After hitting the snooze button for the last time on a weekday morning, bleary-eyed Vancouverites become obsessed with two specific pieces of information to get them going: Weather and traffic. Being very much a “bridge and tunnel” commuter region, we hear about bridges all the time and usually whether they have a stall, backup, heavy volume, or a single lane north or south bound. Slowing the pace (in a good way) when it comes to the way you think of our local bridges, I have found 20 awesome Vancouver bridge photos to help you appreciate these connectors that get us where we need to go, while also adding character to our lovely city views.
Burrard Bridge
Pattullo Bridge
Photo credit: TOTORORO.RORO on Flickr
Port Mann Bridge
Granville Street Bridge
Lions Gate Bridge
Second Narrows Rail Bridge
Second Narrows/Ironworkers Memorial Bridge
Oak Street Bridge
Cambie Bridge
Westham Island Bridge
Bonus! Canada Line
![Canada Line Sunset [Explored]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4241/35185064722_9f34d23885_z.jpg)
Thanks to those who have shared their photos with the Miss604 Flickr Pool, from which these photos were sourced. Related posts: Capilano Suspension Bridge 125th Anniversary, Pattullo Bridge History, Port Mann Bridge Photos, Vancouver Icons: Lions Gate Bridge, Lions Gate Bridge Construction Photos.
When I land at YVR, step out the automatic doors from the arrivals area and sniff the cedar-coated Sea Island air, I know I’m home. I hop in a cab at the airport cruise up Granville from one end to the other, and just over the crest of the Granville Street Bridge I get a glimpse of the snow-capped mountains between the neon of the entertainment district. As I pass the Orca mural by Wyland at the north end of the bridge, I not only feel like I’m home, I have one of those “I’m lucky to live here” moments.
The Orca mural came down this month after being a symbol of homecomings for me, and an iconic and unofficial “Welcome to Downtown” monument for many more, since 1994.
Painted by the artist Wyland, there are 100 of these large outdoor murals known as Whaling Walls around the world. The murals feature life-size images of sea life like gray whales, breaching humpback whales, blue whales and orcas. In Vancouver a new mural will be commissioned but the location will be moved to East Vancouver [Source].
5 Iconic Vancouver Murals
The ocean, mountains, and a city full of glass towers are all images associated with Vancouver but other works like Wyland’s Orcas, have come to be symbols of their communities. Here are 5 iconic Vancouver murals have stood out for me over the years:
The Beatty Street Mural
Location: Beatty Street between Dunsmuir and Georgia
About: This has always been a popular mural location. In 2009 the current patchwork of graffiti and murals was painted over by the city as this piece took shape, featuring prominent Vancouverites throughout history.
Lao Tsu Mural
Location: 311 East Pender Street
About: Part of the Vancouver Mural Tour. Vancouver’s first traditional Chinese painting portraying a historical scholar and philosopher in a mural.
Graffiti Alley
Location: Between Richards and Homer, running parallel to Hastings.
About: A city-funded project that went up in 2005.
West End Mural
Location: Bidwell at Robson
About: After the Starbucks moved out in 2014 after 20 years, the fate of the store space is uncertain but this artistic depiction of Vancouver’s West End and Kitsilano along Bidwell is a mainstay in the community.
The Drive Mural Project
Location: Commercial Drive at Charles Street
About: Part of the Commercial Drive Mural Project
Want to check out more murals? The Great Beginning Program of 2008 has helped create and maintain about 4 dozens murals around the city, that you can visit on self-guided tours and pinpoint on this interactive map:
If you have a favourite mural in Vancouver, leave a comment about it or take a photo on Instagram and tag it #Photos604.
Let’s face it, the thought of “internet marketing” doesn’t always conjure up the most pleasant feelings as pop-up ads, spam email, and unwanted selling opportunities come to mind. However, there is a very good side to internet marketing, and it’s the bigger, better side. The side where a campaign raises thousands for a cause, where a video can move you to happy tears, and when the independent business can connect with major brands to reach customers and audiences they wouldn’t have dreamed of reaching before. Making connections and achieving goals.
This is the side of internet marketing that I know and that has allowed me to grow my dream business over the last ten years. I love what I do, and you should too, so with the Canadian Internet Marketing Conference coming to Squamish, I hope I’ll see you in the audience when I take the stage for a panel presentation.
CIMC
Where Quest University, Squamish, BC
When Saturday March 28th and Sunday 29th, 2015 from 9:00am each day
Tickets Early bird (ends January 31st) $399.00 + fee
Hear from over 20 World-Class speakers, enjoy 6 networking opportunities, participate in a $10,000 Dragon Den style contest with the Lion’s Den, attend workshops, the Best Agency to Work for in Canada Award Banquet, the Canadian Internet Marketing Awards, and parties.
Speakers include everyone from prolific local bloggers and the UBC School of Journalism, to individuals from Invoke Media, TELUS, Whistler Blackcomb, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, and more.
CIMC is hosted by Marwick Marketing and Jelly Marketing, two BC marketing firms who were fierce competitors who realized there wasn’t a solid internet marketing conference for them and their staff in BC so they banded together to bring this event to our backyard.
Win Tickets to the Canadian Internet Marketing Conference
Leave the city behind and come join us in the beautiful mountain town of Squamish for two days of inspirational talks on internet marketing. Get inspired and learn from industry leaders within digital marketing and leave refreshed and full of action points for your business.
Use the discount code RB15 PLUS to get 15% off your conference admission AND enter to win a pair of tickets here:
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Follow CIMC on Facebook and Twitter for more information. Join the Thunderclap campaign to show the world you’ll be at CIMC in Squamish this March. I will draw one contest winner at 9:00pm on Friday, January 30, 2015.
Update The winner is Margarita!
Cirque du Soleil returns to Vancouver May 20th to May 24th for a limited engagement of the touring arena show, Varekai. Hosted in the Pacific Coliseum, Varekai takes place in a captivating forest at the summit of a volcano inhabited by whimsical and enchanted creatures.
Martin Girard / shootstudio.ca Costumes: Eiko Ishioka © 2014 Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil Varekai in Vancouver
Advance tickets for Varekai are available now online exclusively to Cirque Club members through Thursday, January 29, 2015. Tickets for the general public will be available online starting Friday, January 30th, ranging from $40 to $125 (subject to change).
A world called Varekai: The sky lets go a solitary young man, and the story of Varekai begins. Parachuted into the shadows of a magical forest, a kaleidoscopic world imbued with fantastical creatures, a young man takes flight in an adventure both absurd and extraordinary. On this day at the edge of time, in this place of pure and undiluted possibility, begins an inspired incantation to a life rediscovered and to a newly found wonder in the mysteries of the world and the mind.
The world Varekai (pronounced ver.ay.kie) means “wherever” in the Romany language of the gypsies the universal wanderers. Directed by Dominic Champagne, this production pays tribute to the nomadic soul, to the spirit and art of the circus tradition, and to those who quest with infinite passion along the path that leads to Varekai.
Other BC stops for Varekai include Penticton and Victoria. Follow Cirque du Soleil on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
In Vancouver we have at least a dozen ways to say it’s raining out, from light drizzle tapering to showers, to downpours and deluges. The rain also has many sounds. There’s the splash of vehicle crossing an intersection, a persistent single drop beating down on a window ledge, and the popcorn dance of water beads hitting the top of an umbrella. What about the scent of the rain? The first time a dusty summer sidewalk sizzles under a much needed sprinkling, or when the park has been soaked for two weeks straight and the scent of cedar slips down onto the mulch path from each evergreen limb.
Why Does Rain Smell So Good?
A study published in the journal Nature Communications was recently shared by Mashable says that the rain smells so good because when raindrops land on certain porous surfaces, they can trap tiny air bubbles containing small particles, which then shoot upward, into the air.
These aerosols are likely responsible for carrying aromatic elements, along with bacteria and viruses stored in the soil.
Aerosols are small liquid droplets or solid particles that are suspended in a gas, and it is these particles that are responsible for the smell of rain after a light to moderate shower on a warm day, a smell that is known to scientists as “petrichor”.
The study also says that one complicating factor, which helps explain why heavy rainfall is not as associated with the smell of rain, is that although raindrops can generate aerosols, successive raindrops can actually eliminate them from the air by colliding with them like a missile.
The rain to me is an umbrella fort on the patio as a child, walking to school and waiting for the bottom cuffs of my pants to dry out before lunch time, cringing when someone walks under an awning with their golf umbrella open, relying on nothing but Gore-Tex to keep me dry, camping in June — it always rains when we camp in June — and countless walks in the park with my husband. The rain might seem to ruin a vacation, festival, or concert but it’s the reason Vancouver is so spectacularly green throughout the year. Things could be much worse really, at least it’s not a Polar Vortex for instance — I say as I type this from my in-laws’ home in Iowa. For me, the smell of the rain is quite simply the smell of home.
TOTORORO.RORO
