When I was younger we would tote our camping chairs out to New Westminster on a foggy morning once a year to watch the Hyack Parade, after which we’d all have a nice play in Queen’s Park.
With school field trips we’d chase bunnies in the playground, hang out with the goats at the petting zoo and spend hours in the network of jungle gyms and tire swings the park had to offer.
It’s also home to the Arenex: “Built in 1938, the 10,000 square foot Arenex is located in beautiful Queen’s Park and is a Lower Mainland destination for gymnastics and trampoline during the past 36 years. This sports facility offers a wide range of opportunities that include: gymnastics, floor hockey, volleyball, basketball, indoor soccer and badminton.”
As well as the Arena: “The historical Queen’s Park Arena building was constructed and officially opened on September 19, 1930 for sporting activities such as badminton, basketball and even horse shows.
In 1938 the building was enlarged to add more seating, and ice machinery was added to create our present day arena.”
The park is great for day outings with the family and is often the centre of many city-sponsored activities and festivals.
Blogathon Post #32 – Read all Blogathon Posts and pledge to keep me going.
A bunch of Blogathoners have already completed their shifts while some of us soldier on into the wee hours of Sunday morning.
One of which is Duane, who shared a common cause with me – the Union Gospel Mission.
I’d love to keep going however being through a lot already this week and now taking this on is quite the ordeal… I’ll keep going – I don’t want to let anyone down – and if you’d like to support me, please considered pledging or donating. As a warning, I will probably look like Duane in this photo come Monday.
Blogathon Post #31 – Read all Blogathon Posts and pledge to keep me going.
Getting to the bottom of some historical names in the area, it’s time to explore “P” for Pender. From what I can find, Pender Street in Vancouver is named after the same Pender as Pender Harbour and Pender Island, BC.
Pender Harbour was named by Captain Henry Richard in honour of his Staff Commander (later Captain) Daniel Pender. From 1857 to 1870, Pender surveyed the BC Coast with remarkable zeal and thoroughness on the famous ships Plumper, Hecate, and Beaver. The British Navy and BC Governor James Douglas jointly funded Daniel Pender’s invaluable survey on the ‘HMS Beaver’. Captain Richard and Pender’s mandate was to resolve the unsafe discrepancies in longitude between the survey maps of Captain Cook and Captain Vancouver. [Source]
I admit when I first read somewhere else that “Pender was the Master of the Plumper” I was somewhat confused, although with this nautical explanation everything now makes sense.
Blogathon Post #30 – Read all Blogathon Posts and pledge to keep me going.
With 29 posts down and after blogging from two time zones during this effort, I am hitting a little bit of a wall and am daydreaming about fun getaways during the summer months. One of which is to one of our favourite destinations, Osoyoos, BC.
Osoyoos is home to Canada’s only pocket desert, rolling landscape, countless wineries, orchards, and breathtaking mountain views looking down on the lake.
It’s a short drive from Vancouver – meaning it will take you under half a day to get there along the Crowsnest Highway (#3) through Manning Park and there are several spots to camp along the way as well as a post just outside of town.
Blogathon Post #29 – Read all Blogathon Posts and pledge to keep me going.
Every year hundreds of social media enthusiasts and those curious about all things web convene for Northern Voice.
although it is a weblog conference, the range of topics may involve anything that webloggers are interested in… that is, just about anything. Previous years have had plenty of geekery mixed with panels on how blogging interacts with family life, education, travel, photography, community building and establishing professional profiles. Speakers range from the big names at the top of the Technorati rankings to first-time presenters with a passion to share. [NorthernVoice]
This past year it officially reached “society” status in BC, and celebrated its largest attendance.
It’s also the source of all those Bloggable t-shirts.
A mini and solely unconference version, BarCamp Vancouver, will be taking place this September – just in case you need your social media meeting fix a few months in advance.
Blogathon Post #28 – Read all Blogathon Posts and pledge to keep me going.
