it does cost $5 if you do not have a $35 annual pass. The dog park is in a prairie setting with a few young trees and many mowed trails to walk along. It features a bathroom, potable water and a small swimming pond that is thankfully gated off. I say this because there are times when going to a dog park with water when you want to keep your dog out for reasons of algal blooms or you just don't want to handle a wet dog. 

   Aspen is no stranger to water, just not water deep enough where he actually had to swim. A tall Bernese  Mountain Dog is entertaining to watch to say the least. While labs with their webbed feet gracefully doggy paddle under the water, Aspen paddles like an old steamboat paddle slapping the water surface. I assume he is trying to stand on his hind legs and keep his head above the water surface. When he does reach a shallow enough area he tries jumping through the water to get out. Thankfully he is not afraid to swim and enjoyed going in and out of the water.

  Eventually we plan to visit more dog parks on our ventures and with the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of the greater Twin Cities, Play Pals events.

Aspen paddle boats through the water. 

Aspen paddles through the water.

Aspen thrashes through the water.

Dogs run around the pond area.

Aspen chases other dogs around the pond at Cleary Lake Regional Park.

Congratulations Erika

   Congratulations to Erika and her classmates on completing their bachelors of social work program at Winona State University. These ladies have put so much time and effort to earn their bachelors degree, I know they have a bright future ahead of them.

    I am very proud of Erika for pursuing her bachelors degree and doing so well in school.