July 21st, 2025
GAS: $1.63 a litre CDN here on the North Shore = $4.51 USD a gallon
CDN $: $0.72 USD
We got off the ferry at Horseshoe Bay and swung by Pat & Therese’s place to pick up the keys for Fran’s sister, Sandra’s, North Van apartment where we are staying for 8 nights and a parcel that had arrived. We got parked behind Sandra’s building, Doug hauled everything up to the third floor and Fran began to unpack while he went to the courier company’s office see if perhaps he could pick up his passport before they deliver tomorrow to Pat’s place but he was unable to do so.
Right now, Sandra’s apartment is comfortable with a nice breeze. She has portable AC unit we can use if it should get too hot so we’ll see. The temp here now is a little warmer than Nanaimo, heading to about 24F / 76F and dropping to 14C / 58F at night. Fingers crossed it stays in this range for the next 8 nights!
So we don’t have many plans this week or for that matter for much of our time in the lower mainland – a few friend and family visits and of course, Doug will visit his Mom once a week or so. Fran’s sister will be in town a few times during our stay so we’ll catch up with her on those days.
Sidebar: this past week we both reached a milestone of 2000 days using Duo Lingo to keep up our Spanish!
Tuesday (the SHORTEST DAY IN HISTORY – the earth spun faster than ever),
Earth completed a full rotation in slightly less time than usual today (July 22), making it one of the shortest days ever recorded.
The difference was just 1.34 milliseconds less than the standard twenty-four hours — not something you’ll have noticed — but it’s part of a puzzling trend in Earth’s rotational behavior that has been unfolding in recent years. If it continues, a second may need to be subtracted from atomic clocks around 2029 — a so-called negative leap second, which has never been done before.
The speed of the earth’s rotation isn’t fixed. Long ago, a day was much shorter than the 24 hours — or 86,400 seconds — we’re now accustomed to. According to a 2023 study, a day on Earth was approximately 19 hours for a significant part of Earth’s early history, due to a balance between solar atmospheric tides and lunar ocean tides. However, over deep time, a day on Earth has become consistently longer. The primary culprit has been tidal friction from the moon, which has caused it to gradually move farther away from Earth. As it moves away, the moon saps Earth’s rotational energy, causing Earth’s rotation to slow and days to lengthen.
During our week at Sandra’s place, Fran went to drop off her wedding rings at a local jeweler. Her rings are soldered together (there are 3) and one morning while we were in Ontario she woke up and where the soldering is, it had cracked vertically and was pinching her finger. Josh checked with his jeweler but they couldn’t get it done in time before we left Ontario. Fran had reached out to our friend, Therese, knowing we’d be in North Van (and she recommended Bishop’s) for about 5 weeks and awaits an estimate which she got on Friday and the ring will be ready on August 6th.
Doug’s passport arrived at Pat & Therese’s house on Tuesday afternoon and he went over to pick it up. He’s got the fancy schmancy new one with a plastic page inside. Fran got hers in 2023 and has the standard one. Pat said they got new ones in 2024 and also have the new kind. Fran will have to wait until 2033 to get hers…..
We had Pat over for dinner on Wednesday as he’s alone this week while Therese is attending a music camp on Vancouver Island. Fran just made a simple pasta meal with Caesar salad and bread followed by store bought peach pie for dessert. Don’t you love the summer for the assortment of fruit available?
Fran went for a couple of walks and coffee in the mornings for a few hours in the morning with her longtime friend, Gaye, while Doug went to visit his mom at her nursing home in New Westminster once a week. Doreen is now 86 and is about the same as last year; doesn’t each much, talk much or do much of anything really; very sad. Her memory is failing and she looks very frail.
We heard from Dave and Annette (friends from Calgary) and made plans to get together with them tomorrow while they are in town on a short stop enroute to the Island. We met them for a walk in Burnaby for a walk in the Burnaby Lake area before lunch at a nearby Denny’s – we were all able to take advantage of the 55+ menu and on top of that it was Senior’s Thursday, and we got 15% off! As we were all concerned about traffic, we left the restaurant around 3:15 and we headed back to North Vancouver while they returned to Pitt Meadows.
We’ve had warming temperatures in the apartment reaching nearly 30C / 86F so we had to resort to the AC again in the late afternoon.
We had our monthly KEGS meeting on the Sunday while we were there too.
One morning, we took a drive into the city; first to check out the Kitsilano area and then West End as possible summer destinations in future years. We went as far west in Kits as UBC and took a short drive through – it has grown immensely since Doug’s days there from 81-84.
Interesting:
We went out out for dinner on the Sunday night to an Italian place we’ve been to before and it was very good; we even had gelato for dessert and Fran brought home half a pizza for her dinner tomorrow night as Doug will not be home. It warmed up some overnight and we used the AC before bed and half way through the night Fran needed the fan to help her sleep. Sandra’s apartment is a one bedroom but there are two twin beds; one in the bedroom and one in the dining room so we don’t actually sleep in the same room.
On the Monday evening Doug went downtown and met his college friend, Pete, for drinks, dinner and listened to music in two venues.
Things we’ve seen on our walks in North Vancouver:
Tuesday, after our morning routine, we cleaned the apartment and after brunch we washed the sheets and towels we’d used, pack up the truck and left Sandra’s to move two blocks to our new accommodation at our friend’s Therese and Pat’s where we’ll still for almost four weeks. We unloaded some of the truck, enough to get us through the first couple of days and then Therese walked Fran through the workings of the house, what to pick and take care of in the garden and then we enjoyed a nice meal sitting outside to which their daughter, Jocelyn and Therese’s father, Roy, joined us. By 9is we were all pretty tired and went to bed. We are in the second floor bedroom and as there is no AC it was pretty warm up there as today warmed up quite a bit. We had two fans going and that helped a great deal but there is a bed in the basement that Therese made up for us to use on hot nights.
Therese and Pat are avid Pickle Ball players. We have played once or twice so it was like the first time again and we enjoyed it; a good sport we’d like to pick up once we settle.
That night Fran moved downstairs to sleep on the futon down there and it was much cooler for her. Wednesday we all did our own things (they had to pack and Pat had to finish up a bit of work). Fran joined her sister for a happy hour dinner and was back by 6 as Sandra had to catch a ferry back to Gibsons. Pat & Therese were up early on Thursday to get on the road to beat the traffic on the Trans Canada and we began our stay alone.
Doug went out for a run and didn’t get very far; he caught a piece of raised pavement and had a spill. Took him a while to get up and a little while into it, two young men came along and helped him up and to get back. He’d hit is right shoulder quite solidly, with a scrape and some broken skin, his right knee had a couple of abrasions, his glasses got knocked sideways so he had a cut on his nose and the top of his right ear as well as a couple of small cuts on his right hand. Luckily, nothings seems broken including his glasses. Fran helped him ice up, clean the cuts and he rested much of the day.
The next three weeks were mostly routine with a few occasions interspersed. Fran picked berries and apples a few times to make some fruit crisp. Sunday, the 3rd, in the afternoon we took the 240 bus into the city to see the Pride Parade – we’ve never been to one. We were not that impressed; it was mostly people marching in sponsored groups with the rainbow theme, disco music and some costumes. It was hard to find a good place to watch and more than 70% of the time the march stood still. We did take a few photos:
We went for a cold drink and went back on the bus after walking along Robson Street for a bit.
The 240 bus has a stop 2 blocks from us and goes across the Lions Gate Bridge right into downtown Vancouver. Takes about 35 minutes and really doesn’t have that many stops. On the weekend the fares is all considered “one zone” so it’s pretty cheap at $2.25 a person! If you drove downtown you’d be lucky to find parking for twice that price for an hour!
Monday morning, Doug tried to run and was successful with little pain in his shoulder so he was happy. The day after he fell it hurt just to walk. Today is a holiday, “BC Day” and we planned to go to Stanley Park taking advantage of weekend holiday fares but the weather is quite overcast and cool so we’d rather go on a sunny day. We’ll leave that for next weekend so we’ve had a pretty chill weekend overall.
For the past few months, Doug has been feeling something is wrong with his back teeth and finally decided to go get them looked at so he booked an appointment with a local dentist but when he advised them of the issue he was having, they referred him to a dentist in West Van. His appointment is today, Tuesday the 5th, so he took the truck and drove over and picked up a few groceries on the way back. Turns out his bridge implant was loose so they tightened it up after some back and forth on it; the dentist was a bit difficult to deal with but Doug got it done. Consult and tightening for under $300 CDN. He was pleased to have that problem sorted.
The first two weeks of August is the Harmony Arts Festival in West Vancouver. Before leaving for their camping trip, Therese recommended a few bands we should go see so tonight we thought we’d head over to see Deep Cutzz. Unfortunately it started to rain before dinner time, stopped and started again around 7:30 – the event is entirely outdoors so we passed on heading out. Hopefully, we’ll have better luck on Friday night.
It was still raining when we awoke on Wednesday and we had a few things to do. Fran had a pedi appointment in Little Italy on the east side of Vancouver (using her Mother’s Day gift certificates from Josh) at 10:45. We left a bit early, Doug picked up donuts to take to the nursing home and after dropping Fran off, he went to visit his mother.
Fran was very pleased with her service and took the bus back via downtown in order for him not to have to cut his visit short to pick her up. The rain stopped just before we arrived at the salon and it stayed dry the rest of the day.
We were invited for dinner that night at the parents of Serena’s best friend, Becky. We’ve kept in touch over the years and the girls are still friends so we reach out whenever we come to the city. Shawn and Judy, of course, invited Becky and her toddler, Hudson (her partner, Evan couldn’t make it) and they are expecting their second child in early January. The rain continued to hold off and during dinner, the sun came out. We brought a fruit crisp for dessert.
Thursday night, Fran met Gaye at the Sea Bus terminal and we joined three others at a restaurant at Brentwood Mall for dinner. There are usually 7 of us who all worked together in the early 80’s but two of us couldn’t make it. Linda, Sandy, Debbie and us all had a lovely catch up dinner. It is so amazing we’ve kept in touch over the years and wonderful when we can all get together.
Friday was a sunny day with a promise of continued dry weather for a few days as well as warming up. After morning routine things, Fran did laundry. While it didn’t end up warming up that day, it stayed dry and we went down to the Lonsdale Quay to meet Doug’s friend, Pete, to have some dinner but heading over to Millennium Park to take part in the Harmony Arts Festival to see a Neil Diamond tribute.
We had trouble finding free parking so ended up in a pay lot; this was due to the lots’ height restrictions – our truck is 6’5” and many of the lots were 6’3” or 6’5” exactly. Pete met us outside the lot and we wandered the food trucks and had some dinner. It was a pleasant enough temperature and it was dry.
We left before 8pm to head over to West Van; the parking Therese had mentioned didn’t pan out and there was no street parking so we drive along the beach front road and finally found parking outside the pickle ball courts about a ten minute walk from the venue.
It’s a nice venue on the water and you can see the Lion’s Gate bridge but it’s all flat so not every spot is a good spot for viewing. We saw Bobby Bruce’s Nearly Neil & The Solitary Band and he was pretty good. They played some stuff that was not Neil Diamond but hey, for a free concert, it was good.
The full moon came up shortly after the concert started and that was pretty cool.
Naturally the final song was “Sweet Caroline” and we picked up our chairs and left and then he played an Ozzy Osbourne song for an encore which we head from outside the venue area. We dropped Pete off at the SeaBus terminal and we were home around 10:35. Not being sleepy as yet, we watched a show, had some ice cream and went to bed.
Sunday the 10th, was a bit warmer after a few coolish days and we met up with Fran’s Uncle Dick, her cousin, Bryan and his wife, Heidi for dinner at a BC institution: The White Spot.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday got progressively hotter (up to 31C / 88F without humidex). We had no plans until Wednesday when it seemed to cool down nicely. Doug went off to visit his Mom taking donuts for the staff again, and then after some lunch went to have a visit with a university friend, Sylvia before returning to North Van. Fran’s sister, Sandra, was in the city for the day/night and we invited her to join us for dinner that night. Fran again made a crisp (just apple this time) and we had an enjoyable visit.
Doug’s last day at age 64 was the beginning of a downturn in the weather: mostly cloudy and definitely cooler. It began to rain after dinner and rained ALL night and ALL the next day. This put a damper on Fran’s birthday plans for Doug. She had two outings we could do on either day but with the weather, both were kyboshed.
We had a smaller lunch than usual and Fran present Doug with a small triple chocolate cake and some gifts. Her big 65th birthday present gift will be delivered to Serena’s as it’s from Amazon.com and we’ll want a warranty on it.
After lunch we loaded up the truck with overnight bags, extra coats that we borrowed from our hosts in case the weather improved and we went up the mountain, and drove up to Whistler. Fran had booked a studio suite at the Cascade Lodge which has an outdoor poor and two hot tubs. We got parked and checked in around 3:30, got into our room and went straight down for a soak despite the rain. It had been pouring all day so far and was letting up a bit by this time but the water was nice and hot and very relaxing.
After some time in the room and changing, we went out for dinner. Fran had already researched which restaurants had Vegan options but two were pretty lame and we ended up at Quattro which was an upscale Italian place that turned out to be quite nice. We both enjoyed yummy pasta dishes, drinks, after dinner liqueurs and they brought a lovely decorated “happy birthday” plate with salted caramels on it for Doug.
it had stopped raining by the time we finished dinner but was still quite socked in. Josh had given Doug a $65 gift certificate for Dairy Queen as one of his two gifts so we went there for dessert.
After wandering the village for a bit we went to find a nightclub for some dancing – Doug’s request for his birthday. We started at Buffalo Bill’s and last about an hour being the only ones on the dance floor to some 80’s music. After that the music went to hell and we left.
We tried another night club and couldn’t get in cause Fran didn’t have her ID – not due to confirming age but were told that was the policy all over the village; when we replied that didn’t happen at Buffalo Bill’s he didn’t relent and we gave up. Beside the music sounded quite techno and not our thing.
We returned to the room and fiddled with the TV set (we’d not brought a laptop) – now when we left on our overlanding journey in 2014, there were NO “smart tv’s”. This proved a challenge in the room as we couldn’t seem to find any cable channels that worked and we have no Netflix, Hulu or such accounts. We watched some shorts on YouTube and called it a night around ten.
Saturday morning it was still raining and Doug passed on his long run till tomorrow. It wasn’t raining and it was brighter but the tops of the mountains continued to hide themselves. Since we don’t get much opportunities for hot tubbing, we decided to do that again before leaving. We went down about 8:30, discovered the pool area does not open until ten so we went returned to the room for tea/coffee and went back at 9:00 for about a half hour. We had to check out at 10 and by that time it was raining once again so no outings for us.
On the way back to the city, we stopped near Brackendale at the Tenderfoot Creek Fish Hatchery.
This was Doug’s very first engineering job back in 1981 – after his first year at UBC and our wedding. It was larger than back then but most of the structures were the same with some additional tanks and updated aeration tower.
He had a nice chat with the young man working there who advised of the changes etc.
We then drove the back roads down into Squamish to see how much that had changed from the early 80’s and to see the bar the work crew used to frequent.
We pulled into Mickey D’s before leaving for fountain drinks and Fran had an egg McMuffin. It stopped raining by the time we got back to North Vancouver and stayed dry all afternoon with the sun try to peek out but never lasting long. The temperatures the past 3 days or so have not reached more than 19C / 67F and it feels way too early for fall!
Sunday and Monday continued mostly cloudy and didn’t warm up much. The sun did come out Sunday afternoon and it felt nice to sit in the backyard and read.
It was good weather for Doug to do one of his marathon walks on Monday during which he met up with his friend for lunch. Fran went for another seawall walk with Gaye that morning as well.
Here is a truly Canadian scene we came across:
Tuesday we met up with Sandra and Anna for happy hour at the Cactus Club at Park Royal where we enjoyed drinks and appies for dinner. We dropped off Anna at the bus stop while Sandra wanted to go to her apartment as she had an appointment tomorrow. We decided to get dessert and went to DQ for some ice cream.
Wednesday Fran got together with Sandra for a morning walk while Doug went to use his birthday gift certificate from Josh. downtown for a session in a sensory deprivation tank and lunch with his friend Pete one last time. We got laundry done and did some clean up before Therese and Pat get home tonight.
Pat & Therese arrived home shortly before midnight and Thursday morning Doug went for a run, we had a brief KEGS call and then he went off to see his mom for a final visit before we head back south of the border. Fran and Therese went for a nice neighbourhood walk.
For lunch, once Doug returned, we all piled in our truck, picked up Therese’s dad, Roy, and went out to Horseshoe Bay for lunch together. After dropping Roy off on the way back, we parked back at the house and went over to see our friends, Chris & Irene who live a few blocks away. They had just completed a 6 week road trip in a rental RV through Alberta, the Yukon and BC so we compared notes with our trip last year. A couple of her kids from her first marriage had dropped by yesterday with their kids/grandkids for a few days so we were 12 for a BBQ dinner. They have a pool in their brand new house and the kids had great fun.
It’s getting warmer again and the temperatures are quite pleasant in the mid 20’s C / 80’s F and the sun is in full force. Friday we went out early before it got too warm and the four of us played pickle ball again. It could be something we pick up once we are settled later this fall.
We had a leisurely day that day and after dinner at the house, went to hear music in the park in Lynn Valley after dinner from 7-9. The crowd was no where near as large as the one we went to a couple of weeks ago. The band was quite talented but we did not recognize about 2/3 of the songs. We did dance a few times after the break and even got Pat & Therese up!
Saturday was even warmer with lovely clear skies and it warmed up fast. Doug did his long run, Fran did yoga before joining Pat & Therese upstairs after which Therese and Fran went for a walk to run errands. For lunch we all went to a vegan restaurant Doug found in the Edgemount neighbourhood – it was very good. We sat outside under an umbrella enjoying good conversation. In the afternoon we emptied out the back of our truck to dry out the boxes and piece of carpet we keep there so that tomorrow we could fit two bicycles in there tomorrow for an outing.
We had a leisurely afternoon before making a big salad full of a variety of veggies/fruits with homemade focaccia bread and had dinner on the back patio before breaking out the cards and playing the evening away.
Sunday was a glorious day; a touch too warm in the afternoon and warm over night but the bluest of skies. Mid morning, Pat and Doug got two bikes each hooked up to our respective vehicles and we drove across the 2nd Narrows Bridge into East Vancouver. We parked next to a high school, got the bikes down and headed to Granville Island. Pat and Therese have 2 e bikes and 2 mountain bikes so Fran and Pat got the e bikes and Doug and Therese rode the normal bikes. It took us about an hour to get there almost exclusively riding in bike lanes. We walked around a bit, got some lunch and enjoyed listening to a group of young girls from Ottawa singing some oldies. We drove a bit further west across the Burrard St. bridge on the other side of water back to the vehicles. It was a very pleasant cycle with lots of scenery on such a great weather day.
We then stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back treating everyone with Doug’s gift certificate. Yummy!
Upon returning to the house, we packed up the truck as much as possible and chilled reading and relaxing for the rest of the afternoon and for dinner, we had leftovers sitting outside on the back patio playing cards till bedtime once again. We said our goodbyes since we wanted to get on the road early and off to bed we went.
We were up by 6am and out the door in twenty minutes; unfortunately ten minutes down the road, Fran realized she’d forgotten her water bottle so we turned around, got it and were on our way again. There was no line up at the border in the Nexus line and we were back in the USA before 7:30 heading to Reno to see Serena and pick up our trailer in Fallon.
To check out all our photos during this time, please click here .
