Day 310 – The Pier

November 5, 2016 – Twenty-nine years ago we moved into the thick of the West End, right in the heart of Vancouver, and it was awesome! We lived down there for about seven years before moving here to the North Shore, and I have not one single regret about either move.

I simply love this place.

The West End was (and still is) a vibrant community, and downtown houses theatres, world class restaurants, parks, street art, shopping, history, and so much more. I enjoyed living in the thick of it for the time we did, and I enjoy having my office just a couple of blocks up from Canada Place.

But I am also happy that we moved over here to the North Shore. I can still see the city lights dancing on the water, and getting downtown can be as easy as a short ride on the seabus.

On this side of the water we also have excellent restaurants, theatre, shopping, and pretty much everything else. But we also have more room to breathe and aren’t so congested, while still having the proximity to all that downtown offers.

And parks?

Heck, even though we have parks, beaches, lakes, rivers, and trails galore, really all one needs to do is drive a few minutes up the hill and you are at the base of the Coastal Mountains and it’s more nature than some people can handle….like the fellow who encountered a curious black bear a block away from us and ran screaming down the trail and managed to rough himself up by falling and flailing. Bears, deer, cougars, raccoons, skunks….sometimes it’s a little more than one expects so close to the bright lights of the city just across the inlet.

If you look closely at the light on the pier, you will see that it’s raining, but it hardly makes the evening any less beautiful.

Yes, there is more rain here on the North Shore than other areas of the Lower Mainland, but that’s also what makes this part of the world so lush and inviting when it’s not raining. You can’t have a temperate rainforest without the rain, it’s part and parcel, and because of that, I can live with the rain.

Besides, rain is just Mother Nature’s way of washing the world.