Road Trip 2025 - Vancouver Aquarium and area

On the first day of our West Coast adventure, we chose the Vancouver Aquarium as the ideal place to retake some of our iconic photos from our only other BC coast visit back in 1981 when we were a family of three...Nelson, Me, and 2 1/2 year old Crystal. The summer of 2025 would give us a chance to update the photos to include Jessie, Nick, and JJ, who missed it the first time around. 

The Vancouver Aquarium is located in Stanley Park, a 1,000-plus acre public park on the northern part of Vancouver's peninsula between English Bay and Burrard Bay. The Aquarium had changed in the forty-four years since we'd been there, but it seemed more amazing than ever. The 65,000 animals within the walls and waters of Canada's largest aquarium includes species from Canada's Arctic and Pacific coasts, the Tropics, the Amazon rain forest, and more.  A profuse amount of shapes and colours everywhere you look. 

Nelson holding Crystal and watching a Beluga whale, 1981, Vancouver Aquarium

The beluga whale that captivated Crystal and Nelson back in 1981 is long gone. In its place, sea otters are shown in the B.C. Wild Coast Exhibit where they entertain the crowds while swimming on their backs and using their nimble forepaws to eat. All of the sea otters at the aquarium are either rescued orphans or too severely injured to be released back into the wild. They have been deemed non-releasable by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and now form part of the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Rescue Team. They are also available for symbolic adoption. 

Nelson with Crystal in front, and Jessie and JJ behind him, 2025, Vancouver Aquarium

Our 2025 retake photo shows Crystal standing in front of Nelson, with Jessie and JJ beside and behind him, in the tunnel of the outdoor portion of the B.C. Wild Coast exhibit. As usual, the sea otter is using its forepaws to eat and although in a somewhat sheltered exhibit, must still keep a wary eye out for seagulls who like snatching the food in a swift flyby.

Crystal found JJ, Anita, and Nick watching a Sea Lion, 2025, Vancouver Aquarium

Along the glass in the lover level of the B.C. Wild Coast gallery, we stopped to watch the antics of rescued California sea lions. The Marine Mammal Rescue Centre at the Vancouver Aquarium is "...the only facility of its kind in Canada and one of the largest rescue facilities in the world..." 

Here are some of the images I found when I went through all of our photographs that show the array of colour and shapes we discovered:

Jessie found a unique Pig-nosed Turtle and some Tropical Fish, 2025, Vancouver Aquarium

Nick showed the size of Jellyfish, 2025, Vancouver Aquarium 

JJ and Nick were caught watching Linneaus's Two-toed Sloth. 2025, Vancouver Aquarium

JJ found some Golden Poison Frogs, 2025, Vancouver Aquarium

Jessie and Nelson attended 4-D Theatre, The Great Salmon Run, 2025, Vancouver Aquarium

Meanwhile, during a coffee break, I was checking out the vegetation. I was surprised to find holly with blue berries instead of the red ones like the Christmas holly that I've seen growing in Vancouver. On the prairies, you can't find holly growing outside at all so just seeing it in its natural state was special.

Mahonia aquifolium, 2025, Vancouver Aquarium

With a bit of searching, I matched my holly image to Mahonia aquifolium, a member of the Barberry Family also called Oregon Grape Holly and Holly-leaved barberry. It appears the main difference in the leaves is that the barberry type leaf is more tapered at the end whereas Christmas holly seems to stay the same width for most of its entire length. 

Fern, 2025, Vancouver Aquarium

A grouping of this fern was growing beside the Holly-leaved barberry. I suspect it's a sword fern, but I know nothing about fern types. What I do know is that each frond contains small capsules called sporangia that are filled with thousands of dust-like spores that will scatter in the wind when ripe. It's the artful display of the sporangia that fascinates me, especially when seen with the sun behind the fronds. 

There is so much beauty connected to the Vancouver Aquarium and too much to see in one afternoon. After several hours of exploration, we headed back to our Sooke Airbnb to do some whale watching and card playing. Join us for the next post as we let you know what we saw. 

Note: For those with a calendar, this post connects with the images shown for January 2026. 

Road Trip 2025 - Regina to Surrey

We haven't blogged much with all the life changes, pandemic turmoil, etc, in our lives, but now that we've sold the farm and are settled in Regina, Saskatchewan, we live a less stressful life with more time to play. So this past summer when we were blessed with a wonderful family vacation in British Columbia we thought you might want to be an armchair traveler and come along as we relive the sights and memories.

We first visited Vancouver Island in 1981 when there was just Nelson, myself, and our 2 1/2 year old daughter Crystal. There are now six of us, and due to school, work, etc, we never had the chance to take an extended vacation together as a family. We wanted to change that while revisiting the places we first discovered with Crystal, before Jessie, Nick, and JJ came along. 

Anita and Crystal, 1981, Hell's Gate Canyon, BC

The itinerary was simple. Nick and JJ, who also live in Regina would take one car, and Nelson and I would take our Flex. We gave ourselves three days and 2 nights to travel across the prairies, through the Rocky Mountains, and down across BC to the Greater Vancouver area where both Crystal and Jessie live. The drive would allow us to make plenty of stops for rest, fresh air, and fabulous scenic photos, and we would arrive ready to explore the BC coastal area and Vancouver Island.

JJ, Nick, and Nelson at the Bow River Lookout on Hwy #1 west of Banff

It sort of worked. It was sunny when we arrived in Calgary for our first night, but cloudy the next morning as we entered the Rockies. We still stopped for photos and breaks while we admired the majestic mountains...a sight we don't see Saskatchewan, but we didn't see many of the mountain tops due to the low cloud cover. The sun came out the next morning after a restful night overlooking Shuswap Lake and we headed over to Kamloops and the daunting Coquihalla Highway. I call it daunting, but Nelson and our sons were excited to try out the four-lane high-speed shortcut part of Hwy 5 that followed the trail of the old Kettle Valley Railroad.

Coquihalla Hwy between Kamloops and Merritt, BC

We'd been on the Coquihalla about 20 minutes when our vehicle's Check Charging System light with a battery icon blinked on. Since everything appeared to be working and we were about halfway to Merritt, Nelson opted to keep going. Now, the highway was not packed with traffic, and it was the middle of summer and not during avalanche season, however, we'd passed numerous 'Runaway Lane' signs for drivers to head for if their brakes failed on portions of the 6% grade highway and I started feeling the stress. Within minutes the air conditioner stopped working. I tried to open a window only to find the windows weren't working either. And away we whizzed down the Coquihalla...a highway so dangerous in winter that it's a star of the TV show, Highway Thru Hell.

Nelson and I were hot and stressed when we drove into Merritt. The boys, on the other hand, were worried, but cool in their air conditioned vehicle. We were all surprised to find Merritt does not have a Ford dealership, so we parked in a nearby Chev dealership's lot and explained our situation. Their shop was fully booked, but offered other suggestions. We proceeded to phone around the city but everyone was booked until the next morning. Our only options were to stay the night...or take a chance and drive to Hope which was another 120 kms down the Coquihalla which included the steepest part, the Coquihalla Summit. By then we'd arrive at the end of the business day while shops were closing, and still have to look for lodging. 

While we were pondering our choices in the hot parking lot of the Murray Chevrolet Buick GMC dealer, someone came out and invited us to sit inside and use their facilities if we needed to. Their mechanic might be able to squeeze us in later. When she went back inside, Nelson, Nick, JJ and I prayed for guidance. We came to a decision that if the Chev mechanic couldn't fit us in today, I would go with JJ in his car to meet Jessie in Surrey, while Nelson and Nick stayed in Merritt with our Ford Flex. We went inside to use the facilities and thank the staff for their hospitality. While inside, we saw a quad pull up beside our Flex and a mechanic start poking around the engine. Minutes later, our Flex was in the shop and we were praying it could be fixed. We waited in the showroom as closing time neared. Finally, two hours after reaching Merritt, our vehicle was fixed, road-tested and ready to go. 

So here's a huge shout-out to Murray Chevrolet Buick GMC in Merritt, BC, and Greg, their mechanic, who took in and fixed a broken Ford Flex for a very grateful family from the prairies. It just goes to show that like the biblical parable, there are Good Samaritans everywhere.

Later that evening we arrived at our Surrey Airbnb. JJ and Nick had made a detour to pick up Jessie and Crystal and now we were blessed to be all together. We'd made it. 

Let the real adventure begin.