Thanks, you two!  yes, Kathy, you absolutely have to get to the the mountains and ocean one day.  I learned how to swim in the Pacific Ocean  lol  My parents just threw us in like we were tadpoles!  Still, I love your town.  I love your tree and the lake, especially.

 

I'm going to post this map once more so you get the general idea.  I don't know why this is so important for me to share this.......I guess I just want you to know what shaped me.  Like I said, once Brent gets me on the straight and narrow re: how to properly resize pics (I am sooooooo dense), then I'll drive you nuts!  Also, I think it is partly b/c I want to share Canada with you.

 

 

 

If you look halfway between Marine Drive and the Lions Gate Bridge.......that's where I lived when I went back there......about four blocks from the water.  My Dad lives 3 blocks away.  I sailed to Vancouver Island and points in between (going left), for a week, on a sailboat my Dad named the Sandusky.  I'd only been on it once before.  What a trip! 

 

They were building the Second Narrows Bridge when I lived there the first time and it collapsed,  with a lot of workmen getting killed.  Terrible accident.  The little ocean area between the two bridges is called Burrard Inlet.  Tons of ships from all over the world and you can see the barnacles on them.  Fog horns, etc. going off at all hours.  Freaks visitors out at night  rotfl  The area is very hilly, like San Fransisco.

 

View of Downtown Vancouver from my Dad's place:

 

 

 

Downtown with focus on the Vancouver Public Library:

 

 

 

Lonsdale Quay, four blocks from where I lived, looking at downtown.  The white boat in the middle is the Seabus, which transports people to the North Shore in ten minutes.  Great fun!