Burning rubber in Canada- Part 15 , Bye Bye Vancouver

Hi there

   It was a bright day today the overcast sky had got cleared and the weather had become very pleasant. Today we decided to visit Stanley park and do cycling around the park.
    After a quick breakfast we  headed for the Stanley park. Stanley park is situated on the Vancouver coast . Apart from having a rose garden , toy train it has a beautiful cycling track . By the time we reached the park with our hired cycles , the sun was already up and bright.

   The park is spread across 405 hectors. It opened in 1886, earlier this land was earmarked for military fortification to guard the Vancouver harbor. The park is named after Lord Stanley ,16th Earl of Derby . Unlike other large parks it is not creation of landscape architecture rather than evolution of forest. Most of the attraction were made from 1911-1937 .

  Most of the park is densely forested it has about 200 bird species and variety of animals.

Dense forest inside the park

Bay view

Cruise liner

   We almost did 20 Kms of cycling. The park was full of people but not a single place did I see rowdy picnickers or un clean cycle route .

Residential complex near the park

Jetty

  After spending about 5 hrs in the park it was time for lunch, today we had decided to have only Indian meals . A short distance from the park there was this nice Indian restaurant run by a couple from Haryana. They earlier had different carriers but now were into restaurant business for sheer love of serving good quality food ,their menu was very different, it was simple but perfectly prepared .

Malhar having masala tea

   After lunch we were back to our hotel for a well deserved rest . We woke up  to another pleasant evening  and decided to head for another Indian restaurant for dinner.

   We reached Original Tandoor restaurant which was run by second generation family from Punjab . All items in menu had authentic Punjabi taste . After sumptuous food we were back in the hotel.

Original Tandoor

Original Tandoor

      Before I reached the room I thanked the our wonderful ride- VW Atlas she was  our home for more than 25 days , not a single mechanical fault not even flat tyre .

Our beautiful mount VW Atlas

Bye Bye  beauty

    It was time to call it a day . Tomorrow my next adventure starts as I back pack across to Toronto and Montreal , while Deepak ,Shaunak,Netrali and Malhar go back to their home in San Jose,California . 

  

   This trip was very special  not only from adventure point of view but  as a family we grew a strong bond . I was meeting Netrali my cousin sister after 17 yrs and my  nephews after their birth , learned a important lesson of maintaining family ties .Without them my trip would not have been so beautiful and memorable .Thank you Netrali,Deepak ,Shaunak and Malhar . With heavy heart and promise to do another wonderful trip in coming year I had to bid them bye . Welcome Toronto.

Ride Safe Firm Saddle 

Burning rubber in Canada - Part 14 ,The Golf resort ,mosquito attack and back to Vancouver

Hi there

   Again a beautiful day to drive .Today was Netrali's day as  we spotted not just one but two Grizzly's. As we were racing down the  highway suddenly we saw Deepak slowing down the car,we asked him what's the reason? he told us to keep quite and pointed to the right side of the road.Oh man!! there was this mid size Grizzly merrily chomping the soft grass he crossed over the road slowly & walked along my side of SUV, this guy was just a feet away from us,it was all click click click and the happiest person was Netrali . After about 20 mins we moved ahead .

Grizzly bear

Grizzly bear

    After a short break we reached our destination for the night 108 Golf Resort. A beautiful resort with massive Golf course and two huge lakes. After dumping our stuff and gulping down the tea we headed to the reception as there are number of free activities , however our bad luck the boating was off due to adverse weather warning so was the  horse riding as it was weekly off day. But than how can we be called adventure travelers! we decided to take a 10 km trail around both the lakes. Before we started our walk Shaunak wanted to buy a herbal mosquito spray , as you know he freaks out on site of mosquito, however we told him don't worry there are no mosquitoes here. How wrong we were going to be proved in next hour or so.

108 Golf Resort

Lovely swimming pool 

Golf course

Start of trail walk

Beautiful lake

 

   

Private house along golf course

    For the first few kms the trail was lovely we picked up pace it was really great walk . As we reached the mid way, suddenly Shaunak started freaking out loudly as few mosquitoes attacked him, his mom Netrali got annoyed and send him to me as I was in the lead , after some time little Malhar also freaked out , by this time Deepak who was at the tail told us that there are mosquitoes in this area.

    

    I ignored him completely and kept on walking . As I took a turn, suddenly I felt  thousand pins piercing my body , this was the mosquito attack on me,than I saw behind both Netrali and Deepak were doing everything to protect both Malhar and Shaunak from the attack . This went on for good about 1 km as we came out in the open the mosquito vanished , it was a very painful experience.

Painful happy faces after mosquito attack

 
   However as we neared the resort we were treated with such a beautiful twilight scene of setting down sun . It was mesmerizing.

Beautiful sunset

Beautiful sunset

    Back in the rooms we had quick bite and off we went to sleep as this was our last day on road tomorrow we will be back in Vancouver.

    The next morning was pleasant, I braved again the same trail of 10 kms but surprisingly this time there were not many mosquitoes as the sun was already up. After a quick breakfast we were back on the road.

     For lunch we decided to halt at this beautiful Inn run by senior ladies , not just they were efficient but the Pizza they gave was huge full of fresh veggies, the Ice creams had unique flavors, no wonder it was a busy place. The place is decorated in such a way that one feels as if one is in some century old house. 

Old Time Inn

Massive Moose head

 

   

     As we entered Vancouver it was decided that we take a trip to Grouse mountain as I and Malhar had not seen it. Apart from a great rope way Grouse mountain has huge Captive grizzlys which Netrali wanted to see.

     If you are in Vancouver don't miss Grouse mountain it is one of the best city park I have visited,in spite of having so many tourist one felt as if one is in midst of wilderness.The rope way to the top was excellent and offered great view of the city.

Shaunak,Netrali,Malhar and Deepak

Top of Grouse mountain

Malhar

   However after  seeing both the massive captive grizzlys we were disappointed and felt that they looked much more pale than what we saw in the wild.

   While coming back we witnessed the city in crimson light of setting sun it was a million dollar view.

  

    The dinner was masala dosa in Davie Dosa company situated on Davie street in downtown Vancouver. The owner Sharv Ramchandran is  a sweet person , he was very happy to speak to us. Food was great and tea was fantastic. The staff were so happy, that they kept on refilling our tea, they especially took a lot of liking for Malhar and got special ice cream for him.

 

Members of LGBT community with Shrav Ramchandran(in center)

Pedestrian crossing with LGBT colours

    After a wonderful dinner it was time, to call it a day .We were back to the same hotel , which is going to be our home for next two days , from where we started our adventure drive.