We woke to see that Friday’s torrential rain had passed, and a beautiful Vancouver day lay ahead of us. The plan for today was fairly modest: pick up a rental car in South Surrey, drive to UBC campus, take in a couple of other key sights in Vancouver, meet up with a former Compassion Canada board colleague in Langley, and then make our way to Abbotsford airport for our flights to Calgary and on to Edmonton. Happily, everything went exactly according to plan. We packed a lot into the day.
Having left the hotel at 9:30AM this morning, it was close to 2AM when we finally fell into bed at our Edmonton Airport hotel.
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| The lush view from Surrey, notheast towards the mountains, from the 19th floor of the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel. |
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| The Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel provided very comfortable accommodations in Surrey. |
University of British Columbia (UBC)
I attended UBC from September 1989 until April 1991. A month later, I returned for the convocation ceremony of my MBA class of 1991. I have returned to the campus a couple of times since then, but it has been years since my last visit. On the eve of the 35th anniversary of my graduation, I was so excited to return to the campus to scout out the incredible changes that I have heard about. And wow, has it ever grown and changed in 35 years! But still, the things I remember most about UBC were quite intact, and that was a joy to see.
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| Rhododendron are in bloom all over Vancouver, and UBC is no exception. |
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| The UBC Rose Garden on the campus’ northwest perimeter. |
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| The reflecting pool at the Leon and Thea Koerner University Centre. |
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| The world renowned Museum of Anthropology at UBC was designed by Arthur Erickson. It houses indigenous artefacts around the world and is regarded by many to be UBC’s most spectacular piece of architecture. |
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| Pacific coast Indigenous long houses and totem poles on the grounds of the Museum of Anthropology. |
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| The high glass rooms of the Museum of Anthropology were designed to accommodate totem poles. |
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 | | At the Robert Lee Alumni Cnter, you can search your name and have your degree and graduating year displayed on a large screen. |
 | | I did all my MBA coursework at the Henry Angus Building, which houses the Sauder School of Business (commerce undergrad and graduate programs). The building has been completely renovated since I was there, including an expansion and a new exterior. |
 | | Stunning flowering bushes in front of the Chemistry Building. |
 | | Formerly the main library of UBC, this grand building is now the Irving K Barber Learning Center. The UBC Clocktower is to the left. |
 | Known as "the castle," this building on Iona Drive, just off Chancellor Boulevard on the campus' north perimeter, is where I lived for my two years at UBC. At the time, the building housed the Vancouver School of Theology (VST). VST had two floors that it offered as a residence to non-theology students. My room was on the third floor, just to the right of the main tower. I had a great view of Burrard Inlet; I would often sit in my room, watching the ferry go back-and-forth between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo. Sadly, VST is now in a new building, the residence is no more, and the building is mostly comprised of condos.
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Jericho Beach
Jericho Beach is the first main beach you come to when you leave UBC on Point Grey and head towards downtown Vancouver. It is a wide and expansive beach, and you can look out and see no end of cargo ships moored in Burrard Inlet.
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 | | This gosling was wandering around the sands of Jericho Beach. |
Queen Elizabeth Park
Dating to the 1930s, Queen Elizabeth Park is a 130-acre municipal park located on top of Little Mountain in Vancouver, approximately 125 metres above sea level. It is the location of former basalt quarries dug in the beginning of the twentieth century to provide materials for roads in the city.
| | The Park's clock. |
 | The Bloedel Conservatory.
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 | | Above, the former 'large basalt quarry' has become quite a showpiece. The 'small basalt quarry', below, is equally as beautiful. |
 | | The view of the mountains from Queen Elizabeth Park. |
 | | A Douglas fir tree. |
 | | From Vancouver, we drove back to Surrey and checked out of our hotel at 4PM. Then it was onward to Langley, where we had coffee with Jennifer and Scott. I sat on the board of Compassion Canada with Jennifer for nine years. |
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 | | Our flight out of the Lower Mainland was from Abbotsford. Formerly a military airport, Abbotsford is an up-and-coming alternative to Vancouver International Airport. Set in the agricultural expanses of the Lower Mainland, just west of the mountains, a takeoff from Abbotsford provides great views of both farmers' fields and mountains. We had originally been booked on a nonstop from Abbotsford to Edmonton. However, WestJet cancelled that flight and put us on a flight from Abbotsford to Calgary, where we got a connection onwards to Edmonton. We took off on time at 8:30 PM in the WestJet Encore Dash-8-400 that you see above. Our flight out of Calgary was on time, and we landed in Edmonton at 12:45 AM. From there, we took a shuttle to our hotel near the airport. By the way, I have to tell you that this flight from Abbotsford to Edmonton, cost us $12 each, including taxes and fees! That is the cheapest airline ticket I have ever purchased in my life. |
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