Steller sea lions in Steveston

My uncle runs a water taxi business based out of Steveston. On Sunday, May 23rd he invited us for a quick tour 10km down the mouth of the Fraser River to the lighthouse at the end of the breakwater known as "Sandheads". It's here along the rocks where we encountered sea lions basking in the sun. May is the last month of the annual Steller sea lion migration.

McDonald Beach

I have this long lost memory of being a little girl and my parents driving me out to McDonald Beach to have a picnic. The last time I visited McDonald Beach, it was probably in the early 80's. The memory's fuzzy. It was a community picnic or an Easter egg hunt, I think. I must have been no older than four.

Skip ahead 26 years.

















After a particularly eventful weekend, Sunday was our chance to chill, relax, and recover. We found ourselves going out for a leisurely drive, meandering through the East Van side streets, admiring the cherry blossoms and the houses and the views of the North Shore mountains. Super chill.

I was seeking inspiration for an outing, taking W 16th to Fraser, then down Fraser to 33rd, then up along Kingsway, then down Victoria, and eventually back west along W 49th. Queen Elizabeth Park? Trout Lake? Punjabi Market? It was after 6pm. Josh suggested we end at Jericho to catch the sunset. At that point we were closer to Kerrisdale. I had another idea. I decided to drive to the airport instead.

McDonald Beach (labeled "Woods Island Park" on Google Maps) is a Richmond city park tucked away in the north-west corner of Sea Island, just north of the Vancouver Airport at the end of McDonald Road.


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A tad off the beaten path would be an understatement, although it's easy to get to with a car. It's part boat launch, part off-leash dog park, part sandy beach, and part estuary forest. It sits hidden from civilization on the north arm of the Fraser River, across from Vancouver's Fraser River Park. Prior to colonization, it was the heart of the largest Musqueam Nation village.

Most Vancouverites don't even know McDonald Beach exists, or that a significant chunk of Sea Island was once known as Eburne, and sustained a proper community until the development of the Vancouver Airport drove them into exile.

After finding the correct road (drive towards YVR, exit on Templeton Street, and hook up to Ferguson Road which takes you to McDonald), we soon arrived at McDonald Beach, and it was really like going back in time to Richmond of my little girl memories: the smell of the Fraser and the cottonwoods. The sounds of the boats and birds. Dogs running through the fields. The smoky smell of the air and the earthy smell of the sand. Rogue logs and yellow Scotch broom. Airplanes taking off and distant views of the Lions.

We strolled up and down along the river, enjoying the tranquility and the rediscovery of this seemingly hidden park which, despite being seconds away from the airport, seemed to be far away from Vancouver as we knew it.

Next stop? Iona Park. To be continued.

Vancouver 2010 Olympics Day Six

Day six of the Olympics was Wednesday, February 17th. After work I visited my parents in Steveston and we decided to visit Richmond's O-Zone for the evening. O-Zone is the official Olympics site in Richmond where a variety of pavilions, stages, and attractions are located. We arrived at 5pm and surprisingly, there was no lineup and the crowds were minimal. While it was sunny, the was a very cold wind blowing - the first time that it actually felt wintery during the Olympics. Here are a few shots from that night:

The main stage at Richmond O-Zone. Speed skating was playing on the big screens.

Holland's Heineken House - one of the most popular pavilions in all of the Olympics.

Vancouver legend Dal Richards performing on stage

Richmond City Hall all lit up

Inniskillin winery had ice wine tasting flights - 3 for $10. Well worth it!

Ice Gate - a colourful ice sculpture by local artist Gordon Halloran

All bundled up with the red Olympics mittens!

Beautiful lanterns add to the magic of the atmosphere.

All in all, we spent about 3 hours at Richmond OZone and it was a memorable night. There was an outdoor ice rink for ice skating and live music at the big stage. Quite a few big names were scheduled to play there, including Canadian bands such as Our Lady Peace,  Hawksley Workman, and the Bedouin Soundclash.

Heineken House had a large line-up to get in, so we didn't bother, although if you had a Dutch passport, you have your own separate VIP lineup. They essentially turned Richmond's Minoru Arena into the official Dutch headquarters during the Olympics. I can't imagine how they did it. I used to ice skate in that arena as a kid... and I have a hard time believing they converted it into a beer hall, dance floor and fan club! I never did make it out there, but my sister ended up going there a few nights later with a friend and was treated to a surprise DJ set by Armin van Burrin! It's true that, despite being out in Richmond (ie: not your standard nightlife destination), it's become the hottest party venue during the Olympics.

Across Minoru Blvd from the main stage and Heineken House, between Richmond Centre and City Hall, were some more Richmond OZone pavilions. City Hall was open to the public with a variety of displays on Richmond's varied industries. Large screens showcased Olympic events happening, while public art in the form of ice sculptures and laterns added to the atmosphere. Inniskillen Winery had an ice wine tasting. My Dad, being the wine lover that he is, treated my sister and I to a flight to ice wines. Definitely an enjoyable experience. It's such a treat to drink ice wine... it's almost like a dessert wine. Very sweet, almost like syrup, but very exquisite!

My favourite part of Richmond O-Zone was BC Street. Essentially it was a pavilion put on my Tourism BC featuring all the different regions of BC. Cariboo's pavilion was great - they had a guy dressed up out of Barkerville (BC's gold rush national historic site/town) and they had various businesses set up and First Nations with informative displays. Vancouver Island had a great display where they replicated Sooke and Tofino's ecosystems. And all throughout they had representatives from the various tourism centers and local businesses happily answering questions and sharing their passion for their homes. While Ozone won't be open for much longer, if you get a chance, it's well worth a visit!

Olympic Torch Relay in Steveston

I think my blogging will taper off a little during the Olympics, because as soon as I wake up, there's music playing from David Lam Park, and I look outside and there are hundreds of people walking around, and I just want to get outside and experience it all!

It all started on Tuesday evening. After work I drove to my parent's place in Steveston where we walked down Moncton Street into Steveston village where I could have sworn it was Canada Day. Canada Day (July 1st) in Steveston is the Steveston Salmon Festival. Everyone is in red and white and everyone lines the streets in anticipation of the Salmon Festival Parade.

Well, it was just like the Salmon Festival, but in February! The same crowds in red and white, but wearing winter clothing. The excitement was exhilarating!

This Coca Cola truck goes by with people banging on drums trying to encourage the crowds to party. A little bit too cheesy, but there's your token corporate sponsorship.

Then the torch becomes visible and everybody goes NUTS and the crowds start to surge and everything's a frenzy...

And it goes by and disappears as fast as it came!

2010 Olympic torch relay map

My sister just sent me a link to an interactive map of the Olympic torch relay:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/olympic-torch-relay/olympic-torch-relay-interactive-map/

It's finishing up this Friday (with Arnold Schwarzeneggar taking it through Stanley Park? How random). But not before making its way through the Lower Mainland, including Surrey, Ladner, and my very own home town of Steveston.

That's right, the Olympic torch is making its way down Steveston Highway, to Railway Ave to Moncton Street - a block away from the home I grew up in. I'll make its way through Steveston village at approximately 5:50pm and then it'll head to Richmond's O-Zone festivities for the night.

It's a bit surreal.

You know, the Olympics have been behemoth and have overshadowed everything else here. At the same time, it's very easy to become jaded by the whole thing. "Oh, it's just the Olympic torch relay."

And yet, the little girl inside of me is just beaming to think of the Olympic torch making its way down through my old stomping grounds. I'd be foolish not to go.

Looks like somebody's going to be late for her 7pm photography class tomorrow!

More free concerts during the Olympics

So here I am thinking that I'd be in Vancouver for the majority of the free Olympics concerts (which I wrote about last week here), but I just discovered that there's quite the impressive assortment of free concerts happening in Richmond for their Olympics cultural event, O Zone.

Since I work in Richmond, there's a good chance I'll just be sticking around after work to attend some of these shows. I'm particularly interested in seeing Jill Barber, the Bedouin Soundclash, The Stills, Kathleen Edwards, Five Alarm Funk, Tokyo Police Club, and Spirit of Uganda.

The following list was taken directly from the O-Zone website  (where you can read detailed descriptions of each band, here), however I've compiled the list into chronological order below.

Friday 12-Feb-10
3:45 pm Richmond 3,500 Children’s Choir
5:15 pm The Jardines
9:15 pm Abandon Paris Band
10:15 pm Venice Queen

Saturday 13-Feb-10
5:30 pm Voodoo Allstars
8:00 pm Hey Ocean
9:30 pm Bedouin Soundclash

Sunday 14-Feb-10
8:00 pm Lions Dance and Performance
9:30 pm F.I.R. (飛兒樂團)

Monday 15-Feb-10
3:30pm Richmond Honour Choir
4:15pm Payton Rector
5:00 pm Showstoppers
6:15 pm Youth Concert Band
8:30 pm Jenn Grant
9:45 pm Kathleen Edwards

Tuesday 16-Feb-10
4:00 pm Bring Your Own Drum Featuring Vigari
5:30 pm Nisga’a, Hugh Boyd & Tetsu Taiko Drummers with MacNeill Dancers
8:00 pm SFU Pipe Band
10:00 pm Spirit of Uganda

Wednesday 17-Feb-10
3:30 pm Jillian Lebeck
5:15 pm Dal Richards
8:00 pm Jill Barber
9:30 pm Hawksley Workman

Thursday 18-Feb-10
4:30 pm Ken McCoy
6:00 pm Whiskey Jane
8:30 pm Arkells
9:45 pm Our Lady Peace

Friday 19-Feb-10
5:15 pm Tiller's Folly
8:00 pm DRUM!

Saturday 20-Feb-10
3:15 pm Rallycar
8:00 pm Ultimate Power Duo
9:30 pm Mariana's Trench

Sunday 21-Feb-10
3:00 pm Mud Dog
4:00 pm Kelly Brock
7:15 pm Babe Gurr
8:15 pm Swank
9:30 pm Dustin Bentall

Monday 22-Feb-10
7:45pm Ugetsu
9:00 pm Alex Cuba
10:15 pm Orquesta Goma Dura

Tuesday 23-Feb-10
3:30 pm From Darkness to Light - Canada’s North
3:30 pm Shiamak Presents
7:45 pm New Native Music Review
9:00 pm George Leach
10:15 pm Donny Parenteau

Wednesday 24-Feb-10
8:00 pm Tigerstyle
9:00 pm Dal Hothi and the Headlines
10:15pm En Karma

Thursday 25-Feb-10
3:30 pm Brave Waves
8:00 pm Two Hours Traffic
9:30 pm Wintersleep

Friday 26-Feb-10
4:45 pm This Means Nothing in Mexico
8:30 pm Quinzy
9:45 pm Tokyo Police Club

Saturday 27-Feb-10
3:30 pm Wonderbolt Circus
5:15 pm Wonderbolt Circus
9:00 pm The Dudes
10:15 pm The Stills

Sunday 28-Feb-10
3:15 pm Cousin Harley
4:30 pm March Hare
9:30 pm Five Alarm Funk
10:30 pm DJ Alex Merrell

Scenes from Steveston on Saturday

Steveston's my home town: a historic fishing village at the mouth of the Fraser River and home to Canada's largest fishing fleet. It's only a 40 minute drive from downtown Vancouver, but it feels like it's a world away.

Fresh local produce at Richmond Country Farms

I recently purchased a new car which means I can finally now drive on a whim out to the country. This is great timing because early September means that the local farmer's markets are full of local produce, especially fresh stonefruit from the Okanagan Valley. While there are countless farmer's markets in and around Vancouver, my favourite is possibly Richmond Country Farms.

Located on an acreage out at Hwy 99 and Steveston Hwy, Richmond Country Farms has been a childhood tradition of mine. They're not only an onsite farm (where they grow their own vegetables, like corn, cabbage, and squash), but they're also a great supporter of local farms in and around BC. Their store consists of a permanent indoor structure but most of their local produce is sold outside in gigantic wooden crates. And it's precisely right now when I like to visit, because they definitely have the best selection of Okanagan fruit that I've seen.

On Monday after work I quickly drove down Richmond's No 6. Road - a country road full of U-pick blueberry farms - and found myself down at Steveston Highway, and decided to pay Richmond Country Farms a visit.

They had 3 haywagons full of local corn - people digging through all the ears for the nicest pieces. The corn is often a bargain, usually several ears (3? 4? 5?) for $1. Not only that, but the corn is some of the sweetest you'll ever taste.

There were wooden crates of prune plums, crabapples, Macintosh apples, Walla Walla onions, red onions, Gala apples, golden plums, red plums, apricots, nectarines, white peaches, roma tomatoes - all from the Okanagan.

I then noticed these beautifully fragrant crates full of white (more like pale yellow) peppers, but also these deep purple peppers which were grown in Cache Creek. They were so beautiful, I picked some up to make stuffed peppers with.

There were local green beans, jalapenos, field cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, English peas, zucchinis, and some beautiful acorn squash that they grow right on site. An aside - after tasting those green beans with dinner later that day, I doubt I'll be able to buy them from regular grocery stores ever again!

But local cherries? Richmond blueberries? They had it. Eggplants, bittermelon, watermelon, okra, and tunips? Locally-grown herbs, green onions, garlic? They had that too. Not to mention mushrooms, and pearl onions, and crates of things you rarely see, like locally-grown turban squash!

I spent a good half hour browsing through the dozens of wooden crates and picked up 3 shopping bags worth of fruit and vegetables. After taxes it came to $10.80. Ten dollars! How can you go wrong with that? (You can't!) This is certainly a great feeling on the wallet, but knowing you're supporting local farmers and enjoying the best tasting produce in the region, that's possibly the best feeling of all.

Richmond Country Farms is located at 12900 Steveston Highway, immediately east when you get off the Steveston Hwy exit from Hwy 99 (just north of the Massey tunnel). It's open 7 days a week from 9am until 8:30pm from April until December 23.

For more information, visit http://www.countryfarms.ca/

Richmond Night Market - one month left!

Last night, after several pitchers of Granville Island honey lager at the Pirate Pub downtown, a bunch of us decided it would be a great idea to head out to the Richmond Night Market. Being the last weekend of August and a gorgeous evening at that, it seemed appropriate enough. After all, we had spent the last few weeks talking about going and we weren't going to let the end of summer slip us by.

This year the Richmond Night Market is going under the new name of "Summer Night Market". A bit confusing since the old Richmond Night Market's website is still live despite being obsolete, and the old name is still what people are searching for. Nevertheless, Richmond's Summer Night Market, though under new management, offers the same thing at the same place at the same times:

- rows of Asian street food vendors
- stalls of cheap merchandise
- permeating smells of BBQ meat
- bright lights
- large crowds
- over-flowing garbage cans

The Richmond Summer Night Market has been a summer tradition of mine since the late 90's. Back then it was held at Richmond's Lansdowne Mall parking lot, with only a handful of vendors selling things like bubble tea and Asian stationery. It kept on expanding, however, and outgrew its location, eventually finding a semi-permanent home behind a warehouse north of Bridgeport Road's big box sprawl. Mention "it's just north of Ikea" and only then do locals begin to understand where it is.

The Night Market is best described as this surreal, frenzied, mish mash of cheap trinkets and rows upon rows of Asian street food, all in a night carnival kind of atmosphere. While not parallel to the epic night markets in Asia, it's about as close as it gets to Hong Kong night markets here in North America. Set your expectations accordingly.

I typically drive if I'm going to the Richmond Night Market. It's often less than a 20 minute drive from downtown Vancouver. Park for free on the streets by Ikea and walk 15+ minutes, or pay $5 in the Sear's lot to be closest. This year since the opening of the Canada Line, it probably makes as much sense to take the train to Bridgeport station and then transfer onto whatever bus that takes you to the Ikea at Bridgeport & Sweden Way.

Just walking to the Night Market is an event in itself. You end up walking behind the long-closed big box stores and trample through the brambles over railroad tracks before following the crowds through the darkness to a warehouse where you can hear music and lights coming from behind. It's all so mysterious and exciting, and not unlike a rave.

As far as I'm concerned, the only reason you go to the Night Market is for the food. The merchandise vendors come secondary. We're not talking about high end knock-offs, but cheap plastic trinkets, Sanrio-esque stationery, Vietnamese and Canto-pop DVD's, Samurai swords, "magic" bras and panties, and doggie outfits. This is a generalization, I assure you, but you get the idea. It makes for great entertainment moreso than great shopping.

So, for me, it always come down to the food. I wouldn't come here expecting gourmet foodie delicacies, but cheap and tasty Asian street food typically unavailable in this environment elsewhere in Vancouver. There's usually a decent variety, from BBQ meat and seafood on skewers to noodles, to the more traditional Cantonese style dumplings, to exotic desserts. It's all so very festive and half the fun is going around with a group of friends and trying new things together.

Highlights of our night:

Pork siu mai
Shrimp gyoza
Japanese scallop & octopus cakes
Spicy, crispy, deep fried chicken
Sesame red bean cakes
Spicy halal lamb
Deep-fried ice cream

While we arrived with only one hour to go, we managed to stuff ourselves silly. Next time, however, we'll be coming back earlier, and with an empty stomach.

Richmond's Summer Night Market is open Fridays and Saturdays from 7pm until midnight, and Sundays from 7pm until 11pm. It closes for the season on October 4, 2009.

For more information, visit: http://www.summernightmarket.com/