Since we were a bit far back I ran one of our photos through that picture enhancing program people always have in movies.. I don't know the settings very well so the results were mixed, but it was a great show all around, even if our pictures aren't too sharp or close.
On our recent trip through the Okanagan we passed through the town of Osoyoos which is right in the vineyard/desert part of southern BC only a few minutes drive from the US border. It is also home to a unique in North America phenomenon called Spotted Lake. Created by alkali mud and some sort of magic this lake is filled with hundreds of small pools of water year round. Its now a sacred native site so we had to sneak a bit to get a good look, but that's a better fate than the alternate plan which had been for private companies to package the mud and sell it off in beauty care products...
On our journey through the west coast states and BC we happened across a couple of railway museums, one on purpose and one quite by mistake.
The intentional one was also the closed one unfortunately. The Kettle Valley Railway was listed in our tour book of the Okanagan but didn't happen to mention its seasonal nature and though I followed in my fathers footsteps and poked around the engine shed, someone had callously locked it.
And then as we were passing through Garibaldi, Oregon we came along this one sitting in the middle of the town and quite open to our pokings. Although this locomotive is no longer used (and has a boiler full of garbage tossed in by ungrateful passers by) they do let you poke about and there is another engine that does rides in the summer as well.
Kathryn is patting a baby leopard named Bently who weighs a little less than our cat and is still small enough for lap sitting. If you ask her nicely about it she may tell you more about this leopard :P
Next was a lion cub named Bella who is a little too big for laps but still quite a charmer.
And last but not least was a Siberian Lynx named Kesa who is almost big enough to move to her next home but was still present for our attention.
This summer we went to Hell's Gate with some friends. Its a few hours east of Vancouver and features a cable car (pictured above), a fish ladder and fisheries museum, fudge store and a haunted stove. Yes, a haunted stove... legend has it that the stove gets warm in the summer because of the Chinese cook ghost that haunts it, not because of direct sunlight or anything.
There's also a bridge across the water lower down and a railway line running through the area. Every year during the spring melt the water comes very high and close to the bottom of the bridge, having washed out earlier and unfortunately lower bridges. The rocks in the panorama are scoured white by the fast waters.
With winter on the way, I thought I'd share a few pictures I took on the slopes at Cypress last winter. I got an evening pass for one night a week with a co-worker and along with another friend of his we split up the work week with a bit of snowboarding. The top picture was taken from the chair lift and looks over the moutains and sea out to Gibsons'. The bottom picture was taken from the north slope and looks out over the southern runs and the chalet.
After yesterdays remarks about the lack of megafauna in our area, I felt I should show that there are still a nice selection of large and exotic animals to be found in the area. Though the zoo here is on the remote eastern outskirts of the city and not very accessible, we did get out there last summer with some friends to have a look around. Above are some neat cattle we had never heard of before which look quite a bit like Tim Curry from 'Legend' (mercifully the animal kingdom doesn't have any cattle that look like him from 'Rocky Horror')
One of our favorite creatures we never knew existed, the Mara (in the back), is a Patagonian rodent that looks like a cross between a rabbit and a kangaroo. We've seen them in Toronto and Prague as well and they never fail to delight. And a cabybara never hurt either.
And just to prove that they have anything typical to zoos, here's a giraffe right before feeding time.
Although Vancouver is a pretty built up place and certainly lacks megafauna, there are quite a few little mammals to be found here and there. Back in Burnaby it was quite common to see coyotes in the bush at dusk and now that we're downtown we're spoiled for choice with squirrels, skunks, raccoons, bats and all sorts of birds. 
