Back in 2002 we now had a car and friends to go exploring with. I believe I took this photo on a day trip to Lighthouse Park with Reg. We were sitting on a cliff listening to people below us beating a Native drum as the sun went down. So beautiful.
We went to see Bard on the Beach in Vancouver one summer and I was not allowed to take photos! Being the rebel I am, you would think I would have anyway but with a heavy film-based SLR, it was not easy to secretly snap photographs like it is today with digital cameras.
One of the greatest discoveries we made was Buntzen Lake, truly one of the most beautiful spots we had ever come across, ever. In fact, we are not the only ones who love it. It shows up time after time in so many movies and TV shows, our hearts break every time we see it again, so far away from this treasure. Its beauty is unmistakeable.
Reg and I brought Cathy and her girls with us one time. Reg is always playing around, especially when he is happy. It is hard not to be happy at Buntzen Lake.
Cathy's girls had a great time exploring and having fun there too. As we drove into the woods to get to the park Mary said with awe, "Is that a... forest???!" Cathy said, "Oh, my city girl." We were happy to share the massive and majestic nature with them.
This was our latest member to our travelling and adventuring pack, Pepin! Pepin came with us on so many trips, a new member to our crew.
Reg and I were perfectly at home here and happy. We did not realize what was about to come.
We later got a phone call from the owner of the condo asking if we wanted to buy our condo. Was quite insistent on it. Reg and I knew what that meant. They were going to be selling our Vancouver apartment. Instead of getting caught off guard like we did in Ottawa, we did a pre-emptive strike.
As much as we loved Vancouver, it was so expensive to live there. I liked the city (not as much as Reg who was so happy there) but I moved to BC for the nature. There had been gang assassinations in our neighbourhood, pedestrians run down on a regular basis and our floor had been broken into over and over again, cars in the parking lot smashed with baseball bats and set on fire. Yeah, I was ready to get closer to nature. Away from all the things of man.
We looked at an area called Westwood Plateau. The apartment we were considering was at the very top of a mountain with no bus service but Reg was working from home and always there so I let go and said yes, let's do it. We hired Cathy's son and his friends to help us move and found a home in our landlord's basement apartment.
When I took this photo I did not know at the time on a clear day you could see Burnaby, Vancouver and yes, Vancouver Island. Which would continue to haunt me on my infinite hikes in the hood.
This is the last film photograph I took and it is of one of the many paths near the golf course that I would spend the next few years exploring. Reg really did not like me carrying about my big heavy camera bag on my walks, putting my shoulders in peril. We invested in a digital camera that soon became my best friend, exploring one of the most beautiful neighbourhood together.
We had no idea what was in store for us after we moved here. That the next three and a half years would be so amazing, frightening, challenging and push us to our limits. At least the view was beautiful.
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