Truth be told, these post should be themed “Christmas in Metro Vancouver” as well as “Holiday Time” as I’ll be featuring seasonal activities of many denominations, for various cities in the region.

The tale of two trains; Surrey’s Bear Creek Park and Stanley Park’s miniature railway.

North Pole Express Train in Bear Creek Park, Surrey

When: December 15 to December 25, 2007 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (closed Christmas Day)
Where: Bear Creek Park in Surrey, BC [Google Map]
How much: $4.00 – $6.00

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Bright Nights in Stanley Park, Vancouver

When: November 30, 2007 to January 3, 2008 daily, 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm (closed Christmas Day)
Where: Stanley Park, Vancouver [Park Map]
How much: $4.50 – $7.50

Stanley Park train tickets usually sell out very quickly, but they are actually currently available through Ticketmaster.

While the Stanley Park production is a massive overdose of holiday cheer mixed with flashing lights, hundreds of children, popcorn, candy apples and repetitive music, the kids do enjoy it. However, to get more bang for your buck, I would suggest the Bear Creek Train (as I usually do). For the price of admission, kids also get to decorate a reindeer antler headband, prepare a batch of reindeer food, visit Santa and receive a candy cane – on top of the train ride through the lights and scenic displays

In honor of my friends who already have their houses decorated with trees in place, and my mother who also loves the season, I’m beginning a segment: Christmas in Vancouver.

As John and I are leaving the country this coming Saturday we’re going to be missing out on quite a bit, just within the week that we’re gone. The Sunday after we return the streets of downtown Vancouver will be filled with 300,000 children and parents sitting on curbs and shoulders to catch a glimpse of good ‘ol St. Nick in the Rogers Santa Claus Parade:

Date: November 25, 2007
Time: 1:00 p.m.

Best Places to Watch:

Here’s what the website recommends:

What to Bring:
Once again, we will be collecting donations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society and the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau.

The parade will begin with a special train picking up donations along the route. There will also be drop-off spots on Howe Street at Robson Square and on Georgia Street at the Art Gallery.

If you plan on being downtown that day know that roads will be closed and streets will be overflowing with families and festive-hearted folks. It may not be the best idea to drive through downtown that day.

Yesterday we drove around the southernmost tip of Vancouver Island, surveying storm damage from the night before and witnessing towering waves crashing on shore and showering roads and pathways with debris. It was the first big storm of the season and being that we were on the Island, we were pretty concerned about our passage home. BC Ferries canceled their morning sailings but luckily my sister had reserved a spot on the 5pm a few days earlier, by that time they were running again and we were able to board on time.

One thing we did during our little drive around the area was visit Fort Rodd Hill and the Fisgard Lighthouse. The morning winds had calmed down somewhat so we ventured down a bumpy road, following the signs for a “National Historical Site”. The kids enjoyed seeing the four deer that were grazing in the middle of the field and I’m always a sucker for historical sites.

Fort Rodd Hill NHS commemorates the national significance of the Victoria-Esquimalt coast artillery fortress in the defence of Victoria and the naval base at Esquimalt harbour, as part of the larger defence strategy of the British Empire and Canada, 1878 to 1956.

Other important messages are the shift from British to Canadian responsibility for our national defence, and the evolution over time of the V-E Fortress in response to changing threats to Canada’s sovereignty. [Parks Canada]

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Fisgard Lighthouse NHS commemorates the national significance of the first lighthouse on Canada’s west coast. Fisgard has been an important symbol of sovereignty-British, Colonial and Canadian-since 1860.

Along with Race Rocks lighthouse, Fisgard provides a guide for mariners to Royal Roads anchorage, Esquimalt harbour and its naval base, and points the way to Victoria harbour. [Parks Canada]

As we walked across the man-made pathway between land and the Island on which the lighthouse stood, avoiding getting splashed by the sea that was still reeling from its outburst that morning, I turned around to take a photo of my sister and her family. Across the entire Eastern sky there was a complete rainbow, it was pretty beautiful even though one side of it did land in Esquimalt.

The whole place had kind of a Fort Langley feel to it, although the natural scenery was breathtaking. The lighthouse contained artifacts, an interpretive video, old lenses, wicks and fog horns. It was kinda creepy being in there and feeling the whole place grumble with the turn of the light – as it is still functioning today.

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

It was a nice find and I’d like to return some day as there were several buildings in the Fort that we didn’t head into, as well as about a dozen foot paths up and down the hillside that were just begging to be explored.

John and I are headed to the Island for a quick trip with my sister’s family. Since the Ghostly Walks in Victoria are only on Saturday nights, we may partake in our own creepy after-dark tour, finding the apparition of Robert Service above the “Seeing is Believing” store all by ourselves (oooohhhhhh!).

We’re leaving super early so I’ve timed this post, writing it on Saturday night. If you’re in town Sunday here’s a list of services around Metro Vancouver for Remembrance Day.

Source – News1130:

Photo credit: Darren Barefoot on Flickr

I also know it’s cliche, but for an occasion of solemn remembrance and reflection I feel I can’t express myself adequately enough, so here are some familiar words:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— John McCrae

This afternoon we grabbed some caffeinated beverages from a local coffee joint and headed to what is probably our favourite place in the city, Stanley Park. I couldn’t take in enough of the fresh autumn air.

I love this time of year because the park just seems alive, from squirrels rustling up some grub for the winter fattening to little streams and creeks popping up all over the place.

Trekking along the muddy Tatlow Walk, over to Rawlings, and down the Third Beach Trail, we had to check in on an old friend (“Sam“), a 800-1,000 year old tree that was toppled recently due to unstable soil.

I must give the Parks Board kudos (for once) since they have left him where he fell to become a nursery log and have routed the trail around all 130 feet of him.

At the bottom of Third Beach Trail we took a walk around the Sea Wall, which isn’t officially supposed to open until this coming Friday.

This was our first time on this part of the sea wall since it closed almost a year ago, and it was also the first time I had walked it in that direction (since you’re supposed to go East to West). The following are photos of the “forbidden” and still-closed side of the sea wall, which honestly doesn’t look very close to safely opening.

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

All photos for the walk today can be viewed in my Stanley Park Flickr Set.