The track ahead… , (also the site of many a drunken bonfires in my teen days!)

Underneath the pier at White Rock beach the kind of crisp clear fresh day that only icy mid winter can bring   looking down the length of the pier across Semiahmoo bay to the US and across the Salish Sea to the Gulf Islands  with sunset, and one more looking back on White Rock.

The next day, off to another town…Riding the BC Ferries through Active Pass on the way to Victoria… The harbour and provincial parliament in Victoria, where I spent my undergrad years partying, bartending, studying and cruising on my motorbike! After a couple days visiting my old stomping grounds, family, and some partying with family and friends, this is the view from our seaplane trip from Victoria harbour to Coal Harbour, back downtown Vancouver, rock star style…Check out the view across to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, US    and the Gulf Islands, and Stanley Park and Vancouver;s West End!   Coming in for landing, its a beauty of a city, imagine some blue sky’s though… …glad to be back on solid ground (hangovers plus bumpy plane rides are a rough combination), a nice view of the city and the Olympic torch, and good memories of the 2010 Olympics, what a party that was, never been in a city at a moment where everyone felt so united, even if only for the duration of the festivities, its still a good feeling knowing you were there as anyone who was there would attest to!

Strolling down one of the main downtown drags, Granville Street…

This is Whistler, up the Sea to Sky highway the next day. My sister and I hitting the slopes,

Typical heavy clouds when wanting to take some scenic shots, but in this case the pic worked out pretty cool of the valley between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, from the Peak to Peak gondola! 

  AAHHhhhh Ceasar! amazing, sometimes the only reason to drink on a saturday night, is to get up hungover on a Sunday and find a fix for that Ceasar craving (I feel bad for the world outside of Canada, who just don’t get it!)

Me and Cristina in Gastown checking out the Steamclock, apparently one of only a handful in the world, pretty atmoshpheric

   Interesting view of the skytrain, coal harbour, Canada place convention centre, and Grouse Mountain in the background. Ah, and later, on the way home from our last party nigth in Vancouver…just hanging on… before heading back to White Rock for a couple days, and then all the way back to life at my ‘other’ home , Edinburgh…

It’s cool seeing your hometown(s) as a visitor, and probably not something everyone fully experiences, defiantely makes you appreciate things alot and see things in a different light…and pack a lot in to a not long enough trip as it may have to keep me going over whatever lies ahead in the next year!!

Back home for the holidays, Vancouver!

Spent the first week aclimatizing, my girlfriend arrived Christmas day, and  after a couple days socialising with the family, it was time to start checking out the landscape, a driving tour of Vancouver, draped in cloud…

Looking downtown from Kitsilano, does not come close to doing it justice of a hot summers day, but being in the middle of a temperate rainforest, in the middle of the rainy season, will just have to imagine the mountains and blue skies in the background.

Down to Seattle for a day trip, 5 hours trip, 2.5 without the border…pretty cool picture of the waterfront, but they put a highway along it, why?!

 the Space Needle, through the International Fountain   the gum wall in Post Alley! pretty cool!

Back to Vancouver for some partying and more checking out the city…playing with traffic on the downtown streets:

Yaletown from False Creek in a fine Vancouver mist…   Looking downtown under Granville street bridge with Cristina, and the Aquabus!

 The Christmas lights at Capilano Suspension bridge, good show!

New Years party at a warehouse in Squamish with my bro and sis, and cousinebrother in the background,   and the spoils of war (a small portion of, in fact)…   On the way to Ceasars and brunch, first day of 2013!!

…and back on the road again, Sea to Sky Highway back to Vancouver  Happy New Year!!