Vancouver

Fountain in front of Lonsdale Quay Market

 First full day in Vancouver started off with SeaBus ride to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver.  The first picture is of the entrance to the Lonsdale Quay Market.  There are lots of great shops in the market: food shops, trinkets, even some toy shops. We, my travel buddy Kevin and I, got some apricots and apples from the fruit stand because they were both locally grown. The apple was from Okanagan... around 180 miles from the market, not bad for local.

The view from North Vancouver is rather nice even for a cloudy day.  On the first night we had walked around the convention center which is seen in the second picture on the lower left as the white sails. 

At the edge of the Quay is this look out tower.  For those of you who know me well, you would know that I would never in my right mind climb to the top of that thing... and you are still correct. I got to the top floor of the building it was attached to while Kevin climbed up more to get more pictures of the city and harbor.  Directly behind me from this picture of the lookout platforms is a large crane that blocked most of the view but with creative image selection we got some good pics.

They were setting up for a concert in the park area near the fountain as part of Summer Fest.  We didn't get to stay for the concert because were planning to go meet some friends across town and had to catch the SeaBus back. 

Fountain from above

This is a view of the fountain from where I was on the top floor of the market.  From ground level you can see details of the mosaic but from above the whole under water theme becomes more apparent. We used the fountain for a picnic bench while eating the apples and apricots and enjoying the view of the city between the crane.  It was a great way to start the day in the morning.  We saw lots of families walking about and enjoying scenery as well.

Walking along the harbor we came across various garden patches like this one on the right. Many have some historical connection in relation to unity among nations.  The plaque below the statue shows flags of both Canada and South Korea for this particular.

One of my favorite stops walking along the water has these carved Greeting Figures of the Squamish Nation.  They were at the entrance of a pavilion greeting visitors to the Trans Canada Trail.  The next few pictures show them from various angles.  Each of the carvings have a lot of great character.  The plaque on the first picture explains what each carving represents. This pavilion is located in the west of the Lonsdale Quay where we got off the SeaBus.

Black Squirrel

After leaving the Lonsdale Quay we took the SeaBus back and with a series of trains we arrived at Central Park in Burnaby, Vancouver.  This is where I saw my first black squirrel! Of course it didn't feel like posing for a picture, so you can see it running away in the picture here on the right.  I think I counted three by the time we got left the park. There were also gray squirrels at the park but those I can see any day.

Over all it was a great day in Vancouver, lots more pics that didn't make the cut but I may post them at a later time.  Next stop Seattle... Meet Me Outdoors.

Going on a Road Trip

The summer is winding down and I have decided to go on a road trip to the western United States and part of Canada.  This is a bit of a different kind of road trip than I have done in the past were the destination was usually the point of the trip more than the journey itself.  For this it trip is all about the adventure.  What we will see along the way and how different it may be from where we started.  I will try my best to record this trek by way of pictures and anecdotes.  Share some road trip games played, show the sights, and interesting detours.

For this particular trip my travel buddy and I are starting up in Vancouver, BC Canada, by way of various trains and cars we will some how end up in Phoenix, Arizona two weeks later.  While there is lots of driving involved we do plan to hike some of the great parks that are out west to take a break from sitting in a car for long periods of time.  Both of us are not real mountain climbers but do enjoy taking in the views along the way, likely taking the easy trail or viewing from afar. 

Things I am looking forward to:

• Being out in fresh air away from the city
• Being away from city lights to be able to see a clear sky at night to look for stars and planets
• Seeing more trees than people
• Seeing new interesting wildlife 
• Hoping not to encounter a bear in the wild
• Getting a decent panorama image of natural sights - Grand Canyon especially
• Learn something new about life out west
• Much, much more...

Stay tuned, Meet Me Outdoors.

Follow Your Curiosity

Early Monday morning around 1am, I stayed up intently watching NASA TV as the newest rover, named Curiosity, land on Mars beginning its 2 year mission.  I remembered that Mars is still visible in the evening sky so when I did the SciCast for the Maryland Science Center I mentioned the mission and where to find Mars this month in the sky.   Listen to the August '12 SciCast to learn more.

Here is the transcript from the SciCast:

Early morning on August 6^th, at 1:31 am Eastern Daylight Time, the newest Mars rover landed safely on the Martian surface.  Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, is a large car-sized rover now located inside Gale Crater where it will begin a 2-year mission. The goal of the mission is to assess whether the landing site ever had, or still has, environmental conditions favorable to microbial life. 

To find Mars in the evening sky this month look toward the south western part of the sky and you will see 3 bright objects near the horizon. The star Spica, of the constellation Virgo, is the lowest twinkling bright object. About 3 finger widths above Spica, is the planet Saturn which has a yellow color and will appear as a non-twinkling point of light. Making its way between Saturn and Spica is the planet Mars, which also appears as a non-twinkling pink point of light. 

One way to confirm that you found this threesome is to look for the Big Dipper in the northwest, follow the arch of the handle to the bright red star Archturus then spike down to Spica.  Above Spica are the two planets. At the beginning of the month these 3 will appear as a triangle with Saturn as the top point, Mars on the right and Spica on the left.  On August 13^th and 14^th Mars will have moved in between Saturn and Spica forming a line.  After the 14^th of August, Mars continues to move more to the southwest creating a mirrored version of the triangle from the beginning of the month. 

 

Go outside and look up. What can you find in the night sky? This weekend August 12-13 is the peak for the Perseid Meteor Shower, look to the north eastern sky after midnight to see this event.  Later in the month, the Moon will be near Saturn and Spica on August 21st, and near Mars 22nd.  Spend the next clear night star gazing and enjoy the view, Meet Me Outdoors.

Star-Spangled Sailabration

The Tall Ships have arrived to Baltimore's Inner Harbor.  The Star-Spangled Sailabration is the start of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 and the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner.  They arrived a few days ago but I haven't been able to check them out until last night.  On the website you can find out when and where you can tour some of the Tall Ships and naval vessels that are docked along the harbor. I walked along the harbor with couple friends of mine and got a couple pictures of the ships. 

(If you are playing scvngr and are at the harbor you can do the "Ships Ahoy!" challenge and earn points as part of the B'more Outdoors trek.)

These are some of the ships that I saw.  They come from all over the world, each have various flags draped from the masts and if you come in the evening you can see them all lit up as you can see in the second picture.  I thought it was funny that this one had a pirate flag, too.  There are also the dragon boats you see in the picture that people can rent and get a closer look of the ships from the water. 

The Tall Ships will only be in the Baltimore harbor until Tuesday June 19th when they will set sail to their next destination.  The Parade of Sail will begin at 7 am when the navy vessels will depart, at 11am the Tall Ships will depart. The last of the ships are said to be out of the harbor by 1pm on June 19th.  Don't miss your chance to see these magnificent ships.  Meet Me Outdoors

Transit of Venus June 5, 2012 Event

Here are some pictures from the last in a lifetime event. The white circle is the Sun and the little black dot is Venus.  Venus from our perspective is 30 times smaller than the Sun which is why it looks so small. But really the diameter of Venus is slightly smaller than Earth's.  

There were various ways that people were able to safely look at the transit, one of the ways involved placing a funnel on the eyepiece of a telescope with a special screen on the end so the image is projected onto the screen.

Projected image of the beginning of the transit.

The tiny dot is Venus at the 10 o'clock position. The lower half is clouds. 

 I was in charge of the binoculars which were used to project an image onto a paper.  I had to aim the binoculars just right so that we could see the Sun but without looking though the eyepieces because the concentrated light and super brightness of the Sun would have damaged my eyes. 

Me showing a projected view from the binoculars onto my hand.  

 To keep people from trying to look through the eyepieces, I put a box with a hole for the binoculars to fit on and the opposite end was taped a piece of paper where the image is projected. 

Sun/Venus is projected through the box and onto the paper for safe viewing.

Another great view of the transit.  Tiny dot now farther from the edge.

There were hundreds of people who trekked out to the Maryland Science Center to see this last in a lifetime event.  The clouds even parted long enough for us to view.  I hope you got a chance to view some of it. 
Until next time, Meet Me Outdoors.