Stanley Park is full of crazy seagulls

While in Vancouver we spent the better part of a day touring through Stanley Park. This is an absolutely amazing park and we both wished we had our bikes with us or at least the opportunity to run the trails. First of all, Stanley Park is huge! While there are a number of amenities, there is also plenty of forest and natural spaces. While we weren't able to check out the aquarium, the beaches, or some of the great little water parks for kids, we did get to do some hiking through what seemed like typical Northwest forests and along some of the coastal trails.

While I can't speak for the rest of the wildlife in the park, the seagulls are something else. Well at least one was. We stopped at a small cafe for lunch and ordered a couple of panini sandwiches. Shana and I have begun taking turns when eating at a cafe. One of us entertains Anja while the other eats, it works pretty well. In any case, a lone seagull landed near us eying my sandwich the whole way. I shooed it away and thought that was the end of it. I finished a third of my sandwich turned in my chair to take over entertaining Anja and Whoosh! right over my shoulder the seagull struck. I hadn't even left my seat and this seagull had the nerve to snatch a third of my sandwich right under my nose.

Unfortunately we didn't have the best weather in Vancouver. Although the city's tourism literature does its best to reassure you that it is sunny in the summer, we only had glimpses of the sun. However, we didn't let the weather get us down. We spent some time shopping and touring the city. We even picked up a Haida art print called 'salmon people.' The traditional art of the Pacific Northwest is beautiful and we enjoyed checking out a number of galleries. I'll post a photo of our print along with the legend some point in the future.

We also got to check out the Vancouver Art Gallery and saw the exhibit, "Monet to Dali: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Art Museum." Shana and I both greatly enjoyed the exhibit as it followed the historical journey from the original impressionists all the way to the surrealists. The photo to the left is a clock that is outside the museum counting down to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.


A big thanks to Nathan Gossai for identifying the yellow bird below as the Western Tanager. In that spirit, we have two additional challenges. Name that fungus and name that flower. We found both of these in Stanley Park, and have no idea what they are. Any help is appreciated.


To leave you all with a final little anecdote. The quote of the trip comes from a grungy looking vagabond we ran into one evening. We were on our way to the skytrain and Anja was in full force testing out her voice, "bah bah bah bah bah." As we crossed paths with this character he says, "that's what I said, and they arrested me for drunkenness."