Well, it was quite a late night last night after our most pleasant evening with our new-found Canadian friends, and there was lots to be done getting all our things into the bags they needed to be in to travel home. Eventually though we were packed and the back of the Jeep was loaded.
First stop was Denny's for a real Canadian breakfast - well, brunch really by the time we got there! (They decided to resurface Burrard Street, which was between us and Dennys, which meant a good deal of gridlock in our part of town).
After brunch we headed south over Burrard Bridge - bypassing Granville Island for more peace! We followed the coast around west and south, stopping at Hastings Mill Park from where we got this view back of downtown - it was another cloudy morning.
Hastings Mill Store is the oldest building in Vancouver - it survived a fire in Gastown and was moved here in 1930, and is now a small museum.
Next stop was Jericho Beach, with tree trunks lined along the beach in regimental fashion
We followed Marine Drive round to Point Grey and through UBC grounds, stopping at the Museum of Anthropology. We didn't have time to go in, but we took the view across to the north
and looked at the totem poles
And the impressive museum building itself.
Further round we stopped and saw acres of logs floating off the shore, some being moved by tugs.
Next stop was Richmond - a shopping mall - though we didn't buy anything! I think we were ready to be on our way home, and our minds weren't on shopping.
And so to Vancouver Airport, getting the car back with 5 minutes to spare and checking in easily if rather early. A final shot of Tim Horton's, a check of e-mail...
And some books for the journey.
So to the gate - this is the Air Transat flight for Manchester sitting in front of the mountains
and our plane being prepared
Despite having access to a wireless hotspot, this page was only just ready to post when our flight was called, and I didn't want to pay Telus $10 and still not get it uploaded, so it will have to wait until we reach London. In return for your wait, you get a few more pictures from the plane as we set off.
We taxied out to the west end of the airport, giving us good views to the northeast
and to the north (that's a plane coming in, not dirt on the lens!)
It felt very close to the water's edge!
We took off (as far as we could work out) to the south east with views of Point Roberts and the US coastline, then turned east and got views of Mount Baker
This "old friend" from our days in Victoria seemed much closer from up here.
Then the sun set to our left, turning the clouds pink beneath us, before the light quickly failed (the effect of travelling rapidly east).
So there we are. somewhere over Canada, signing off until tomorrow.
The next update should be from England!!