As things start to get back to more of “normal”, it’s been good to start catching up with people again. We had most of my family out at the beginning of September, and in October an old family friend of Justine’s came to visit for a few days. It was great to have Kathryn and Nesto come stay with us and see Vancouver.

Kathryn is an old family friend of Justine’s, that I had met a few years back while she was living in New York. We had met up on one of our trips to NYC. Her husband, Nesto was not there that time, so this visit was the first time that I had the opportunity to meet him. They were staying with us for a few days which was fun. Sadly, the weather was really bad for them - it rained the whole time they were here! While not unusual for Vancouver this time of year, it really would have been nice for them to have seen a nicer side of the city.

They arrived early in the week and went up to Whistler for a day or two, then came down to Vancouver to stay with us and explore the city. We met up for a drink on Granville Island, then eventually made our way to Sandbar and had a nice dinner on the patio overlooking False Creek. It was a nice evening.

Sadly, Justine and I had to work on Thursday and Friday, which left them to explore our very wet and rainy city. They seemed to find some fn things and enjoy themselves, despite the weather. They were heading back to Toronto on Sunday, which left us Saturday to do something different.

As the weather for Vancouver was projected to be awful on Saturday, we made a bit of a gamble and decide to drive out into the Valley, hoping to escape the rain and maybe catch some fall colours and see some things uniquely west coast. We needed an early start, and as we headed east the weather seemed promising!

A map of our Saturday drive into the valley.

As we were not in any particular rush, we took a more scenic route east, avoiding the highway where possible. That took us out through Burnaby along the Barnett Highway, through Port Moody, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge. The number 7 highway is quite scenic and gets very rural once you get east of Mission.

As we had been driving for a while, we needed a pit stop, and we pulled into the Sandpiper Golf Club, as it has some pretty nice views back across the river. This time of year you would also expect to see a lot of bald eagles in the area, but we got shut out on that front. Still, there was colour in the trees and some low, misty clouds for atmosphere.

A view across the golf course and river, on our first quick stop of the day.

After a quick stop, we continued north on secondary roads and up to Weaver Creek. This has been a popular spot to visit for me over the years. Sadly, it is now closed to the public due to COVID, so we could not go inside. Even so, you can see a fair bit from the fenceline, and it seemed like Nesto and Kathryn thought it was pretty interesting. If you’ve never seen salmon spawning, it is something you don’t soon forget.

The spawning channel weaves through the trees, making it a pretty idyllic setting.

The salmon work their way through the channels.

A big salmon trying to get up and over one of the dividers.

Even from the fence you could see a lot of salmon.

They pile up at the bends in the stream.

Not all the fish could make it up and over.

After our brief stop at Weaver Creek, we made another stop as we headed back to the highway. There is a very nice pull-out along the secondary road that gives a nice view back over the swamp areas. The fall colours were nice, and we also got to see some eagles finally! A number of them flew over, and a couple actually landed in the trees directly overhead.

There was a beaver den out in the stream.

It ended up being quite a nice little stop with lots to see. Eventually we got back on our way again, heading south to the highway then further east. The next stop was at Harrison Hot Springs. It was getting close to lunch time, so the stop made sense. We were going to have lunch at the main resort hotel, but they were closed. As were a couple of other choices. Shoulder season I guess. We eventually found something and had a nice lunch.

After lunch we headed over to Sasquatch Provincial Park. Justine and I had done the hike around the lake last year around this time, and it was a beautiful walk. We thought that Nesto and Kathryn might enjoy it. The colours on the trees around the lake were amazing, and despite the ominous clouds, we had a very nice view across the lake.

We didn’t really have enough time for the full hike around the lake. The days are short this time of the year, and with the heavy clouds, we expected the light would fail us quickly. Still, we went out along the trail for a short distance, to give them a feel for the forest and to see what else we might see.

Heading out along the trail for our short walk.

With it being fall, of course that means… mushrooms! As with our last visit here, they were everywhere! Always fun to try and search out some news one.

After we went as far as we felt comfortable going giving the diminishing light, it was time to start making the long drive home. I hope we gave Kathryn and Nesto a good look at a bit more of BC, and fortunately the rain held off for us! There was even a teeny bit of blue sky at times. We worked our way back mainly how we had come out. We made one final stop to look for some bald eagles along the river, and to take in the view as the sun set.

As it was now dark, it was time to head fro home. We headed down to the highway and shortened the journey back to our place. We had a really fun time having Kathryn and Nesto stay with us. It felt like we’re getting back to normal, which is a really great feeling.